Nouakchott

One of the new projects Piet has been working on is offshore Mauritania. Like most of the projects in Africa the work is mainly done from the head office in The Hague, with support from a small team in country. In Mauritania this is still in its infancy, and the local Shell office is based in a hotel, with a Dutch country manager, and two Mauritanian staff.

To support progressing the project Piet, and a few colleagues, travelled to Nouakchott, the capital (an excellent quiz question!), located at the coast. This is a sprawling city, with typical Middle East and North African characteristics, only less developed than most places. Many roads are still unpaved, whilst new office blocks are being build, and are in various states of completion (or not). Piet and team met a number of stakeholders in the government and the state oil company, visited the potential new office and worked on the project from the hotel.
Next to work there was also an opportunity to see something of the city. They visited the fish market at the beach, and the local market in the Cinquieme and Sixieme districts, with many small shops and stalls, and an incredible amount of rubbish everywhere. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, with strong winds and a lot of dust and sand in the air. The sun was not visible during the week.
Mauritania is an islamic country, and is completely dry. So no alcohol during dinner! There is hardly any entertainment, but the restaurants are of good quality. So as a place to live or to go on holiday Nouakchott is quite low on most lists!

View from the new office building

On the beach; there many, many small fishing boats

Nouakchott fish market

Nouakchott beach: small boats till the horizon

Nouakchott business district

The main mode of transport at the local market

Oranges from Morocco for sale

The pots and pans shop 

Family ski trip

This year we spend Christmas at home, and after consulting all different agendas agreed to go skiing straight afterwards. The morning after the last dinner we drove with Paula, Dorien and Lars to the house in France, for a full week of skiing. Also niece Romy, with her partner Thijs, Paula's study and climbing friend Tim, and lastly Jasper turned up, so in the end there were nine people, who skied in various compositions. Everybody had a great time, and we managed to ski together for most of the time, as everybody's level was quite similar.

The weather was stable, with low hanging clouds and sombre, grey days in the valley, but with continuous sunshine in the Alpe d'Huez ski resort. Piet and Mary only went up for three days, as Piet had to return early for work, and both needed to watch their bodies. The advantage was that both Lars and Jasper could use Piet's material for several days. As usual Paula was the most fanatic, trying to ski until the last lift closed, and clocking the most days.

Even after many years New Year's Eve in the village is a surreal experience, with lights out at 10 PM. They warned the students not to bother with nearby town Bourg d'Oisans, where a similar schedule is maintained. We played games, had a glass of bubbly at midnight, and then straight to bed. 2019 had started!

Traditional: warming up walk along the Romanche

Dorien and Lars

In the Chalvet chairlift

Mary is ready to descent to Alpe d'Huez

Skiing in during sundown, Mary has the Chamois piste to herself

Paula, Romy, Thijs, Dorien and Mary, returning from the Sarenne piste

Skiing above the clouds near Villard Reculas

A sea of clouds covers the valley

The Villard Reculas chairlift emerges from the clouds

Final pictures of 2018

The year 2018 is almost done, and a lot has happened again. Below are a few last pictures. Merry Christmas, and best wishes for 2019!

Mary and Beau went 3 times to the Veluwe this year, for outdoor rides in the woods

Piet is helping out with Beau, and in full control!

Dinner in De Librije, on of the best restaurants in The Netherlands; #food=art

At the speedskating World Cup in Heerenveen

 Paula and friends during a long-distance  rowing event in Amsterdam

Survival in Doorn

Just before the summer Dorien started as the new chairwoman of the board of outdoor survival club Slopend, where she and Lars belonged to the incrowd for some time. Although this is not a full-time position it requires proper time planning, something that we can confidently leave to Dorien. Next to organising the running of the club, events, committees, budgets and other things there is still time to study, train and participate with events.

A large survival run was organised in Doorn, close to Utrecht, and Piet went along to support and take some pictures. This is a gruelling sport, combing offroad running with a large number of challenging obstacles, that require strength and technique. There were hundreds of participants, who were starting in groups of some 10 runners. The fastest athletes completed the 8 km course just below an hour, Dorien and Lars finished with the best in their respective categories, and were very satisfied. An impression is shown below.

