So here I am, sitting in the lounge of Rainbow Warrior III after being on board for just over a week now.
We have just completed the last open boat day in beautiful Stockholm and it almost feels like another lifetime ago when I joined the ship in London, it took several days for the reality to sink in that I was actually aboard this awe inspiring ship.One of the crew was saying over dinner that working on a Greenpeace ship is so different to any other experience in life, that you become very firm friends very quickly, it's a bond that is so much stronger than simply being colleagues, we are all dependant on each other, not only in the sense that we each look out for each other on the ship, or simply in terms of safety (ships can be quite dangerous places and at sea there are no emergency services to call on, we are our own emergency services) there is a bond, a deep sense of trust, it's something very special and something I am extremely grateful to share and be included in.
Our journey here was quite an experience, we had a couple of days of calm sailing and then a bit of a rough sea, I managed to work through my slight sea sickness but did feel a little off peak during the first few hours. I distracted myself by getting on with the work at hand which was helping to put together the new gym equipment. I also learned how to do a short splice, which is a way to join two pieces of rope together by weaving the strands together, and learned how to do basic whipping, which is using wax twine to seal the ends of a rope after splicing, really rewarding stuff.
We had a chance meeting with another sailing ship along our voyage to Sweden, a Russian training ship, she was quite a lovely thing to see and there was a really nice point where we were off each others sterns as we passed by each other and sounded our horns in greetings, a very nice shared and rare moment between two ships under sail.
On Saturday morning we woke especially early in order to make the ship ready for docking, I hadn't worked with the mooring lines before but the deck team went through the procedure with me in detail beforehand and the whole procedure went well and I felt pleased to have learned another new skill.
It has been a very busy time for us and for all the wonderful volunteers and staff from across the Nordic office's regions. Once we had docked and set out the gangways we had just two hours to set up the display for the open boat tours, but the whole thing ran like clockwork and we were finished well in good time to greet the first visitors.
I had helped out with doing the tours over the weekend in London but always knew that there was a crew member at hand to answer any questions that I didn't know as an onshore volunteer, but this time I was a crew member and was quite nervous about not being able to give the correct information to people, but actually I really enjoyed it, I took turns standing on the bridge and explaining what all the various pieces of equipment there were used for and did the same on the helicopter deck, and surprised myself with how much information I had soaked up about the ship in my short time here and that is one of the many things I love about being on a Greenpeace ship, you are challenged every day, learn something new and do things you would never ordinarily do, it is hard work sometimes but everyday I climb into my bunk and feel that I have stretched myself and helped work towards something positive.
Although I was in a different country the reaction from people was exactly the same, a great outpouring of affection for the ship and its crew and the work they do, a feeling I wholeheartedly share as we make our way to Germany.
I have learned so much during my time aboard so far and been made to feel so welcome by all aboard that it is going to be extremely difficult to leave, a couple of the crew are leaving today and I see the sadness in them that may well soon be my own...
If you'd like to volunteer with Greenpeace, there are dozens of different ways you can get involved, without ever going to sea. Please get in touch with your local network coordinator, turn up to the next meeting, volunteer to help out at the next event and see where your journey leads.
We need your help.
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