My first rotation here coming to an end.

     Before I begin this blog, if you click on each photograph, it will enlarge for better viewing.  The satellite photograph of Israel and our location is hard to see unless it is enlarged.

 

      My first rotation on this drilling rig ends tomorrow.  Hard to believe that I have been in Israel for over a month.  Little drilling of the well was accomplished because the military evacuated us several times to practice firing missles to intercept other missles.  Since we were in their practice area, we were required to evacuate the rig at 4:30 a.m., either go to a hotel onshore for a few days or remain on the boat to return to the rig about 5:00 p.m.  Spending so much time traveling back and forth, I felt like I was on a cheap Mediterranean cruise, 10 miles at a time!

 

     One of the two boats that transports us to and from the rig.  It is basically built for transporting cargo.  



 

 

     We travel back and forth on one of two identical boats to get from shore to the rige and back.  The second photo, which is below, has a yellow circle on it.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see some people being lifted from the boat onto the rig.  Basically, a ‘basket’ for the lack of a better term is lowered by the crane to the deck of the boat.  After donning life jackets and clipping ourselves to the center pole, four at a time stand on this platform, holding onto ropes and the crane lifts the group up to the rig.  Sort of a cheap carnival ride!

  

 

 

                                                                            Mahi Mahi

 

     The picture above didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped it would.  Being taken from 70+ feet above the water with a long camera lens didn’t capture the bright colors of the Mahi Mahi that are swimming around the rig.  They have a bright blue to emerald colored body with sunflower yellow tails and fins. The dorsal fin which is the same color as the body runs the entire length of the back from the head to the tail.  This one is probably about 6 or so feet long.  They can swim at over 50 miles per hour.

     I leave the rig on Wednesday and Dale arrives on Saturday.  We have rented an apartment in Jerusalem and will be visiting as many Biblical sights as we can in the time we have there before flying to Rome for more sightseeing.

Location in the Mediterranean

This photo is from Google Earth

Please  click  on the photos to enlarge them.

     This picture is from Google Earth. I added the latitude and longitude of our location in the Mediterranean along with two previous wells drilled here. We are drilling the Yam 3 and are west of Ashdod, Israel.

       A large storm passed through here over the past several days which included winds with 70 miles per hour gusts and seas with swells of 30’ to 40’. Basically we were shut down because it was too dangerous for the crews to be out on deck for fear of being blown overboard. From a previously posted picture, you can see that we are high over the sea so there wasn’t a chance one of the swells would come over the deck. The bottom of the rig is 65’ above the water. I am on the 4th floor of the living quarters so it was hard to determine how high the swells were getting.

Swells during the storm

     At the same time, the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem was closed due to snow. Since we are at the same latitude as northern Florida, I’m sure it didn’t take much snow to close it down. The temperature here should be in the mid 60’s this time of year so it was quite a change.

     The person I am working with Tel Aviv said there were hundreds of abandoned umbrellas that had been turned inside out by the wind littering the streets.

Israeli coast at night

     Since the weather has improved, I took a picture of the coast line last night. It is hard to believe that we are 10 miles offshore when looking at the coast line. I can see Tel Aviv to the north east and directly east is Ashdod.

In Israel Finally, after many delays my job in Israel happened. I left the US on December 28th, arriving in Tel Aviv on the 29th. Working in the office, it wasn’t until the 2nd of January when I left Tel Aviv and was driven south to Ashdod where we boarded a crew boat to take us to the offshore rig that I had time to take a couple of pictures. The rig is the Atwood Beacon and was located 10 miles off shore in the Mediterranean. The daytime temperatures have been in the mid 60 degrees with nighttime being about 6 to 10 degrees colder. From the rig, the coastline of Israel, especially at night certainly doesn’t look 10 miles away.

The harbor leaving Ashdod, Israel Our location is in the middle of the Israeli Navy’s training area so occasionally see several military ships off to the north and west.

I am not getting stooped, the boat is rocking in the water so I am holding on. This well is supposed to last about 120 days with me rotating every 30 days. At the end of January, I will leave here and wait for Dale to arrive on February 2nd. At that time, we will begin our sightseeing for the month of February which hopefully will include not only Israel but Greece and Italy. I will be including pictures of our travels on this site at that time. If I see something interesting to take a picture of, I will include it in the meantime.

The Atwood Beacon The drilling rig section is on the right with the helicopter landing pad being on the left end and living and working quarters to the right of that below the crane. The legs of the rig are on the sea floor which is 300 feet below the surface. This is my first attempt at adding pictures to this blog. I will be making changes to it as I figure the system out.