3 August 1997

Ingrid here:

So today is our two week 10 hour and 20 minute anniversary here on Egg Island, not that anyone here is counting. We continue our protest against the oil exploration here in the Arctic Ocean. Although since we have had no actual human visitors here in the two weeks, we have taken our message to the gulls and they seem to agree that solar is the way to go.

Today is also the 37th birthday of our fearless radio operator Tom. He is the senior citizen of the crew, but he seems to keep up with us pretty well. A special brownie batch was cooked up in the dutch oven over the fire, with candles and all. And of course, the perfect amount of Egg Island sand for flavoring.

We have fallen into a daily routine. We maintain 24 hour watches originally set up to watch for polar bears or barren ground grizzlies and oil thugs sneaking up on us. The polar bears seem to be out on the pack ice looking for ring seals, the barren ground grizzlies are roaming the tundra stuffing themselves on blueberries and the oil thugs, well they seem to be ignoring us except for the occasional fly over and around. Although during the fly overs someone always seems to be taking a shower, maybe they are just coming over for a little peak? So watches have turned into a battle to stay awake, but we keep busy by sweeping sand out of the tents, reorganizing the kitchen area, cooking, washing dishes, and of course reading.

The oil companies, BP and Arco, continue their daily routine also. Helicopter shuttles from Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse to the CIDS, Concrete Island Drilling System, start at about 6am and go as late as 9pm. Back and forth, back and forth, people, supplies, sling loads, etc. Arco is gearing up to haul that monstrosity over to Camden Bay, which borders the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and drill away.

We keep a close eye on activities, as the CIDS is about 3 miles due north of Egg Island. Daily scouting trips occur, and the Arco workers just look at us like we are crazy. There's not much small craft traffic in this part of the Arctic Ocean.

We are anxious as the Arctic Sunrise has finally arrived in Pt. Barrow, about 200 miles due west of us. We can't wait until she arrives in the Prudhoe Bay area as we are ready for actions and more importantly, she has our resupply of chocolate. And yes, a real shower would be nice too.

So we continue our vigil against oil exploration here and would like to recommend three books that have made the rounds here:

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez a must for understanding the arctic.

Endurance by Alfred Lansing about the ill fated Shackleton expedition to Antarctica in 1914.

The Firecracker Boys by Dan O'Neill about the US Atomic Energy Commission's Project Chariot which planned to use "peaceful" thermonuclear bombs to blast out a deep water harbor in Pt. Hope, Alaska on the Chuckchi Sea in the late 50's and early 60's.

Peace, Ingrid
Greenpeace Arctic Base Camp