Ocean Star Offshore Rig Museum - Galveston Texas

I've written about the Ocean Star Museum before.  I was so excited about this trip to Galveston, TX because I planned on visiting it again. If I didn't do anything else this whole trip - this was the one thing I knew for sure I was going to do.  Unfortunately the first couple of days we were in Galveston it was rainy and from my experience its no fun to be on the rigs when it is rainy so I waited for a day when I knew we would have good weather. It was well worth the wait. 
  The first time I saw it I really liked it a lot because it was so typical of the offshore rigs in the mid 1980 when I used to work offshore (1986). When I first started to work (1981) we didn't even have fax machines or satellite connection, and the computers we used would take up a whole floor of an office building. But in a few short years all of that changed.   I loved working offshore because they would always have the latest and most advance technology available.  I can recall them getting the first fax machines for my company and satellite connections and personal stations for the computer to work at..  It used to boggle my mind to be 120 miles offshore and being able to communicate with the home office.  Now-a-days I'm sure the offshore rigs would look like nothing I used to work with 30 years ago.  That's what makes this rig so special because it still has the look and technology of the 1980's rigs and reminded me so much of what I was used to working with. 
  This time it was even more special to me because I got to show it to my son, and he was able to ask a ton of questions about what I used to do and what things were used for.  I was amazed at how much I recalled and how many of his questions I was able to satisfy.  Sometimes I would give him too much info on an item and I could see his eyes glaze over, but other times I could see the light go off in his head and knew he was really understanding what I was telling him.  I also liked the fact that when I couldn't recall what a certain thing was right away if I looked around I could usually find a description close by, or I was able to refer to the self guiding souvenir guide book I had got.

OCEAN STAR Offshore drilling rig and museum, Galveston TX

 The view you get when you first pull up to it.

A view of the entrance to the Ocean Star

And this is right before you actually can get on to the rig.  I must admit I really liked getting onto an offshore rig this way.  Before for when I would get on a rig I was either ferried in by a work boat or by a helicopter. 

Once inside you are in the area that would have been the cafeteria/ general hang out area of the rig.  There was a person there to help you start on your tour.  The first exhibit was this one where it explains that the Ocean Star was once a Jack-up rig and how it was positioned on the ocean floor.  

This is the scaled model of the Ocean Star, which was built in 1969 at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Beaumont TX for the Odeco fleet.  Diamond Offshore Drilling then acquired it, and finally it was decommission in 1984.  In 1995 she was turned into a museum by the Offshore Energy Center.

In the museum area they talked about the history of offshore drilling.  My son liked seeing this board showing that some of the earliest offshore drilling started in the parish in which we live in 1911.  Its hard to believe that this type of drilling has only been around for 100 years. 

 

I liked this display because this showed what was going on when I entered the industry back in 1981.

This one was good because it gave a geologic perspective to the areas that get drilled.

This one showed how they first find an area with seismic work.

Below is a scaled model of a seismic boat

This is a model showing directional drilling.  Offshore wells use a lot of directional drilling.  It was nice to see how they explained it, since its not the easiest thing to explain to a child.

This didn't turn out the best, but I liked it because it showed where the off shore wells have been drilled in the Gulf of Mexico in this area.  .

My son liked this one because it showed the 'Devils Tower Spar Platform Model' this is the worlds deepest spar. 

I thought this one very informative showing how a well is completed.  My son asked about the Horizon oil spill and I was able to show him some about it using this display.

This was another good one showing how the well is completed.

He wanted to know what oil looked liked in the ground and so I pointed to these cores that had  oil in them.  you don't notice it here but with each core they showed different degrees of tightness - going from sandstone to shale.

I had told my son about the different drill bits and he was interested to find out that there are ones that are made with diamonds in them.  I explained the diamonds were industrial grade stones, things that would never be used as jewelry but still he found it fascinating that they would use them.  I like this exhibit because it showed the different drill bits and how they were made and what they would be used for.

Here's a close up of the drill bit I saw used the most.

He asked how the cores were gotten and I explained that there were special pipes that were used to get them.  We then saw what a typical drill pipe looked like on the inside and how it connected together.

I then explained to him that getting core samples were very expensive and most of the wells would not have cores, but instead they would look at the cuttings that the drill bits would make.  He then asked how would we know if we were in the right place to get the oil.  I told him that they used special tools that were put into the ground and based on the information that was sent back you could figure out what zone you were in.  It was so neat to be able to show him the logging tools that would send the information back.

He liked seeing this one.  I didn't recall seeing this one when I was on the rig so I figured it must have been a tool used for setting casing, since that was normally the time I was done with the job and would be heading back to the office.

There were other things that caught his attention like this Power Tongs.

Or this WASP Atmospheric Diving System (ADS)

He really liked this Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROVs)

And playing on the 'Billy Pugh' Personnel Basket.  I told him when you arrive by boat you have to use this to get onto the rig.  He thought it would be fun to do but I told him it wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be, especially after you've done it a couple of times or if the water was really rough when you were leaving the ship. At first he tried to climb into it and I told him you put your bag in the middle and had to stand on the side and hold on like he is in this picture.

