arctic sunrise

I’m out in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off Mauritania in West Africa, aboard the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise. We’re here to document and expose the shocking overfishing of Africa’s coastal seas by huge fishing vessels from the EU and elsewhere.

At about a quarter to eight, still sitting in the Mess having just cleaned off Ronnie's lasagne, we got a call from Paul, the first mate, over the ship's tanoy system. "There's a big polar bear to our starboard."

This afternoon I was on watch. Bear watch. 

Whenever there are people out on the ice, it's necessary for a couple of people at least, and more if there's fog, to be keeping a look out. On these occasions there's usually one person up on the wings of the bridge, another person up in the crow's nest, and somebody else out on the helipad. There's a rota so nobody has to stand for hours on end and get too cold, but today I did an hour in the heli slot.

A few months ago I took the train down from London to Cambridge with my colleague Frida Bengtsson, who is leading this expedition, so that we could meet up with Professor Peter Wadhams. As head of the University’s ‘Polar Ocean Physics Group’, it’s fair to say Peter knows a thing or two about Arctic sea ice. Friends at Greenpeace like to call him ‘the Elvis of sea ice science.’

Woken up as usual at 7.30 for breakfast and cleaning, I'd had a shower and was getting clothed when someone said 'polar bears outside'. I said to Ethan, the assistant cook who is also my roomie, who has been aboard two weeks already: 'Wow, they're saying there's polar bears outside.' He replied, 'Nah, there isn't man. They're just saying that to get us up.' 'Well, I'm popping outside to check.'