The 'Oil Free Seas' Flotilla Return to Auckland

Greenpeace NZ Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid is welcomed back, after almost three weeks at sea, by Fundraising Director Michael Tritt with son Bryce. Looking on, at left are, former Peace Squadron leader Reverend Doctor George Armstrong and his wife Jocelyn. Four of the six yachts, which made up Oil Free Seas Flotilla, arrive in Auckland. They were protesting against oil giant Anadarko drilling at a site over 100 nautical miles off the west coast of New Zealand, and in waters around a kilometre and a half deep.They were at sea for close to three weeks. The Greenpeace sponsored yacht SV Vega spent seven days inside the 500 metre exclusion zone as the Noble Bob Douglas prepared to start drilling. The yachts arriving in Auckland are SV Baltazar, SV Friendship, SV Shearwater II and SV Vega. SV Ratbag arrived back at her home port in the Bay of Islands while SV Tiama is heading south. The flotilla is a coalition of individuals and boat owners who oppose deep-sea drilling and the new legislation that takes away New Zealander's long-standing right to peacefully protest at sea.