FISH LIKE WOAH!

Since I reached back out, the ocean has been teeming with fish! Schools of Tuna and Dolphin all over the boat. Fishing is not really allowed on board so you have to be smart. Most of the time I am just the watch, spotting fish and looking out for the guys.

We have two methods...

The first is our harpoon which works well but takes quite a bit of skill. It is better, obviously, for the top fish like the dollies!
Then there is high strength black marlin cord with homemade lures. Also, production hooks are rare so the malaysians make these amazing hooks out of high tensil crane wire...they are seriously solid and very effective.

With the tuna, when using the marlin cord, you have to use leather gloves to hold the line or else your hand will get destroyed! The other night my buddy hooked up on a beast tuna that took the rig, line and everything. Now we are trippling up the cord by braiding it to handle these monsters! GOOD ACTION!

Flat Stanley goes SubSea...

If you look closely at the upright bar on th sub you will see "Flat Stanley" tie-wrapped to the vehicle. One of the supervisors on board has a young kid and apprently this is the new craze for kids. I had never heard about it, but apparently this character travels all over the world with parents and gets his picture taken at different locations.

I am willing to bet this is the first time he has been to the bottom of the Indian Ocean! hahaha!

On Deck...

A recent shot of me operating the winch to bring the sub back up on deck. In the backround in the AllSeas Lorelay in full pipelay mode. It's a really impressive vessel, as are most of the vessels working in this field!

Laying Concrete Mattresses...

The majority of the work we are doing these days are Concrete Mattress Lays for pipe crossings. These matts range from 11 - 17 Tons and are used to protect existing pipes from chaffing from new pipes being laid over top. These particular matts are the biggest I have ever seen, 17 Tons, 20 feet long x 10 feet wide and about 1 foot thick. They are held together by heavy poly-rope.

We use the cable loop seen here and the manipulator (robotic "arm") to guild them into place while they swing on the end of the crane wire from approximately 600 meters up on the surface. It's quite tricky, all things considered, especially when one false moove can stir up the silty bottom and hamper visibility for up to a half hour at a time.

This is what a good matt placement looks like, almost seamless, it appears perfectly lined up, without a space between the two. The project tolerance on this particular job is 11 inches, however within the ROV group we rarely stand for mor than 6 inches off...mostly out of pride...hahaha!

SUNSET STRIP...

The sunsets here are amazing... I always heard that it's pollution that makes more increadible sunsets, which I can only assume it the cause of this. I guess that's a small positive in the great big negative that is pollution.

Monster umbilical loaded...

Here's a shot of a very big umbilical just loaded on the barge... We are heading out to lay this badboy in the next couple days...

Crazy Mexican...hahaha...

Oscar Rivera, my co-worker on my shift, is a really funny Mexican. This is his best Indian impersonation...hahahaha! As you can see by the book, he is learning a lot about their culture!

Amoung others, his current nickname is Fez, because he looks just the that character from "that 70's show"....

Allseas Fleet...

This is a merged picture of all the Allseas vessels working around us in the field. Amoung them is the Lorelay and it's sister ship, two of the biggest pipelaying vessels in the world. Combined with our vessel and the other 5-6 vessels working out here, Reliance group is spending easlily over US$1M a day on this project, which speaks volumes for the company chaired and partly owned by the richest man in the world...Mukesh Ambani.

Fishing boats returning home...

It's actually quite crazy to see...every evening when the sun sets at least 100 small fishing boats make their way past the oil field back to shore. It looks like a scene from the movie TROY. Considering the distance we are from shore and the low technology of the vessels, it's suprising that many are not lost. Luckily for them the water is very calm this time of year. Occasionally they stop next to the boat and ask/beg for a little "western" food, unfortunately it is against the rules to give them any. Probly better that way as if we encourage that we may end up with all 100 boats alongside! The othernight one or two of them stuck around the boat all night handlining 30-40 pound tunas by the dozen...it was the first moment I wished I could have been in their boat...perhaps it was the only such moment!

The Triton XLS system that I work on...

Triton XLS Work Class ROV SystemsThe Triton XLS, up to 150-hp work class ROV systems, represent the latest design in Perry Slingsby’s highly successful Triton XL series. The enhancements to the previous system include improved performance and upgraded controls features, increased depth capabilities and a significantly longer 650-meter tether cable. The XLS’s 3,000 kg (6,600 lbs) of lifting capability provides a platform for a wide variety of tooling modules and custom intervention work skids. Depth-rated up to 3,000 meters (9,800 feet), and designed specifically for deep and ultra deepwater operations, the Triton XLS is ideal for construction and intervention operations around the world.

Home away from home...

Here is a good photo of my new home away from home, MSV EXPRESS, she is 560 Feet long and can travel up to 12 Knots, which makes for a lot of walking around deack to get the job done. Great vessel though and a really cool crew.