Time and tide wait for no man

When our boat initially came out of the shipyard we used to crew change at 0600 on Tuesday mornings. When we got repositioned down to the Gulf of Mexico it shifted to a 2359 (military time) Tuesday crew change.  We usually catch the last flight out Tuesday nights and the first flight home on Wednesday mornings. Now, we are supposed to switch over to Wednesday 2359 crew changes.

In theory, this is all well and good. You still get two weeks off after spending two weeks in prison on the boat. But the problems occur when people can’t plan a proper crew change or just don’t want to come back to work.  

Case in point…

This year we worked on both major holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now Christmas was on a Tuesday. So, being the nice guys that we are, we told the other crew that a Tuesday crew change didn’t make sense and that Wednesday would be better so that they could spend Christmas at home with their families. Makes sense, right? Well, the “person-who-shall-not-be-named” decided that he didn’t want to come back to work on Wednesday either. He decided the he didn’t want to come back until Thursday. So even though he got to have both holidays off, we wouldn’t be able to go home and celebrate Christmas with our families until Friday. Not cool! Alas, that is exactly what happened. I’m still not happy about it.

Well, fast forward the two weeks that we are home and it was once again time to prepare for the on-coming crew change. Which is now screwed up because the “person-who-shall-not-be-named (TPWSNBN)” pulled his little “not wanting to come back to work” stunt is now on Thursday night.

Except it isn’t. 

Now it is on Friday night at 2359, because they didn’t plan ahead and were at sea on Thursday.

Except it isn’t.

LaQuinta !!!

Because when they got to the Mississippi River the river was closed due to fog. So even though we had to fly into New Orleans on Friday night, there was no way to get to the boat. So we got to stay at a hotel on Friday. So now the running joke on the boat this week is that every time we see one another we shout, “LaQuinta!!!” Because that’s where we stayed. The LaQuinta Inn. Which is seriously less funny when you try to explain it.

So now crew change is going to be Saturday morning.

Wait for it…

Except it isn’t.

Saturday noon?

Closer.

Saturday afternoon? 

Bingo!

After a wonderful Continental breakfast at the (shout it with me) LaQuinta!!! Inn. And a subsequent stop at McDonalds to get 16 breakfast burritos (because we could). And a stop at the local Wally World to shop for grub. We finally got on the boat at 1330. 

So a 0630 Tuesday crew change, which really is a 2359 Tuesday crew change, which due to Christmas was a 2359 Wednesday crew change, which because TPWSNBN decided wasn’t acceptable to him was a Thursday 2359 crew change, which turned into a 2359 crew change on Friday because of poor planning, which got delayed until 1200 Saturday crew change because of weather, actually took place at 1330 on Saturday.

We are supposed to get off the boat at 2359 on Thursday.

I’ve got my fingers crossed.