What was my job..?
I was measuring the water current in the water column near the rig to determine if the drilling riser could get damaged by shear.
we would steam for maybe an hour in a transect and deploy a sensor. This would measure the currents for 20 minutes and then we would recover the sensor. process the results, send a report to the client by email and then continue on our journey for an hour.
This meant I had about 30 minute breaks waiting to reach each stop point. I did various things in this time depending what was planned. I could have my meal. make an email to the office or home, watch part of a movie.. but most of all I liked to...
Watch the water at night as we steamed. I loved it.. the splash of water with light from the vessel being lit by the deck lights. I liked to sit on a piece of steelwork looking out to sea. The flying fish were the best thing of all. When a shole would pass by attracted to the light they could be seen to fly around the vessel for 20 - 30 yards and had such grace. I had never seen them in until that trip and it was amazing! One jumped onto the deck and I was able to look at it's shape. the "wings were just like birds wings crossed with a dragonfly wings.. strange and normal to look at all at once...
This process went on for 2 weeks.. In that time:
I got hit in the face with a 200kg weight. This gave me a small scar under my eye.. I was lucky it didn't give me more. (most friends say they don't notice a scar... but I do)
I caught a cold and sniffed and grumped for a few days.
I met a guy with a cooler job than mine.. he looked for whales.. that was it.. 2 weeks at a time.. offshore, looking for whales.. :^)
Anyway, The job finaly ended and I made the return journey only pausing to be given a baseball cap and watch by the rig people for a job well done.. *sigh*
Next installment, I'll be in Belem again waiting for 3 days for my flight.. I wonder what will happen.
Monday 3 March 2008
The story went on...
We entered the "Heli Admin Room" signed our names and were dispatched to the canteen for a cup of coffee. The thing that amazes me about american rigs, is the amount of cake and sweets they have ALWAYS avaliable. I had a few cups of coffe and a slice of cake while waiting and eventually the crane was ready for my next journey.
I put on another life jacket and walked across the helideck again. This time a "basket" was there that I had to climb onto and be hoisted some 30m into the air and over the sea to a supply vessel that was now bobbing up and down near the rig.
I don't like using these things, they are banned in some parts of the world as they are erm.. somewhat unsafe.. infact do a search for the image..
Offshore Basket transfer
On the rig I met up with a guy who was to become a friend when I moved to Houston. He showed me around the vessel and our equipment. We were on 12 hour shifts me and him.. I was working from 12 o'clock lunch time until 12 o'clock midnight. He showed me the procedures for a few hours until 3 and then he went to bed to catch some zzzz's as I finished off my shift and added an hour for him to get a little extra sleep.
I put on another life jacket and walked across the helideck again. This time a "basket" was there that I had to climb onto and be hoisted some 30m into the air and over the sea to a supply vessel that was now bobbing up and down near the rig.
I don't like using these things, they are banned in some parts of the world as they are erm.. somewhat unsafe.. infact do a search for the image..
Offshore Basket transfer
On the rig I met up with a guy who was to become a friend when I moved to Houston. He showed me around the vessel and our equipment. We were on 12 hour shifts me and him.. I was working from 12 o'clock lunch time until 12 o'clock midnight. He showed me the procedures for a few hours until 3 and then he went to bed to catch some zzzz's as I finished off my shift and added an hour for him to get a little extra sleep.
Right Right.. where was I.. :^)
So there I was in the jungle waiting for my helicopter.. The meal we ate was a little unsettling (spicy!) but all in all it was a gloriously exciting day. Eventually after a few hours of waiting a "thud thud thud" noise of helicopter blades cut into the air and we knew the next stage of the job was kicking off.
As a group we went back to the air strip which was looking brigher than ever.. We were still in shade at the edge of the air strip while the absence of trees makes the sunlight shine in and shows the ground as a dusty green.
The chopper had landed and we all climbed on board one after the other with our life jackets on around our necks.
The view on the way out was AMAZING.. I have been on well over 100 helicopter rides, but this one sticks out as one of the best. The rain forrest was below me and we were cruzing at around 100m. Terrific patches of grass and river as the jungle canopy openned every now and then. After 30 minutes of flight, we reached the coast and the great brown sea where the amazon chucks out all off the sedement. I know this area as a ROFI (Region Of Freshwater Influence). I worked out later that the water remained brown for around 70 km from the coast. Eventually we decended closer to water and we saw the rig we were headed for.
This was an old american rig, didn't look amazing.. But hell I was getting off it shortly anyway. The Chopper landed with a light judder and after a few moments we stepped outside, picked up our luggage, and decended into the bowels of the rig.
As a group we went back to the air strip which was looking brigher than ever.. We were still in shade at the edge of the air strip while the absence of trees makes the sunlight shine in and shows the ground as a dusty green.
The chopper had landed and we all climbed on board one after the other with our life jackets on around our necks.
The view on the way out was AMAZING.. I have been on well over 100 helicopter rides, but this one sticks out as one of the best. The rain forrest was below me and we were cruzing at around 100m. Terrific patches of grass and river as the jungle canopy openned every now and then. After 30 minutes of flight, we reached the coast and the great brown sea where the amazon chucks out all off the sedement. I know this area as a ROFI (Region Of Freshwater Influence). I worked out later that the water remained brown for around 70 km from the coast. Eventually we decended closer to water and we saw the rig we were headed for.
This was an old american rig, didn't look amazing.. But hell I was getting off it shortly anyway. The Chopper landed with a light judder and after a few moments we stepped outside, picked up our luggage, and decended into the bowels of the rig.
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