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We left Scrabster on the afternoon of Friday 18th April, heading for the Foinaven and Schiehallion oil fields which are both on the Atlantic Frontier. En route we launched a boat by the Old Man of Hoy to test the hydrophones. The MV Greenpeace sailed off into the distance as we sat there with the engines off trying to get the hydrophones to work. The next thing we knew we were surrounded by harbour porpoise, but the hydrophones were still not working. Frantically, Phil fiddled with the wires and sockets, and suddenly I could hear underwater sounds, but not the porpoise. They were still in the area, but I couldn't hear any whale like sounds. The conclusion we drew was that the frequency that they communicate on was above our hearing threshold. Still, we have digital recordings so perhaps we can isolate their sound and bring it within our threshold. The next day we arrived at the Schiehallion oil field. We were miles away when we first saw it, but the exploration drilling rig must be about the size of Blackpool tower. The sea was flat calm, but you could see the Paul B Lloyd sitting on the Horizon. When we were within 6 miles of the field, the operators called us on channel 16, to ask who we were, and what were our intentions. We informed them that this was the MV Greenpeace and that we were here to document their activities. We further informed them that we were going to launch an inflatable but assured them that the MV Greenpeace or the inflatable would not enter their 500m safety zone. The small boat was launched and we took photographs and video footage of the exploration rig. Hydrophone recordings were also taken, when the MV Greenpeace had moved away from the area. This was repeated for the Foinaven field which was visible from Schiehallion. When taking hydrophone recordings around the Petrojarl Foinaven a supply vessel came very close to try and see what we were doing, they were taking our photographs and video taping us. In the Foinaven Field there was a lot of activity. Apart from the FPSO (floating oil production, storage and offloading vessel) which was 250m long and 40m wide there was the drilling platform Stena Dee and two semi submersibles. We left Foinaven about midday on the 19th and arrived at Clair field early evening. Again photographs, video and hydrophone recordings were made of the exploration drilling rig Sedco Explorer and supply vessel Hornbeck Invincible. Having had problems with the large crane, we then headed to Stornaway to try and get it fixed. On route we passed the Island of Rona on the 20th April. Jon Castle, our captain, had been here during the days of the anti seal culling campaign in the 70's, and remembered it for the wildlife, and obviously the seals. We launched two boats and put three people ashore. There was no jetty or modern landing quay and so people had to scramble from the inflatables onto the rocks. While the inflatables were ashore, the MV Greenpeace circled the Island. There was a lighthouse on Rona and loads of sheep. Apparently the sheep were brought out from the mainland in spring to graze on the island. The cliffs were nesting areas for birds of which there were many including puffins, gannets, giant skuas and guillemots and the rocky shores were haul out areas for grey seals. On Monday 21st April, we anchored off Stornaway and engineers came aboard to look at the crane. The work could not be done straight away as they would have to order spares. Although the crane could not lift the large inflatables, it could cope with the small boats, so rather than sitting around we decided to head for St Kilda. St Kilda is not only beautiful to look at, but is also of great historical and natural importance. This has been recognised both nationally and internationally in that it has been awarded a cluster of designations:
The Islands are all that remain of a large Volcano thought to have been active about 60 million years ago. People were thought to have lived on Hirta, the largest of the St Kilda Islands some 2000 years ago, and continued to do so until 1930. That year the remaining 36 inhabitants were evacuated at their own request. The isolation - especially in winter- proved too much for their fragile way of life. Today the island is occupied by a Scottish Natural Heritage Warden, wildlife researchers and members of the Royal Artillery, who run a radar tracking station for the rocket range on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. St Kilda is described as "Britain's Biggest Seabird City" and not without justification. It is home to the largest colony of gannets in the world on Boreray and adjacent stacks, with some 60,000 pairs. It has the oldest and largest colony of fulmars in Britain, with about 62,000 pairs and the biggest colony of puffins in Britain, with some 140,000 pairs. It is the most important seabird breeding station in north west Europe with over 1 million birds. We arrived at St Kilda at 6am on 22nd April . Crew members, the video cameraman and photographer spent the first part of the day wandering around the island, filming wildlife. In the afternoon we took the Scottish Natural Heritage warden out to Boreray to count sheep and look at sea birds. Boreray Sheep are unique to the island and there are only 300 sheep and 100 lambs (just counted). There is also the story that in the 18th century the last Great Auk in the British Isles was seen on Stac an Armainn just of Boreray. Standing three feet high, islanders thought it was a witch and killed it. Whether this is true or not is debatable, but what cannot be refuted is the importance of these islands for our wildlife and heritage. The St Kilda islands are unique and will surely be threatened if oil and gas development goes ahead in the Atlantic Frontier. By early evening on the 22nd the weather had deteriorated badly. We put the Warden ashore on Hirta and headed for the calmer waters of the Minch. On Wednesday 23rd of April we docked in Stornaway. Spares that had been ordered to fix the crane had arrived and work could begin. Just by chance the annual meeting of the Minch Forum was organised or Thursday afternoon and Friday and we were invited. The Minch Forum consists of local authorities such as Western Isles Council and Highland Council, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, coastguard and other interested parties, and the issues are those to do with the Minch. For the purposes of the Forum the Minch is defined as the area of water between the Outer Hebrides and mainland Scotland as well as a 12 mile area around to the West of the Hebrides. Issues discussed at the Forum centred around fishing, aquaculture and ecotourism as well as the threats from tanker traffic through the Minch. We took this opportunity to briefly highlight the potential effects from industrialisation of the Atlantic Frontier by the oil and gas industry, the localised affects this might have on the Hebrides and the global impacts of climate change. We introduced the Atlantic Frontier campaign to the Hebrides, which will hopefully allow us to revisit Stornaway as the campaign progresses. Meanwhile on the ship the crew had been busy ringing up local schools and inviting children to the ship. On Friday 25th April over 100 schoolchildren came and visited the MV Greenpeace for a guided tour. On Saturday 25th the MV Greenpeace left Stornaway for the Monach Islands. We arrived off Benbecular early on Sunday morning to pick up the local Scottish Natural Heritage warden, who was accompanying us to the island. Unfortunately the weather turned quite quickly and we had problems with some of the outboard engines. This meant that only the warden and the photographer managed to go onto the island. Visibility became very poor and we picked them up a few hours later, very wet and very cold, not having been able to take a good look at the wildlife. Having taken the warden back to Benbecular, we decided to go to some of the blocks of ocean issued for oil exploration in the 17th round. Monday 28th April saw us sailing through the blocks licensed North West of the Isle of Lewis, tranche numbers, 36, 37, 38, 43, 44, 47, 48, 52 and 53. The sea state was maybe a force 2-3, ideal for whale watching, but unfortunately there was a heavy fog, which reduced visibility. Despite this we set up a whale watching routine with people looking port, starboard and dead ahead at all times. We started at 0800 and worked in shifts all day. Finally at 1930 on the evening of the 28th in Tranche 53, we saw 6 pilot whales and a number of common dolphins. We stayed with them for about half an hour, taking pictures and video. Position 59' 35 N, 7' 15 W. Knowing that very bad weather was on its way, we spent the night heading south to the blocks south west of the Hebrides in tranches 19, 21, 22. The morning of 29th brought force eight winds and a considerable swell. At 1700, we saw nine pilot whales at 56'53 N, 9'19 W, and at 1800 we saw another 9 (could have been same ones) at 56'40 N, 9'19 W. This is in oil tranche 19. Also saw gannets, puffins, guillemots and, best of all, storm petrels. We felt lucky to see these whales in such bad weather. Today is the 30th and we are heading for Ullapool to pick up bunker fuel.
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