We had to get up before most people went to bed… actually I tried but never got more than a short 1 hour nap… but Tuesday night at 11pm I got up and packed and we left at 12:00AM. It was a 3 plus hour drive to the dock we were to “ship out” from and had to be there at 4AM to load and boat leaves at 5AM… Geez any wonder why I don’t want to keep doing this job? It was dark and I didn’t get any really good pictures going out. They said it was a 3 hour (plus) boat ride out to the location… Damn slow boat and you will maybe see why…
I know it is a bad picture but at the time I was on the move and the boat we came in on was leaving…
The view from the boat when we got to the location… look close in the middle left… that is a “man-basket” being winched up with 3 guys on it… my trip was next…
guessing that the boat on the right is jacked up about 100 feet off the water… the legs were supposed to be 180 feet long and maybe in 35 to 55 feet of water? and yes it is a boat (work boat)…
When we got there I got this shot of the “production platform on the left… the flat thing on the top… is the Heliport we left from today…
We got to the rig at about 8am… worked all day after being up most of the night and working all the day before… and this was sunset…
A little after sunset you could see the other rigs in the distance and one flaring off some gas…
This afternoon we left by Helicopter…. arrived by boat and leave by helicopter what an adventure…
now the helicopter port as I showed before was on top of the production platform on the far side…
Yes, way up there on the right…with row after row of ladders to that level…
The wells are on the platform in the middle where the boat backed up to, sort of but didn’t tie up… we stayed on the jackup boat in a very small room for 4 (bunk beds)… it is pretty cramped for 30 people on that boat to live and work extended periods… the crews work 2 weeks out there and get one week off…
back to the heliport… the boat we were on was about 100 feet off the water… the heliport was maybe 120 feet above that boat and the “gangways were long and the stairs steep and carrying two bags up there… whew, that is a bit much for an old guy…
The dam long gangway from the well platform to the production platform…
At this point I am about half way up to the heliport…
Here it comes… we are just one level below the top waiting…
Coming in to land and the waves hitting a beach… not one that is used much… in the distant to the left is Fourchon, LA…
nearing the point of return… on the right (far right) is the dock we left from and on the left is the heliport we will land at… lot of helicopters fly from here… spots for 10 counted…
The one that brought me back from the rocking and swaying boat in the air… just glad it was calm out there… they say that it can sway enough that some get sea sick and it is not really moving… just swaying in the air on those legs…
now one thing I can say about the food… I would be enjoying that a lot… lunch today… two of my Louisiana favorites… they say they had “run-off” 3 cooks in the past 3 weeks but I think this guy will stick around a while… during daylights we had some really great meals… always too much available and you have to pace yourself… ha!… I didn’t even get to the pork chops or the jambalaya that was there…
On the other hand, I couldn’t work as hard as the crews were working and it was damn hot out there on that boat… temps hitting mid 90’s but with the humidity and sun on the water it was in the 110 to 115 heat index and the days before with no wind… 130 heat index… like being back in the desert although it was humid to the max… oh well as I said the adventures just keep coming… I can now say I have been out on the “work boat” , lived on a “jackup”, and road the helicoprt home… (actually had a helicopter ride back in the 90’s at Malongo base in Africa)… but that was to get from the airport to the base as the roads were not safe????
need to get a shower and some sleep as I was not able to sleep much in the hard bunk with the gentle sway… just not used to my bed moving all the time…
WD0AJG