Location: Fairway Bank

And before I know it.. it is the last day of the cruise... in fact, as I type, the last trawl (or possibly the 2nd last) is on the seabed this very moment, scraping the seabed 800m 1200m below.

Not much as happened in the intervening period, and I still have dirt under all my nails except I have 19 nails now... the smallest one on my left foot got ripped out during a careless moment. It didn't exactly come out all at one go.. for a couple of days, it was flapping on one edge and I didn't want to yank it out for fear that it might hurt. But it had to go in the end. It was getting unnerving. I kept getting it snagged on my blanket.

The last week has seen extremely good weather. In fact, on friday, the sea was flat. Flat like a lake! Imagine that! Have some nice pictures and movies to show for it. In fact, Bertrand made a remark that in his 20 years of seafaring expeditions, he has never seen the sea like that before. I'm pretty lucky. :D

So tonight, we wrap up operations and speed back to Noumea, a journey that will take us 24 hours. I am so not looking forward to the journey. I know it already. I will be sick tonight. :(

But before we head back, we will be making a stop in a spot two hours away from Noumea for a special pick-up. Sperm whale bones! At least I hope it will be bones only and not a half rotten carcass. A geologist at IRD had alerted Bertrand to the presence of this find and said it was a whale that had stranded itself on some low lying reef at least two months ago. Two months ago... is that enough for complete decomposition? I hope so! Don't want to smell it before I see it. Wish me luck!