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That one week in the Gulf of Mexico where everything went right for a change
I had a stretch last spring working on a pile driving job near Galveston. Usually those jobs are a grind with bad viz and constant equipment issues. But this one week the weather laid down flat, the current was mild, and the water cleared up to maybe 8 feet. I got three full days of bottom work done without a single blown o-ring or comms problem. My tender even had my coffee waiting right when I surfaced each time. The job wrapped up two days early and the client bought us all lunch at a seafood spot on the pier. Has anyone else had a job where the stars just aligned like that? I'm still waiting for another one to match it.
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rose_reed24d ago
Had a similar run on a wreck salvage job off Cape Hatteras two years ago. Everything clicked - the lift bag inflated perfect on the first try, the chain saw cut through a tangled prop shaft like butter, and the surface crew didn't once mess up the hand signals. My mask didn't even fog up which never happens for me. We finished the whole structural survey in three days instead of five and the skipper bought the whole crew steaks and beers that night. Still chasing that kind of luck again.
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joel_clark3724d ago
Man you got lucky but that kind of perfect run usually means you missed something big. I've seen it happen where everything goes too smooth on a wreck salvage and then a week later you find out the lift bag slipped or a cable cut loose because nobody double checked anything. The skipper buying steaks and beers sounds nice but I bet he was just happy you finished early so he didn't have to pay for extra crew days. That chain saw through the prop shaft is sketchy too, those things can kick back hard if the metal is twisted just right. Next time a mask doesn't fog up I'd be suspicious something else is about to go wrong.
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linda_dixon4924d ago
Aw man, come on, is it really that serious though? I get that things can go sideways underwater, but sometimes a good day is just a good day. Maybe the mask didn't fog because you actually dried it right for once, or the current was just calm as glass. Not every smooth run means you're about to get punished by the ocean gods, sometimes you just caught a break and the universe wasn't trying to test you.
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