Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Platform Tour

Our first stop this morning was the Pier 21 Theater to see the "Gateway on the Gulf" movie: The Great Storm. This is the story of the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston Island on September 8. Hurricanes were not given names until much later in history. It's a documentary restored from the original 35MM slide presentation to a wide screen format. It tells the personal stories of survivors and the recovery of Galveston following the deadliest natural disaster in United States history. The devastation is almost unimaginable and what the inhabitants faced after it was over was gruesome but they incredibly strong and determined to get their island back.

After the movie was over, we walked further up Pier 21.

We had originally planned to eat at the nearby Joe's Crabshack but our great tour guide from Cool Tours recommended the Olympia Grill for much better local fare. It was good, almost as good as Fish Tails. We even had some great bread pudding because the guide gave us a coupon.

Our whole group was here today.

After lunch we got a close up of the Tall Ship Elissa. Normally you can take tours but this week the college students who volunteer their time to keep the ship in shape all year are rewarded with trips on the Elyssa.

Can you see the two people up on the mast and the flags showing how windy it was?

Our next tour was on the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Platform museum. It's a real retired drilling platform.

The pictures show crew hanging onto the outside of the net but we thought being in the middle would be safer.

These are all drill bits.

Drilling is done from a number of different type platforms.

Sometimes deep sea divers are needed.

Ever see a life boat like this?

A very different kind of Christmas tree.

I got a good view of this ocean going ship from the deck of the drilling rig. It was very nostalgic since my Dad was one of the first American pilots for foreign ships sailing on the Great Lakes.

Drilling has been around for a very long time in many different forms.

You can see that different types of drilling platforms are needed depending on the water depth.

This bird was resting just below the walkway when we came back across to land from the drilling platform.

Here is a better picture of the Tall Ship Elyssa.....magnificent.