Life on rig

When I started with this job, a lot of friends started to ask how is it like to be on a rig? Especially on an offshore rig?

I have to admit, most of the time I can't help but to wonder as well as I have heard so much about it and yet haven't got a chance to experience it due to the trainings and preparation that I have to go through.

Let's start with the chopper part. Yea, most of the offshore rigs are accessible via chopper. Of course one can choose to go on a crew boat, but the journey is longer and the sea is rougher! So yea, chopper saves you all the seasickness. Nevertheless, it's quite dangerous to go by chopper as well especially during bad weather. Fortunately for me, the day when I took the chopper the sky was quite clear and the journey was quite smooth that I dozed off few times during the one hour flight (which is not a safe thing to do).

There isn't much difference between taking a plane and taking a helicopter i guess, except the part that helicopter lifted up vertically without you knowing it. :) It was like one second I was on land, another second I was on air! I didn't even know it until i saw the buildings getting smaller. And throughout the whole journey everyone was very quiet, all you could hear was "Chup Chup Chup", so it was kinda rhythmic and for me it kinda serve as a lullaby. hmm... :)

Upon landing on the rig, a safety induction was necessary. Each one of us was given a bed in a either 2,3 or 4 persons sharing room. All the rooms were air con equipped and all the beds have curtains around them. The curtains are for you to close around your bed when you are sleeping because normally the people in the room will have different shifts. So most of the time, only two or sometimes one person in the room, normally you don't get to see your roommates though unless you come back to the room during your shift. :) The room came with a TV as well, with Astro channels such as HBO, Star Movie, Discovery and so on. Not a bad life huh?

The toilets were shared of course, and oh yea! everyone was given a tower and soap as well. Laundry services are available as well for free and they worked real quick! They could get your clothes ready within 5 to 6 hours and the clothes were cleaner than those commercial laundry shops out there in town.

Food wise, guess what? It's too luxurious. 6 meals a day-Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Supper and two breaks. the main 4 meals they serve all kind of good food, steaks, lamp chops, fish and chips, salmon(yes, whole big salmon for you to cut and they will top up once the salmon was finished), chicken, ducks, noodles, pasta, soups and so on. Besides, they served Japanese food as well because on the rig was basically owned by Japanese Company. :) So yea, I am gaining weight everyday.

Besides all that, the rig had a TV room with 60 inch TV (yes, the big plasma TV) equipped with surround sound system. Awesome huh? Yes, it was wired with Astro service. :)

Well, of course, that's the life part, let's go to the work. Basically everyone was on 12 hours shift, mine was from 12 am to 12 pm. The containers and the work site were just beside the accommodation compartment, so if we just opened the door and we could hear all the machineries and engines running. Surrounding us, of course, were the sea water, nothing could be seen at the horizon except waters. Deep blue sea. It reminded me of the movie, with sharks under the water. *shivers*

Guess what, my company's equipment was mounted on top of the deep blue sea (on the well), we could see the seawater waving and rising below us. and one of the job description was to "manride" the equipment and fix or unfix the joints of the equipment. That sent a lot of chills down my spine. *gulp*

I would say it was a heavy industry work going on here. So a lot of attention were given to the safety of the personnels. I suppose that's the price to pay right? :) Currently the operation is a bit delayed and I guess I won't be back home anytime sooner. :(

Ohya, did I forget to mention I was swaying every single minute? :) It's a semi submersible, it is supposed to sway. haha..hopefully I don't get any motion sickness when the waves get stronger.

Cheers people. :)