We finished the last core in relatively shallow water - 1500 meters. It was basically full of shells and sand instead of mud, which was a marked departure from most of the other cores.

In other news, it’s been a banner week for satellite-related issues out here. Twice we had problems with the C-band satellite that provides internet access to the ship at the ground station. Plus, we lost our PCODE GPS, to compliment the GPS time server that died last week. On top of this, our backup Fleet 77 Inmarsat connection has decided to spew up unlisted error messages to the screen. Good thing we’re headed in.

We should be tied up by 0800 local on Monday.

I also updated the photo album for this cruise with a combination of my pictures and pictures taken by the scientists.