and on..

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.