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MV Greenpeace / PC 8023
Position: 17 01 N
119 41 E
South China Sea,
June 9th, 1996
Day 24
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Well, the ship has finally left Manila, and the campaign is in earnestly under way. Oh, by the way, my name is Dima Litvinov, and I am taking over from Tanya on writing up these updates. I flew into Manila to join the ship from Sweden, where I work as the nuclear campaigner. Now I am on the ship as one of the team of campaigners. We are the ones responsible for having contacts with the media, and communicating the Greenpeace word in general.
Yesterday morning the ship was expected to sail at 10am but as it turned out the crane had not been fixed by then. A crowd of journalists were waiting on the dock, while Dominic and Bob were working in 40 degree heat astride the crane. That was when the missing part was finally delivered.
Well, the journalists' boredom disappeared right quick when the news came in that the Chinese actually went ahead and tested a nuclear charge in the morning. A bit of a feeding frenzy ensued, with camera's lining up to get interviews and the sat phone ringing off the hook with queries from around the world.
The mood on the ship changed as well. All of a sudden there was this sense of urgency. We had to get away from Manila, we had to get to Shanghai, we had to let the Chinese know that this just won't do, that they are not alone on this planet.
I, meanwhile, am in the galley, running between the chopping board (beef stroganoff and spirals for dinner today, and with 32 people on board and 45 degrees in the galley the newly revived Lynda needs all the help we can give her) and the heli deck to give interviews.
The dinner is ready at six, and so is the crane. We push off. The great folks who helped us out in the Philippines are on the dock. Athena, Ariel, Athena's brothers, the guys and girls from the Philippine Anti-Nuclear coalition. All the hugs and tears on deck did not make it easier to see them disappear on the horizon.
As we are beginning to pick up some steam we pass a Filipino bulk carrier. The name - Rainbow Joy. Wow. An unknown member of the Greenpeace flotilla? Manila shows us her best side for our departure - the setting sun glitters in pinks and purples off the skyscrapers, the lines of palm trees along the shore line are bending in the light breeze. The air is clean. The night is full of stars and the routine of the sea is setting in.
Good night. Dima
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