Today we went through the final tune up of the barge, and the science team took a tour and safety briefing on the barge supervised by Beau Marshall. For families and friends of everyone here, we're working really hard to prevent any accidents or injuries to all of your loved ones! The group has gotten pretty big now (32 people, with the last three on the way), so it was a scene. After that, the group got the afternoon off to prepare themselves for 30+ days of 12-hour shifts. Some people went to the market to stock up on Oreos and Take It! bars (two fingers of chocolate). A few others transported emergency vehicles to our dock and tried to get last-minute things in the lab working. And others, such as Tim, Cody, and Justin went in search of crocodiles on the Larona River (Towuti's outlet). I would put my money on the three of them over the crocodile in a wrestling match. And we're off!!! These photos mark the launch of the drilling barge on Lake Towuti. Right now we're towing at 3 km/hr to our primary drilling site, with an ETA of 12:30 PM local time. (TDP on facebook)