Message in the bottle

14:00

Can’t sleep well last night. Earlier the company man told us that we’re gonna start pumping around early morning or after midnight, so around 9 pm I was already prepared to lie down and relax a bit before the job. Tried to read a book, it didnt make me fall asleep. Turned on the ipod, didnt help either… grmph… turned on my laptop, good thing the internet was working that time, though the connection speed is as slow as a dial-up.

Looked at some old pictures, browsed through some blogs, and it hit me how I really miss my friends… Fell asleep around 1 am (finally). Had various dreams, all strange dreams. Suddenly, Rafael, my colleague on board, woke me up to let me know that we’re about to start pumping soon.

With a part of my soul still in another world, I talked to him in Indonesian, telling him I’ll meet him by the unit asap… He was so confused… haha poor guy.

It was 8am, thank God, we didnt have to start pumping earlier. 7 hrs of sleep is supposed to be enough. Problem is, I didnt have time to brush my teeth, neither to wash my face. Geez, I must have looked very attractive.

The pumping itself went fast, 24 bbl of MEG with 0.4 bpm. I hardly touched the console. From where I stood, I looked around, and all I can see is blue vast ocean… all the way to the horizon. So here I have a question… I'm sure someone has thought about this and known the answer too… How much is the distance from the place where I stood to the horizon? How far is that point in the horizon?

All I can think of, it should be a function of the earth’s radius, and the altitude of my eyes. Well, maybe??

A note to myself: a guy on the rig told me that a helicopter can travel with a speed between 180-200 km/hr. So it is estimated that the rig is currently around 180 km from shore. (Probably less though, cause the airport in Itanhaem may not be the closest point from here to land)

15.30

The weather is not really good today. Really cloudy, windy, and sun is hiding itself from us. As I’ve expected, the flight to/from the rig for today is cancelled for safety reasons. According to the guy in the radio room (whom I asked last night), what affect helicopters more are visibility (cloudy, foggy, or clear), and not whether it rains or not. So even though it`s not raining yet here, looking at the grey clouds covering the sky, I am not surprised the flights were cancelled.

I went to talk to the company man, and he confirmed that tomorrow I may disembark. Yay!! A good news :) Imagine this, I`ve been staying here for only 5 days, and I just can't wait to go back to land. Whew, my respect goes to those people who manages to work off-shore for years.

OOT, today in Macae one of my colleagues (the one that adores Gudang Garam cigarettes) is celebrating his bday. And supposedly I am among the few from the base that got invited :) Too bad I'm gonna miss it.

I was shown a place on the rig where I can stay without coveralls and see the sea. How nice. I stayed there for a while, looking at a fishing boat that stays close from the rig, the distance is around 10-15 meters maybe. Interesting view, I can see some people on the boat, all with raincoats, and each is holding like a wooden stick for fishing. Surprised, I ask one of the guys I made friends here, how come they are doing that… I thought they would have just thrown a net… Isnt that faster and they can get more fishes that way? He told me that it depends on the type of fish they want to catch… Really? I guess I knew nothing about fishing… Interesting…

Quite a strong wind today and the sea is aggressive. I can see that the fishing boat is moving so much. I feel so fortunate that I am here, on the rig, and not there. And yet the fishing boat’s crew don't seem to get scared with this. They stand firmly, at the edge of the boat, throwing their baits to the sea. I wonder where they come from, do they come from a small city by the sea, just near Sao Paulo? Why do they want to do this? Do they come from a family of fishermen? Do they earn good amount of money? If they have a choice, will they do this job?

A few minutes before I was about to complain that the rig is small, I hardly can walk anywhere and that it moves a lot. After seeing this fishing boat, I know I better keep my mouth shut.

17:00

The fishing boat has gone. The sea is not blue now, it’s grayish, just like the color of the sky it is reflecting.

P.S. Finally I have time to post some writings from my days on Celtic Sea, put them in May.