It's Tuesday evening 13th May aboard the MV Greenpeace. We are making our way up Lerwick harbour for a berth in the town centre and an open boat for the public and schools on Wednesday.

For the past few days the crew and engineers have been rigging an array of solar Panels around the monkey island (roof of the bridge). This array charges the batteries which supply power to navigational equipment and lights. This system will then also have a back-up centrally connected battery charger. One of the crew was recounting a solar experience they had on a yacht Greenpeace had chartered as part of the French Nuclear Testing campaign. Their engines had gone dead in the middle of the Pacific, leaving them without any power to operate radio equipment and lights etc. On board was a single solar panel they managed to re-rig and track the sun with, and after about 12 hours the battery pack was recharged and contact was remade. A boring story really but electricity generation is like that. For the past week the MV Greenpeace has undergone some changes. For the first time in its current incarnation as a Greenpeace vessel (it was formerly on ocean going tug) it's green. Since its purchase by Greenpeace it has been aptly titled the 'black pig', and a colour make-over was long overdue.

There's also been high drama over the past few days in Shetland with local Shellfish fishermen blockading the largest oil terminal in Europe, Sullom Voe on the west Shetland coast, in protest over the Braer oil spill in 1993. Their demands were that the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) fund pay all outstanding (since 1995) compensation monies, and that a full scientific assessment of the longer term impact on shell fish stocks be undertaken. Greenpeace released a statement of support and the protest ended peacefully though at this stage without final resolution.

Today we've been meeting with Shetland press and other interested parties briefing them on what is possibly the most important campaign Greenpeace UK has run, certainly it's the biggest environmental issue humanity faces, - climate change and the necessity of acting now to phase out fossil fuels. Today (Wednesday 14th) we set sail again to patrol the Atlantic Frontier.