He liked seeing the typical sleeping quarters. He made the comment that his bedroom at home was bigger than that.  And I responded, - you're lucky because you have your room to your self while on the rig you would have to share it with someone else or more likely 3 other people ( 2 shifts -12 hours shifts; people rotate using the beds). I told him that was very much the way it was like on the rig.  There was very little privacy when you are on a rig. 

Finally we were able to get to the rig floor out through some doors.  He wanted to go right up to the drilling floor but I kept on stopping to look at the other stuff that was there along the path.  Here's what you see when you first come outside.

In the center of the picture is drill pipe and also some drill collars on the pipe ramp.

Below the thing in red is a cementing unit.

The sign explaining what that was.  As you can see it was stop number 16 on the self guided tour.  The guide book and the sign have the exact same wording on things so it was easier to read the signs with the large print than the guide book at this point.

The next picture is of a Christmas Tree (green device).  My son thought that it was funny to call this thing a Christmas Tree.  He did joke around about not wanting a Tree like that for Christmas.  I told him I wouldn't mind one like that if it meant we had an interest in an oil well that needed something like that.

The white piece of equipment is a subsea Christmas Tree.  This type of equipment is what fail with the Horizon oil well blowout last year in the Gulf Coast that was such a disaster.

My son was curious why there would be this piece of equipment on a rig.  It's a Hyperbaric Chamber.  I told him that it was sometimes needed for scuba divers that would do work on the rigs deep in the water.  It kept the divers from getting the bends.  He asked me if I had ever been in one and I said 'thankfully no'.  I've never had much luck with scuba diving - I have trouble stabilizing my ears and never could get a padi card.

The next yellow device is a Top Drive.  It is the piece of equipment that rotates the drill pipe so that it can make a hole in the ground.

Normally you would never be allowed to go up into the drilling booth but since this was a museum you could go and see it.  It takes a lot of training to become a driller and I can understand why when you see all these different lever and gauges you have to keep monitoring while the well is being drilled.  I enjoyed looking at everything, since it was so rare for me to see this stuff. Too bad it wasn't in action, that would have been really fascinating to watch.

A closer look at the gauges and levers used in drilling a well.

This section had to do with controlling the mud pits and the fluids that were used in drilling the wells.

The bottom of this yellow thing is the Kelly, Then in the middle is the Swivel, and above that is the hook.  Coming off of this is the black hose called the rotary (Kelly) hose.  (I noticed that the next few items were not in the guide book, but I was appreciative of the fact I had been on a rig and knew what they were and could tell my son about them.)

The Red and yellow is the rotary table assembly.

Here's more drill bits that would normally sit on the floor so that they could be easily changed out.  Most of the time you wouldn't have such a wide selection of bits.

Next I looked up the Derick.  I thought this was so neat to see.  The yellow piece is the Traveling block.

The Red devices is the Choke Manifold

My son was surprise to see the big crane on the rig.  I told him that it was used all the time.  Every movable thing that is on the rig is brought up by that crane.  As he could see there were some pretty big pieces of equipment there that were all hauled up by that crane.  The crane was so big we couldn't get it in one shot and had to take two to get it all.

My son thought I was taking a picture of the helicopter, which I was but was also trying to get that white circular thing to the left of the helicopter.  It is a Jack-up Leg.  The Jack-up legs are what the Ocean Star sits on. 

Every offshore rig has these devices on them.  They are the escape pod or capsules in case you have to abandon the rig.  You have to be trained in order to know how to use them.  I always liked the fact that they are totally enclosed  and are bright orange and they have equipment on board so that you can be found at see.  One pod can hold up to twenty eight people. 

Here's a pod in its original position on the Ocean Star.

My son asked me where I spent most of my time when I was on a rig and I told him it was usually in one of two places.  The Mudlogging Cabin or the Wire line Servicing Unit.  I very rarely was anywhere else since the rigs can be so hazardous to be around.  I felt safe and secure in these areas and that was were most of my work was done anyway. 

And here's what  typical Mud logging cabin looked like on the inside.  Unfortunately we were not able to actually go inside of one and just had to look in through Plexiglas panels.

And here's what the Ocean Star says about the Wire Line Servicing Unit

Here's my son poking his head into it and commenting about how small the area was.  I couldn't argue with him there. 

Sorry these aren't better pictures but I had to use the flash and it reflected back off of the Plexiglas.

Another picture of inside a Wire Line Servicing Unit.

And finally I just had to include this picture so you could see what was across the bay.  It was a yard that had the Jack up legs stored.  They are a lot more impressive to see in person than from looking at them in this image.

And another view of  Jack-up legs.  Notice how big they are compared to the ship that is next to one.

Needless to say I had a great time at the Ocean Star and was so glad my son was able to go and see it with me.  I must admit there is a whole lot more to see and do at that museum but I just covered stuff that caught my interest or wasn't covered by the guide book that I felt like needed to be added.

If you ever get a chance to go to Galveston you definitely should make the Ocean Star a place to visit. 

Now I muse upon when I'll be able to get to visit it again.