During our stop in San Diego, many things on the ship changed. We disembarked the science techs and all their gear, which I must say makes the ship look so much bigger, garnered provisions and got the ship’s winch back. The secondary marine techs were switched out and once under sail, we fired-up all that data acquiring equipment that we run and maintain as SOP (standard operating procedure). So now what? Today has been a day like any other while in transit. We made work lists and knocked out the items on the list. For example, we removed sensors from the CTD that are due for calibration, replacing them with ones from the ship stores, ordering replacements for the store from shore to be brought with the oncoming tech and updating all the logs that pertain to that activity. We trained on CTD terminations, so in the event there is a problem during operations, we will be prepared to make that happen efficiently. We spend our day ensuring that all the details that make operations efficient and smooth are addressed before the heat is turned up. We prepare. We anticipate. We pay close attention to the details, so the details don’t come back to haunt us at a critical moment. In addition, as we are headed for dry dock we have to coordinate with the engineers that power requirements are meet as we have certain equipment that needs to remain online no matter what state the ship is in. And, for me personally, it’s time to start tidying up my internship and personal details, like this final blog and laundry. The party’s over, so turn the lights out. Adios, Thomas G. Thompson.