1 July 2011, by Melanie Gault-Ringold

We have come full circle in our sampling endeavours. If you remember we started the trip a day late due to an emergency tooth extraction, and we arrived home a day late due to an emergency medical evacuation that diverted us to the Chatham Islands. Our chief engineer got hydrofluorocarbon poisoning while working on one of the engine cooling systems. Thankfully, he is doing fine and even came to meet us in Wellington when we docked.

As for sampling, it was very successful, except for the minor setback with the McLane pumps, almost all samples that were planned to be collected were collected. We returned to shore with approximately 1432 litres of seawater and 5963 filters for analysis.

It was a wonderful group of people to work with and the weather was mostly in our favour. Overall, it was a successful and productive time at sea.