Serene on Top – Panic Underneath

Family friends are at present enjoying a cruise.  It is their first wedding anniversary and this time last year they were in Cuba where they got married.  When you think about going on a cruise, with all these wonderful ships on top of the waves, it is really easy to forget about all the subsea services which happen on the sea bed.

These friends although they were only married last October had actually planned their wedding on three previous occasions and due to circumstances beyond their control, for one reason or another, the other three just hadn’t taken place.  

Eventually the wedding did proceed and I understand that everyone there had a wonderful time.  The previous weddings had been planned over the last twenty five years – so no-one could say that they rushed into it!  

Although they were obviously happy, they eventually had reached the position where they were saying – “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”  You can sort of understand the logic for this, they had been together for nearly thirty years, and were still together.  The children had all grown up and had their own families so why did they eventually go ahead and get married?  

No-one is actually very sure, least of all the couple.  They weren’t doing it for the sake of the children they had just decided that there would be a big party with as many family members there as possible to enjoy themselves.  The date of the wedding was also the birthday of two of the guests, one of their children and the other was the partner of another child.

If you think about a duck and that they are serenely moving across the water, underneath they are paddling like mad, but this can’t be seen.  Subsea services must be similar in that only the oil rigs, platforms and any other structures can be seen above the water whilst many essential processes continue underwater, and only when something happens which is unexpected, and newsworthy, does it bring the reminder of everything which is happening miles off shore in the murkiness of the water.

The wedding was a great success and everything has continued exactly the same as before.  Our friends haven’t moved, or done anything startling!  They had a party for their close family, without all the additional costs of a UK wedding.  Although quite expensive to arrange, the hotel sorted the wedding on the beach and the meal afterwards and I believe that everyone had a wonderful time including my son who is the partner of their daughter, and it was his birthday whilst they were away.

The couple are enjoying their cruise this year, without worrying about what will be happening within the bowels of the ship or deeper in the ocean with the subsea services.