Lake E Daily News, Wednesday, 29 April, 2009
After moving the rig yesterday, today was all about finishing the casing, putting down the PQ pipe and next we will ream to -135 m with HQ and then trip in and out to change bits and start coring. We have 5 days left to drill but will now have to see how long the mud lasts. My hunch is that mud will run out first.
There is a 50/50 chance that we have a helicopter tomorrow on Thursday. Jerry Jensen, Volker Neth and Christian Koeberl are to fly to Moscow in May 5 so they have to fly to Pevek from the lake tomorrow or on Monday (May 1-3 are Russian National Holidays). The weather outlook is better for Monday but we will see how it goes.
Weather was horrible over night and most of the day. It wasn't very cold; rather we had high winds from the south, lots of new snow, and very low visibility. The bulldozer set off to the rig to deliver a fuel tank but returned because he lost the way. He then successfully followed the vezdahot for 2 hrs to the platform when they delivered lunch. Crew changes were done with the Vezdahot today because of the new snow.
We hope to get new cores during the night shift tonight. Everything is ready to go. A fabulous sight tonight during a clear break in the storm, was that of a huge herd of caribou all walking in a procession within a kilometer of camp. They turned eastward just south of our flagged road and headed straight for the platform. I've radioed ahead so the night crew doesn't miss sight of them. This is the second large herd seen today and not the same one. Pretty soon it will be time for packs of wolves and bear to emerge. Chukotka may be a big place but we are not alone out here.
Good night...Julie BG
