The Source From On Board – USCG Cutter Decisive

I arrived at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport around 12:15pm on July 30th for my assignment with Bloomberg News, for the next 24 hours I would be embedded with with the crew on board the Coast Guard Cutter Decisive out near the source of the BP Deep Water Horizon well site.

My flight on a Coast Guard Dolphin Helicopter took off shortly after 1:00pm and we landed on the the Decisive about an hour later, but before we got to the ship, I was allowed to be hooked into a gunners belt and got aerial shots through the open door of the helicopter, it was a wild rush, something I’d never done before and an unforgettable experience. We only made one sweep around the source before heading to the coast guard cutter about 10 miles away. Below are a few of shots from the gunners belt looking out from the helicopter.

One thing immediately noticeable was the lack of visible oil on the surface of the gulf near the source, since capping the well, most of the oil has been picked up from the source, and on the entire flight in I could only see a sheen on the water, not spotting any heavy oil, at least on the flight path we took.

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II work to drill relief wells at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

After landing on the cutter me and the other media members embedded overnight on the Decisive were briefed on what we possibly may do over the next 24hrs. The first few hours that was not much to see, as the cutter was about 10 miles away from the BP well site, the plan was to be within three miles near sunset, which is as close as the cutter is allowed to be to the well site without an emergency situation. The Decisive had a three mile limit, but there were two search and rescue boats that could be deployed from the ship, these boats were allowed to be within one mile of the source, and near sunset on Thursday evening I was able to board the boat and get as close as I ever had been to the source by boat.

The ride on the small boat was a rough ride, waves were probably about three to four feet, which is considered to be relatively calm on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The ride out despite being a little rough was well worth it, as I came away with my favorite shots since starting coverage of the oil spill. Below are a few of the dramatic photos as the sun set on the 100th day of the BP Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II are silhouetted along with vessels leased by BP Plc near sunset at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Coast Guard Cutter Decisive passes in front of vessels working at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller II leased by BP Plc is seen at sunset as it works to drill a backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II are silhouetted along with vessels leased by BP Plc near sunset at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

As the sun set, the rigs were the only thing lighting the night sky as seen in the images below.

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II are seen lit up in the night sky at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Thursday, July 29, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

After returning the the Decisive, the boat headed back to a location ten miles from the source so there were no more photos to be made, I began to download the images and work on my photos, the next opportunity to shoot would be sun rise the following morning.

I got up at 5:30am on the morning of July 31st, following a night with little sleep, I made my way topside to see how close to the well site we were, we were passing about three miles outside of the source but it was still pitch black outside and combined with the movement of the ship from swells it made for a difficult time getting images of the rigs lit up in the sky, but I did manage a few before the sun began to rise.

The Transocean Development Driller III and Helix Energy Solutions, Q4000 platform are seen at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II along with vessels leased by BP Plc are seen near sunrise at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

A support vessel works near the BP Plc Macondo well site near sunrise in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller III and Transocean Development Driller II along with vessels leased by BP Plc are seen during sunrise at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller III works to drill the primary relief well during sunrise at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

A support vessel passes under the sun at sunrise at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

After the sun rose enough to get some light on the vessels at sea I got some shots of the various rigs, ships and support vessels working at the source.

The Transocean Development Driller III works to drill the primary relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

The Transocean Development Driller II works to drill the backup relief well at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

Helix Energy Solutions, Q4000 platform gets set to start the ‘static kill’ operations at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloombergfor

Before I close out today’s entry, I want to thank Commanding Officer Cmdr. Teri Jordan for allowing for this embed, it was an unforgettable experience and I am honored to have been able to be welcome aboard the Decisive. Below is a photo of Cmdr. Teri Jordan on the bridge wing of the Decisive.

Commanding Officer Cmdr. Teri Jordan (left) and operations officer Lt j.g. Mario Gil (right) look out from the bridge wing as the Coast Guard Cutter Decisive passes near the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Friday, July 30, 2010. BP Plc continues to work on a relief well to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg

After returning back to New Orleans shortly after 2:00pm it was straight off to New Orleans Saints Training Camp, but that is another blog entry to look out for, until the next time.

Some tearsheets from this assignment (publications will be updated as article are found)

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Oil Spill Coverage and tagged with absorbent boom, absorbent pads, Accidents, Accidents and disasters, aerial, aerial photography, air, bayou, Bloomberg, boats, boom, BP, Catastrophes, Coast Guard, Decisive, deep water horizon, Derick Hingle, DH Photography, disaster, embed, environment, Environment and nature, Environmental concerns, flight, General news, gulf, gulf coast, gulf of mexico, gusher, Industrial accidents, Louisiana, marsh, marsh grass, Natural Catastrophes, news, oil, Oil spills, oily, overhead, photojournalism, Pollution, sheen, spill, trans atlantic, transocean, USCG, Water environment, Water quality, workers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.