Dive Global can help you enjoy the very best in global diving. Contact our experts at Dive Global to
make sure you get the most out of your dive trips, every time. Plan a Trip Today...
|
"Careers" is a brand new section on Dive Global. We will highlight
an interesting career within the dive industry and talk to a different
professional.
Larry Goldberg
Larry Goldberg can look back on a long and rewarding career in international
commercial diving.
We get a lot of questions from people who are interested in becoming
a commercial diver. It was about time we asked a true veteran what it
takes to work in this industry.
Charlotte van Weeghel talks to Larry Goldberg about his career in commercial
diving, his many travels, his ups and down in the industry and current
projects with his wife & long-time dive buddy Helen.
We wouldn't be Dive Global if we didn't also find out what his favorite
dive spots are when he's diving for fun and not inspecting a crack at
300ft. or decompressing in a bell for hours.
Left: a young Larry in 1979, offshore
platform in the Tasman Sea
Charlotte: Can you tell us a little about yourself
and how you got involved in commercial diving in the first place?
Larry: After I finished commercial diving
school (CDC Comercial Diving Center and its now called College of Oceaneering
in Wilmington, CA, now called College of Oceaneering) I set out traveling
the world. I went to Jamaica for eight months and eventually ended up
in the Solomon Islands. I met a gentleman called Walter
Stark, a real diving guru and excellent scientist. (He was the first
one asked to do underwater photography for National Geographic, a pretty
interesting guy, way ahead of his time). I started working for him in
the scientific diving community in 1976. We've been friends ever since.
Mind you, this was only a decade after the commercial industry first
started, circa 1976, and we were still figuring out how to do deep dives.
I remember diving to 290ft. on air in those days.
The fatality rate was pretty high in those days. Real pioneering work.
I was working full time and after After I was in the Solomon Islands
for a year I missed my girlfriend Helen who was working as a dance professor
in New Zealand. I moved to the South Island and started my first commercial
diving job offshore.
Diver exiting a decompression bell. Photo by Larry Goldberg |
In 1978 I started working for Oceaneering.
There was a real labor shortage in the industry back then and
we started tapping into deeper diving. Those were exciting times.
Helen and I left New Zealand and went back to New Orleans and
then to Boston in 1979 where I got into the inspection technology.
I had all the right contacts in the oil & gas industry and
pretty much wrote my own ticket to jobs around the world. I got
into nondestructive testing, ultrasound and magnetic particle
inspection work, it was like being a steel doctor. I also worked
in laboratories, on bridges, nuclear power stations and offshore
drilling platforms. I developed a great niche for myself and managed
a staff which was pretty impressive for a young guy like me since
I only had three years experience in the industry.
I worked for Subsea International next
before starting my own company Sea Test International and by age
50 I had seen all of West Africa, Venezuela, Vietnam and China,
parts of Russia, Singapore and Burma. Lots of places not many
foreigners were allowed to go it in those days. When I wasn't
working I did research work like developing remotely operated
vehicles inspection techniques for the offshore diving and the
nuclear industry.
|
Charlotte: What advice can you impact on young
aspiring commercial divers? Would you tell them to go for it?
|
Larry: Inform yourself properly
before you head to commercial diving school and make an educated
decision.
If I had a son and he wanted to get into commercial diving I wouldn't
advise him against going into the industry. But I would make sure
he understood the pro and cons.
There are two sides to commercial diving. You have offshore and
inland jobs. There is a distinct pecking order in the offshore
commercial diving.
|
North Sea on a "calm" day. Courtesy
of Shell |
You start at the bottom as a tender and climb your way up. It is easier
to get an inland job to start with a a diver. Against what people think
those can be very interesting jobs as well. It is not true that the
only deep diving is found offshore.
Charlotte: What are the personal traits and qualifications
you need to make it in the world of commercial diving?
Larry: When you finish commercial diving
school it is very important to find your niche.
