Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise vessel is in Halifax after protesting seismic blasting with Inuit activists in the Canadian Arctic.

The ship will be tied up along the Halifax Waterfront next to Murphy's the Cable Wharf until Tuesday before heading to the Netherlands for a refit.

The ship, which is the organization's only icebreaker, was open this weekend for tours.

"We're also hopeful our visit here will help bring attention to some of the local fights happening here in Nova Scotia and Halifax against fossil fuels," said Alex Speers-Roesch, an Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace.

Locals were given a tour of Arctic Sunrise over the weekend. (Anjuli Patil/CBC)

Group eyes Nova Scotia issues

Some of those local fights include Shell drilling off the coast of Nova Scotia without a nearby capping stack, which is a piece of oil spill response equipment, BP Canada planning to drill offshore of Nova Scotia and the Alton Gas project.

Arctic Sunrise has been around the world, from the Canadian Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill in 2010.

This hole in the door is from when Russian authorities seized the ship in 2013. (Anjuli Patil/CBC)

Arctic seismic blasting

Before coming to Halifax, Arctic Sunrise was in the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut.

The crew tried to bring attention to the downsides of seismic blasting, with the help of Oscar winner Emma Thompson, and brought over solar panels.

Greenpeace organized panel about resistance to the fossil fuel industry on board the ship Saturday evening, along with the Ecology Action Centre and the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia.

'Iconic and inspiring'

The ship itself is one of the "coolest things" of the job, he said.

"It's one of the most iconic and inspiring and exciting parts of what Greenpeace does," Speers-Roesch said.

"It's one of the things that really sets us apart...We have these ships that allow us to go to places where others can't, and document environmental destruction."

Arctic Sunrise arrived in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Halifax?src=hash">#Halifax</a> Wednesday, public tours being offered today and Sunday <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Greenpeace?src=hash">#Greenpeace</a> <a href="https://t.co/qXZBbS35tS">pic.twitter.com/qXZBbS35tS</a> —@AnjuliCBC

Arctic Sunrise was built in 1975, and has plenty of interesting parts to see onboard​.

One spot includes where Russian authorities kicked through a door. It stemmed from a 2013 incident where 30 crew members were detained at a Russian oil rig.

"It's a reminder of how important what we're doing is to me," Speers-Roesch said.