A world map in the mess has a model ship tacked to it to show our position. Note: Image is not to scale

All summer, I've been counting down the days until I was onboard the Arctic Sunrise. Now that that day is here, I'm sure my friends, family, coworkers, mailman, dentist and most residents of Washington, D.C. are enjoying a sigh of relief. I admit, I have been talking about the trip somewhat incessantly, but it's not everyday I get to spend a month working on a 160-foot vessel.

I will be acting as the web person for the duration of the Project Thin Ice tour. I've been following the work we did in Greenland closely, and hope my experiences are as memorable and successful as the original crew's were. Although I have a feeling that traveling from Canada to Miami, I will not be seeing as many glaciers as they did in Greenland...A special thanks to Andrew for providing such a detailed account of the work to date.

Today, as the ship was docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the crew went their separate ways for some well-deserved time off and a new team was brought onboard. Chris (Climate and Clean Energy Campaigner), Matthew (Assistant Cook) and I joined the ship from the states last night, and tonight we head to Boston - the first of many stops in the United States.

As excited as I am to begin this journey, I recognize that there will be some low points along the way. So in the tradition of David Letterman, I came up with my own "Top 10 List" of pros and cons for participating in the remainder of the Project Thin Ice tour:

#10: Pro - will get to find out why it's called the poop deck;
#9: Con - will not be a phone call away from having a pizza delivered to my door;
#8: Con - will miss a month's worth of episodes of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart;
#7: Pro - won't have to cook for a month (or eat my cooking for that matter);
#6: Con - will miss my friends, family, boyfriend and dog (not necessarily in that order);
#5: Con - will not really be able to exercise (wait...did I say "con"?);
#4: Pro - will get to meet activists from all over the world;
#3: Pro - New York City, baby!
#2: Con - will soon learn my preference: original dramamine or orange flavored?
#1: Pro - will get to see whales and dolphins (I do work for Greenpeace after all!)

-Maureen