The first part of the day went well and recovery was pretty good. After a while, a thick (estimated by the driller to be around 50 cm), hard layer of salt was encountered. The piston core could not penetrate it so they brought out the "Alien" - their custom made rotary bit. While it managed to drill through the salt, recovery of the layer and the material beneath it was lost. Switched again the piston and recovery increased in the muds to 100%. The night shift also encountered hard salt, interlaced with marls. We will wait for the report from today's day shift. The second day of the kickoff meeting was held today with most of the foreign PIs on the project attending.