Chikyu cruise, the end

After 10 days of work at sea and the last dive of the ROV yesterday night until this morning, we headed back to Okinawa today and we will disembark tomorrow morning in Nakagusku port.

Actually now is almost the busiest time of the cruise as everybody needs to pack, clean, prepare the samples for shipping and finish writing the cruise report.
Despite the several technical problems we encountered, we could still get quite some work done. For us, from now on, the "real" work will start as all the data and samples we obtained now will need to be analysed and published. So we all have many hours in the lab or sitting in front of our computers awaiting. But still when doing the boring job it will be nice to remember the nice times of this cruise.

The ROV about the enter the water 

for his last dive of the cruise.

Cape Hedo, in Okinawa Island viewed from the helipad. 

Actually as everything on this ship, the helipad is pretty big as it can receive helicopters carrying up to 35 people when it is necessary to change the crew at sea. People even use it to run around, when they prefer to enjoy fresh air rather than the gym.

And as comfortable as this ship is, we are all looking forward to find back our homes and loved ones.