The Midnight Star

On 7/13/2010, CalDive International decided to hire me. Prior to all of this there was an excruciating amount of pre-planning, organizing, re-organizing, arranging, re-arranging, etc. The beginning of July I flew down to Lafayette, LA from Central Wisconsin Airport. It took 4 airports and 10 hours to get to this heat haven. I booked a room at the Days Inn, at New Iberia, for 5 nights. I began reconnecting with all of my classmates who also got hired on with CalDive. Some of them were actually on shore for a bit. We had a blast in the pool a couple of nights in a row. Let us just say a beer or two and “Pass the Bail-out,” in the pool of course.

Later that week I started to get things lined up for my Interview. If you spend a considerable amount of time and energy preparing for something, it goes a lot smoother, trust me. The actual interview was really all the information we were told on the conference call a month before we graduated DIT. I was relieved. My Interview for Home Depot years prior was way more intensive than this. The following day I was sent off to start the “In Depth,” dive physical. Including a strength test, two UA’s and a blood exam, a respirator fit test, hearing test, hot/cold, sharp/dull, reflexes, Spinal MRI, X-rays, I could actually keep going but I will spare you.

After the rigorous physical, the week of training started. This stuff was basically the same info we learned in dive school, other than “Safe Gulf,” training. Just info crap. The only physical part of the training was seeing if you could jump in the water with a hat and run loss of gas drills. One of the first things we learned in school. Using our bail-out bottles and sticking the pneumo up in our hats. Cake walk.

I concluded my training and began working in the Dive Shop. This shop takes care of most of the gear and tools needed to keep a dive station up and running. I learned all kinds of stuff that I had no idea about prior. Like CP hose fittings, how to rebuild them, check them for leaks. Rebuilding umbilical’s CalDive’s way. Putting together third party job-boxes. Three weeks of this labor, adjusting to the heat and trying to out-work the old shop hands. Than my luck struck.

On a Friday afternoon I got a txt from our main office. It read “Midnight Star Mobes up, do you need the van?” I was thinking what in the hell does this mean? Puzzled, finally I asked my room-mate. Midnight Star = The boat, Mobes = Mobilizes, do you need the van = do you need a ride to Port Fourchon, because it is 3 hours away. I quickly replied. Later I got a reply saying Saturday, Broussard, 2000hrs, And that was all the information I needed. So I started packing my offshore bag.

I don’t exactally remember how I felt that first day of the very first hitch, I’m guessing a combination of anxious, nervous, tireless, uncertain. I mean it took a good couple of weeks just to warm up to the crew. I have never put myself in such a stressful atmosphere willingly. It took a great deal of adjusting. That first 20 hours I was awake. Three hours to travel from our office pickup location to Port. Another 5 hours to Travel to our destination from port. Then I began the night shift. Twenty straight hours. The only time I had done that was maybe partying or video games, never while sweating running around in steel toes and a hard-hat.

8/22/10 Today I got my FIRST Gulf of Mexico dive! As a red-hat tender! Yes, also on my first hitch. I must be doing something right. Even though I still get ridiculed, hollered at, cut down, and disheveled, my Lead Tender convinced my Supervisor to throw me in for one quick project. Climb under the stern and grab the down-line off the back of the boat. Simple, maybe, but have you ever seen the underside of an ocean-worthy dive vessel? I bet not. It was actually pretty simple, 30 ft. deep and 7 minutes of motivation. Serious, jaw dropping motivation. I didn’t even need to wear a wet-suit, it was bath-tub warm with 30+ feet of visibility, An experience never to forget.

7/23/10, today I messed up, first I attempted to start the jet pump, but the clutch was engaged. Then I got yelled at because I didn’t check the fluids in advance. Despite all that, we were in the process of retrieving our stern anchors from the tug today, one step is to tie a throw line to the pendant wire so the tug has something to catch when the wire comes back to them. It is also what gets thrown back to us, so we can retrieve this 1 ½ steel cable, that connects the anchor to the buoy. Anyway this whole process shouldn’t take more than a minute. But I missed the tug three times. I struck out as they say in baseball.

I couldn’t get the damn thing to land in the boat. There is a certain way to throw this stupid thing, and ofcorse I was ill informed. Never have I had to throw out 50 feet of ½ inch polypro line with a monkeys fist in the end. Of course there was a lesson in it for me.

Definitely wasn’t my best day thus far on my first hitch, but we had a lot of downtime, and that was ok. All in all I am making it by just fine. I just need to find it within myself to come to terms with everything. Roll with the punches and start enjoying what I do, no matter how mind numbingly difficult it may be. Rumor has it our contract with Shell is going to be done in 2 or so weeks, which means 2 more weeks of pay, and some well needed home time, oh glory! Maybe I can afford a real bed now.

So that’s the low down so far, till next time. Love me do. Ryan Wierzbicki