The ladies from Slopend

Obstacles everywhere!

The Dutch way: wooden shoes

It's tough....

Military style

Dorien and Lars on the home stretch

Happy at the finish

Serious business

The board of Slopend

Autumn break in France

Piet and Mary went on their traditional October break to the house in France, to enjoy the last days of nice weather and get the house and garden ready for winter. Also a tradition by now is to join Piet's friend Frits on his yearly wine pelgrimage in southern France. After two beautiful sunny days at the house we descended to Bandol on the Mediterranean coast to meet up with him. There the weather turned, and rain started, and lasted until we left the next day. This didn't matter as we planned to visit a number of wineries to stock up on red wine in the afternoon. It is always enjoyable to talk to the proud winemakers, and it makes drinking afterwards a lot more fun!

The next day we did a hike along the coast on Chemin du Littoral. Unfortunately most of the path ran along the Port d'Alon private housing estate, that was closed off from the coastal trail. With signs it was made very clear that normal hikers were not welcome at all! Quite depressing, but probably not the only place along the Mediterranean coast were rich people are hiding behind a fence. The scenery was great, and we will try the other direction next time.
The rest of the week was spend in a relaxed manner reading books, working in the garden, on the bike, and enjoying a hike around one of the nicest villages in the region: Besse en Oisans. As usual the week flew past, and on Sunday we drove back to The Hague, and our third child Beau, who has been suffering from dental problems. More later...

A deer in our garden at dawn

Making plans for a wine tasting afternoon

Frits and Piet are tasting at Chateau Salettes

A case of wine

 At the oenotheque in Bandol

Hiking along the Mediterranean, in the rain

The ruines at Mornas, a stop on the way back to Bassey

Besse en Oisans, one of the most beautiful villages in our region

Hiking near Besse

View towards Plateau des Emparis

 The chapel at Bonnefin

Cape Town - revisited

In 2016 the project in South Africa Piet was responsible for was stopped for various reasons. But like happened many times before another opportunity was matured and a new project landed in Piet's lap. A meeting was arranged in Cape Town with the new partners to start the new cooperation. The first day was a geological field trip around the Cape peninsula, with an opportunity to take some pictures of known territory. This time it was all placed in geological context. The last stop was at the famous penguin colony at Boulders, in Simons Town.

After a meeting on the second day Piet returned home, ending a month with three business trips. Next is a break in France, taking a break from the busy life in The Hague.

Poor weather in Cape Town

Chapman's Peak, a beautiful stretch of road along the Atlantic Ocean

Cape of Good Hope, with Cape Point in the distance

Penguins at Boulders

Young penguin chicks

Returning from a swim

 There are many, many penguins....

Walvis Bay

Piet has been working on the Namibia project since 2013, and the team has been struggling to make progress the last few years, for various reasons. In 2018 there has been a positive change, and since April Piet has been planning a large offshore seismic survey with a dedicated team of specialists. Over the summer this resulted in the award of the contract to seismic acquisition contractor Polarcus, and an increase in activity to get ready for operations. This culminated in a mobilisation in Walvis Bay, a small harbour in Namibia, where the fleet, consisting of three vessels, gathered before leaving to the prospect area, some 300 km off the southern coast of Namibia.

Piet, and three other Shell staff, went to Walvis Bay to carry out final inspections of these vessels, discuss project details with staff going offshore, and to host a large kick-off meeting. At the end of four days the fleet was accepted, and the project could begin. It will take some 3 months to complete, followed by another 6 months to process the data, before a detailed subsurface evaluation can start.
Walvis Bay is a small town, and except the hotel and the harbour Piet didn't see much. Luckily the hotel was on the edge of a shallow bay, where a lot of flamingo's and pelicans are living. Early in the morning it was possible to walk around, and take some pictures. It was generally calm weather, with the wind picking up during the morning, and a howling storm every afternoon. With 15 degrees it was not very pleasant in Africa!

Early morning in Walvis Bay

Flamingo's at dawn

Selling tourist souvenirs, with few takers

Showing seismic equipment

Piet and the Shell Namibia team in the control room

 The Shell team in front of the seismic vessel

 A flight of flamingo's