First of all, sorry for the lack of posting. My Internet AND phone have been down for a few days. My phone hasn’t actually worked yet, and my Internet connection just went dead. Needless to say- I’ve felt disconnected from the rest of the world.
A few days ago one of the Twin Otter crews offered me a ride out to the Beaufort Sea on a cargo run for the big Shell oil rig ‘Kulluk’ that is being refurbished. We landed on a strip built out on the ice that even had a windsock, and lights. The Kulluk oil rig was quite a sight, a first for me!
The ride out was pretty amazing too, the landscape up here surrounding Inuvik is quite flat and desolate. The further North that we flew, the trees kept getting smaller and denser until we they vanished. Pretty neat stuff.
Stay tuned! More to come!
You’ve really captured the isolation one must feel out there. Nice job. Sounds like it must have been a blast.
You caught the emptiness of the landscape nicely.
Ya - I can’t imagine working on that rig day in and day out … no one would hear you if you yelled at the top of your lungs! I wonder what kind of wildlife they see out there…
Wow - awesome. You’re at the edge of the world.
Great photo - do you have any more?
My boyfriend works on the Kulluk. They see polar bears from time to time. The crew is actually escorted by guys on snowmobiles with shotguns when going to and from the rig. The shotguns are to scare the bears away if necessary.
I worked on the Rig ‘Kulluk’ based from Tuktoyuktuk in 1982, It was owned by Gulf Oil at the time, I have many pictures of the Rig and the sourounding Arctic frozen if any body wants to see it.
Regards, Jeff (now living in england.)
Yeah!
Sure was cold out there. I also have a throng of pics from Kulluk if you’re interested (full DVD).
Most of them were taken from croatian crew members.
Best regards from Croatia.
Good to hear its going back to work. I was a rousatabout back when it drilled a well for Arco
I worked on this project from the start until it was mothballed again. Now, I am working for the same company but in Malaysia. Quite a difference, but I pefer the arctic any day. Hopefully Shell is able to get on with refurbishing and I can have my old job back.
I also worked on a rotational basis for Dome/Canmar?Amoco back in the 80s/90s.
Who can forget the poor boys from Croatia who stayed on the Kulluk for up to 9 months I believe. And who, at the beginning, had to stay on the ice in a little “Cat Camp” And had to get escorted to the rig in the mornings and back in the evenings “just in case”
In case the Croats don’t rember me, my nick name turned out to be Santa…………..
My Dad worked on the Kulluk as a barge captain before i was born. i was wondering if anybody could send me some photos as he has very little.
looking for anyone who has worked on this rig in anyfason please contact reggie godwin@800-710-6655
or email @ rg@cc-i.net