You need to develop a trade like becoming a topside plumber, welder
or inspector. If you are a jack of all trades, a "grunt worker"
it is more difficult to advance quickly. Diving by itself is not the
means to get there. You also have to be a well rounded person and be
able to handle different countries and cultures which might be very
different from your own. One of the most demanding aspects of the profession
is that you have to be self sufficient. Once on the job you are usually
far away from a hardware store and any means to resupply. That in itself
is a craft. You have to be a so called "a jury and rigger."
Larry on a magnetic particle inspection
looking for cracks |
Charlotte:
Can you tell us about a memorable event in your work? You must have
encountered some pretty scary or interesting scenarios?
Larry: I had so many things happening.
One or two experiences stand out. Once decompressing on a job in
the early morning hours I was sitting at 21 feet watching all the
plankton fly by. I had a sense of being back in the womb, it was
very special. I like night dives in general, they are all memorable
to me.
I had a couple of near misses as well. Once, at 90ft., my hose broke.
There are certain procedures when your hose breaks. I didn't exactly
follow them. I guess I came to the point of panick. Normally, in
bail out situations you drop your weight belt, disconnect your helmet
and harness. |
I couldn't find the quick release and got my knife out and try to cut
the umbilical. Realizing the umbilical has a stainless steel strenght
member I put my knife back in its scabbard. I found the quick release,
I went up as fast as I could and yelled for help at the surface. They
picked me up four hours later! The guys had some problems getting to
me. There was a big work boat tied up to the rig and very rough seas.
They couldn't get the zodiac to work. But I was so happy to have had
made it. I came home and said to Helen "let's go to Sea World."
The next day I told her we should really buy all new furniture for the
living room. She started wondering what happened. I guess I was just
happy to to be alive.
Charlotte: Has the world of commercial diving
changed over the last decade?
Larry: In the past it was quite easy to
advance to a diver. That has changed. Now you have to be a tender for
a year and a half first before you get to go into the water, especially
in the offshore industry. But for inland jobs you can be in working
in the water in a couple of weeks. Never put yourself in a hole offshore
if you can get a good job inland. There are some nice perks to working
inland.
|
Charlotte: What was your favorite destination
for you work?
Larry: I don't really have one favorite
destination. I loved working everywhere, the challenges, melting
in with the local people, seeing the world.
West Africa was tough, but always a good challenge. It seemed
like I was always going form coup to coup. Then I got an assignment
in London when the Irish Republic Army blew up the hotel two blocks
from where I was staying.
The best places to dive, as we all know, are the ones with good
visibility. Usually the visibility is terrible on commercial jobs.
In Malaysia and some places in the China Sea the viz was great.
I remember such an occasion working on an oil rig and whale sharks
were circling the platform over and over again. Those are times
you never forget.
Charlotte: You have retired from commercial
diving, do you still dive regularly?
Larry: I had started my own
company Sea Test in 1985 and packed it in in 1999. My back had
come out and I thought it was no longer safe.
|
Inspecting an anode in an atmospheric
dive suit called WASP |
My eye sight is still good but it wasn't 20/20 anymore. It was a good
time to call it quits. I have a 100% safety record which is pretty amazing
in this industry and I didn't want to jeopardize that.
My last commercial dive was a memorable one. I was doing an inspection
job on a big oil rig. They suspected some cracks. You have to understand
that to shut down an operation like that to fix a crack on a dry dock
can cost anything from 2 - 5 or 10 million dollars. That's a big responsibility.
One of the guys that was working with me said there were two cracks.
When I went down to evaluate and sign off on them. The visibility was
only a foot. I thought I saw the crack but couldn't see very well. I
was 99% sure but I signed off on it crossing my fingers. The crack was
there. It took them 40 days to fix it. Phew!
Click
here to continue >>
SERVICES >
Custom Dive Trip Planning >
More on... | Trip of the
Month | Destination
of the Month | Liveaboards
| Diver's Tales |
Critter Calendar | Seasonal
Calendar | Site
of the Month
|