We are now in the proximity of the last coring site, CAPE. It is located in the continental shelf offshore of the Cape Town Port.
We stay the last site for a couple of days and get off the ship on 31 Mar 10:00h.
We have finished writing summary of previous three sites and presentations (MZC, ZAM, and LIM).
An introduction of how to sample the sediment core was explained by core curator and we must fill in a special forms before the arrival at Cape Town.
Our sediment cores will be transported to Texas Univ. and later we gather there again for the sampling party, which is planned be held at the end of September this year.
We will stay Texas Core Repository for one week (perhaps), and allocate the sediment according to everyone's request (e.g., 10 cc sample from the top 3cm in Site1474, Working half, Hole A, Core 3, Section 1).
I guess that some of the cores obtained at the last site will be stored without split and being described. The first core on deck will be 6 hours later from now.
It takes several hours to make sediment core at room temperature, so the first core will be described by daytime shifters (I'm in a night shift).
It was long, long two months. I want to take a rest for a while but I must attend at an international meeting held at Hongo Campus (Isoecol) after just "one-day" off.
My Brazilian and French friends said that they will take a vacation after the expedition for 1 month and 1 week, respectively. I realized that cultures and employing systems are completely different among countries.
But, anyway, good beer and wine are waiting for me on land!
