Pics from Africa

[I make oil]

LOL. No there is a area at the back that is open the motor is there. The guy in the back is driving it in the pic. Sorta like a gill net boat.

[OnePunchRex]

Awesome pics, is that looter-dude in the last pic on pg2?

[I make oil]

Guy's who work in the Gulf might find this interesting. Here in Nigeria this is our means of transportation around the field. I S**T you not. This is how we move around from one place to another offshore in the field.

[DUCKGOGETTER]

Sweet pics

[I make oil]

I've spent most of my time in my office in Lagos, conference rooms, hotels, and Airplanes lately. I have finally been able to get back offshore and it feels like I'm home. I guess I am a field man first. Be careful what you work towards in your career you might just get it and find its not all you thought it would be.

Anyways, I was doing a tour of one of my fields last week and I see a shipwreck about 1/4 mile away from one of the platforms. I ask the operators where did that come from?! No one could answer. I then went near it to get the coordinates for a report I sent to the Marine dept and took these pictures. Crazy the things you see. It appears the ship had some sort of explosion mid ships. If you look you see the life raft is still on the ship. I wonder if they made it off. Creepy.

[Trout rivers]

That's pretty creepy! You would think someone knew something about that ship?

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by I make oil

I've spent most of my time in my office in Lagos, conference rooms, hotels, and Airplanes lately. I have finally been able to get back offshore and it feels like I'm home. I guess I am a field man first. Be careful what you work towards in your career you might just get it and find its not all you thought it would be.

Anyways, I was doing a tour of one of my fields last week and I see a shipwreck about 1/4 mile away from one of the platforms. I ask the operators where did that come from?! No one could answer. I then went near it to get the coordinates for a report I sent to the Marine dept and took these pictures. Crazy the things you see. It appears the ship had some sort of explosion mid ships. If you look you see the life raft is still on the ship. I wonder if they made it off. Creepy.

I'd ship my pants if I seen something like that happen.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by I make oil

I've spent most of my time in my office in Lagos, conference rooms, hotels, and Airplanes lately. I have finally been able to get back offshore and it feels like I'm home. I guess I am a field man first. Be careful what you work towards in your career you might just get it and find its not all you thought it would be.

Anyways, I was doing a tour of one of my fields last week and I see a shipwreck about 1/4 mile away from one of the platforms. I ask the operators where did that come from?! No one could answer. I then went near it to get the coordinates for a report I sent to the Marine dept and took these pictures. Crazy the things you see. It appears the ship had some sort of explosion mid ships. If you look you see the life raft is still on the ship. I wonder if they made it off. Creepy.

At least they dropped anchor


Sent

[jpeff31787]

awesome pics man!! Don't stop posting! All very interesting, the whale pic you grabbed was beautiful!

[swamp snorkler]

How much are thos Zodiak Skippers making a day?

[I make oil]

Yeah that ship is creepy as heck. I didn't even want to get any closer. No named or info on it either I could see. We notified the govt early this week when I first found it and they've never come out to check it. Can you imagine something like this in the U.S.? It would be all over the news, Coast Guard would be all over it would be nuts. Here. No one even blinks.

The Zodiac drivers make the Equivilant to $400.00 US a month and they are glad for the jobs. These guys can't even sign their own names but they can keep these POS Yanmar diesel outboards going with spit, duck tape and wire. Nigerians for the most part are good people just trying to make a way in this difficult world to best they can.

[tboy]

All very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Duffy.yyz]

This is a very interesting thread. Thank you for sharing.

[jkcckc2002]

awesome pictures. makes you think about all the stuff we take for granted. whish everyone in the US would stop and think how good it is here and not act like they are OWED it all!

[lsufish]

Best things I've ever seen on this site, and I don't mean that negatively. These are really interesting. Please keep them coming.

[I make oil]

It's nice to see the intrest.

I spent the first part of my adult life as a Marine. While in the Corps I had a Gunny who was a true mentor to me. He told me Benjy as you go through life you can make it what you want it to be. Try to experience everything you can and to make those experiences positive for both yourself and those around you. I've taken that advice and pretty much made it my personal mission. Every place I go I attempt to experience as much as possible and to make a positive impact on those around me. I don't just stay in my hotel room. I get out and try to see and experience much of the place as possible. This is a big reason I am the person I am. I owe him more than he will ever know. I only wish I could talk to him today and thank him.


As I travel I often meet children who have had none to very little interaction with a white man. They see us on TV but many have never actually seen a white person. They are totally fascinated and want to touch me and be near me. I think its pretty cool and try to make the experience as good as possible. I usually keep cookies or candy in my bag to give them. It helps to make friends fast. LOL

[I make oil]

There is a level of poverty in the world that we as Westerners cannot even fathom. The thing is these people don't even know they are poor. The life they live is all they know. Who is really worse off in this world? Us or them?

[I make oil]

In the US we hear about slavery and how the white man wronged blacks. SMH. In Africa you don't hear it that way. Slavery was just a fact. It was something that happened. In fact it still happens in some places. Now I'm not saying it's something that they are proud of it is just something that is. Just another part of the struggle that is life. I find the attitude towards it here very interesting. There are actually slavery museums and it is often in Art. Here is a picture I saw in a local restaurant for sale. It was very well done and a nice piece of art. I wonder how people here would react if they saw this hanging in a resturant.

[Marque]

I've been to Lagos. In 1999 or 2000 I can't remember. I was in the Marines. I was with the 22 Marine Expeditnary Unit. MEU's are the Marines that are aboard ships for 6 month deployments. There is always one deployed on both coast. When Americans in other countries call 911, MEU's show up. One of the biggest missions they do is embassy reinforcements or evacuations. I was an intelligence guy so I got to go in and map all the evacuation routes and landing zones. The CIA keeps all that stuff in a data base but it has to be updated now and then. I remember Nigeria being a headache because there were so many US Nationals working over there. If they ever have to evacuate you guys out of there its going to be a goat rope. I think Nigeria is pretty stable though or at least is was 15 years ago. We were always worried about Liberia,Cote D'Ivoire, and Sierra Leone. Some interesting smells in Lagos. I didn't try the food, the restaurants I saw didn't look like they had been visited by the health department in a while.

[I make oil]

My first deployment as a Marine was with a MEU I was with 1/2 this was back in '88. We hit the same places you did. That was what started my interest in traveling. Funny you should mention it. Semper FI Marine.