Alan Fleet

A Gap Year for Life Alan Fleet

Most people think the offshore oil industry starts and ends with rigs: it doesn't. Long before the exploration rigs ever go on site, marine surveys have to be carried out, and crews from the four-corners of the globe come together to get these done. When I graduated with a degree in Geology in the seventies I didn't know what sort of career beckoned but I did know I never wanted a 'proper job' of nine-to-five, forty-eight weeks of the year until retirement. Forget that, I wanted surfing in the Caribbean, caipirhinas in Rio, and satay in Singapore. Marine geophysics offered them all, along with the wilds of West Africa, sunless Sakhalin and the awesome Atlantic Frontiers. Different countries, different crews and different problems; nothing was ever the same, and after thirty-three years I never cease to be amazed at what comes up next. It's all out there, and it's waiting. Don't just have a gap year of travel, have a lifetime of it. All of the stories are true, only the names have been changed to protect the guilty, and do see if you can spot 'Older Geo', because based on his review, he must certainly have spotted himself.