It's been nine days since we last drilled a core, and will be at least five more until we can get new pumps for the rig and start coring again. It's a hard pill to swallow that after 4 years of careful planning, the project has come together beautifully, yet the most critical piece of drilling equipment is defective. This is not to say we haven't made progress- the Geomicrobiology team has finished processing our first core, and has an excellent set of samples with which to understand biogeochemical processes in metal-rich sediment. And as you see from previous posts, our outreach efforts are really making an impact in the local community. Meanwhile, due to the lull, much of the science team is taking the opportunity to visit nearby Tana Toraja to see some of the region's rich cultural heritage, while Tia, Ryan, and I stay here to push things along as best we can. To take us to happier times, here is a video from Towuti Drilling Project's world famous DrillCam. This clip takes us back to the project's salad days when we had a working drill. This video shows the process of deploying a hydraulic piston corer (HPC), the principal piece of equipment we use for coring soft lake sediments. Next up: core recovery. (TDP on facebook)