Alas! We have arrived the first site and the drilling crew have started the assembly of drill pipes and core barrels! They have to attach over 500m worth of initial piping for the 520m water depth that we have at the site. While the JR is on Dynamic Positioning (DP) mode, the Captain can now rest his feet and let the ship maintain location using inbuilt thrusters.
Like everyone else, the drilling crew started drilling almost halfway through my night shift and they continued until the sun rose, and still the 500m worth of pipes were only completed by time my shift was over at midday.
Sometimes, they have to swing about to get all the parts attached.
Other times, they get to use fancy machinery to attach pipes together.
The derrick is so high so that attaching pipes in between would be possible.
I do not know much about the drill floor. All I can say is that it looks pretty cool and I am very impressed with the crew working outdoors, rain or shine with all these heavy machinery and noise around them; not to mention the humidity and the heat too!
Very soon there will be the first core on deck – and I absolutely look forward to it!
–Anna Ling
Anna Ling is a Ph.D student in the Centre for Carbonate Research in the Department of Marine Geosciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.
