Henoko diary -from the dugong sea-

Off to Okinawa, arrive late afternoon and are picked up by Yuka and we head north to Henoko, we have a brief stop where the staging area is, it is a bit of a slog to get the boat in the water but not too bad.

Early start, we are up at 0530 to be at the port in time for the pick up of the people going out to the Scaffolding, which is actually mini drilling rigs, but only one of them have a drilling unit installed at the moment, there are four platforms out there, a fifth one was damaged in a storm and have not been replaced.

Apparently the fishermen that is involved and are supporting the activists went to the pub last night so they didn't begin to pickup the activists until 0730 today, soon they are all underway followed out with loud cheers and wishes for a safe return by the local supporters.

It is 0930 and our boat has arrived, and we start putting it together and it looks good, the transom looks better than the other boats, and no air leaks great we finish setting it up making sure everything is secure and safe, there is a bit of stuffing around with the Greenpeace banner that goes in the side but finally it is off to lunch (getting the hang of Chopsticks) we have lunch in the tent where the older activist keep a vigilant and hand out information they have been doing this for 302 Days now, and are very happy to have us and the boat here.

After lunch it is back to the boat, time for a test run, it has only lost a little air in one pontoon so I pump it up again, that is when I notice something wrong in the Bow I can see the ground through a hole in the floor, it turns out that the whole floor is coming unstuck from the hull, I can remove the front floorboard from the outside.

Another early morning, heading out to the platforms with who own Dudgeon Home where we are staying and runs Kayak, Dive and Snorkel tours in the area.

I'm dropped off on platform 2, it is approx. 7.30 and there are already 8 other activist on the platform and we settle in and wait for the construction workers to arrive, beside the people on the platform there are three local fishermen that have anchored their boats round the platform to restrict access.

Local fishermen employed by the companies doing the construction normally pick up the workers at nine from the beach on Camp Schwab. When the workers arrive they want to change some of the clamps holding the platform together but are politely told that they can't do it, after a bit of a discussion they head off to the next platform, Everything is done very politely and everybody seems quite happy with the outcome.

We are picking up the Inflatable today. Yahoo !!!. We are off as soon as the activists have left for the platforms, we plan to help deliver lunch today.

We start the morning helping with the transfer of activists to the platforms, then it is off to platform 1 to help with the blockade. After that a bit of boat training with some of the activists that have a boat license, when the workers arrive and they want to change the batteries on the Navigational warning lights. The activists allow them to do this since it would be dangerous to leave the platforms unmarked at night. The workers remove the lights and come back in the afternoon and replace them, the day goes pretty fast and soon it is time to take people back to shore, cleanup and get everything ready for tomorrow.

Today we have a press conference at 1100 in Henonk, so we are preparing for this. It was well attended, with articles in both newspapers in Okinawa, and stories on local television. But before that, it is on the water at 0700 to get the activists out to the platforms. The weather forecast is for lightning so everybody is on standby and are staying on the boats, not very comfortable since the sea is a bit rough today, around nine the weather clears and people get on the platforms. At platform 1 the tension is rising workers have not been able to do any work on the platform for some time now and want to replace some clamps that are starting to rust. The activists have a meeting to decide if they will let them work on the platform, the answer is no and the workers don’t push the issue today, but they are getting frustrated.

I get the engine fixed and a few other small things sorted and we use the time to catch up on housekeeping e-mails and work on the plans for Rainbow Warriors arrival.