Quick Impressions

Day four on the new boat, and I'm headed off watch and to the rack. I lost most of my second day on the boat to a violent bout of food poisoning, or a stomach bug, or some such. It was a real bummer.

Here are a few quick impressions ....

The boat doesn't look 13 years old. She's been well-maintained and the owners continue to invest in her.

She also is, as advertised, under-powered, under-ruddered and under-wheeled. That doesn't make it impossible to operate this vessel (in 13 years she's been without a job just three days), but it does make this boat very different from my last boat.

So, I'm back in learning mode.

We're supporting three drilling rigs (with favors to production as needed) in the West Delta field, running out of Grand Isle, La. Grand Isle is very literally the end of the road. Well, the road ends in the state park, but I can see it from the wheelhouse.

Barataria Pass and Bayou Rigaud are a lot easier than the Eugene Island Channel and the Atchafalaya.

It takes us about an hour-and-a-half to run the 20+ miles offshore to our rigs, and we're back at the dock a couple of times a day.

My phone works everywhere here, and so far as I know none of the minutes I'm using are costing me $.79 ea. 

AT&T, you never loved me anyway.

As usual, I'm missing the kiddos. Especially Son Number One, who turns 14 tomorrow. Other than that, though ... so far, so good. More soon.