The end of training is approaching and my excitement about the mission is continuing to build. I arrived at work pleased that the eye pain of yesterday's no-mask drill was over. A science briefing, led by Steven Miller and Steve Gittings, started the day for the aquanauts and NURC staff. The meeting conveyed what we hope to accomplish, what science equipment we will use, the reasoning behind our methods, and how we might need assistance from the Aquarius technicians and surface teams. The science briefing is a great way to inform everyone about our plans, especially last minute changes, and to answer questions. After the briefing, we headed offshore with Tim Gallagher and Lance Horn to make two site orientation dives. We also left the comfort of air conditioning. It's been really hot on the boat between dives.

Our first dive was to the northeast "fill station" and adjacent reef. Steve Gittings has sites in this area that he permanently marked with stakes in 1994 as part of a long term research project. We set a line between one of the stakes and an excursion line, and then ran additional lines to about 4 other stakes. This will allow us to easily return to the site when the mission starts: we don't want to get lost. Steve also has compass headings and the distances between each stake. We worked together to set all the lines. Steve used his compass skills and memory to swim the headings, while Steven handled the measuring tape. Tim tied a line reel off to an excursion line and made connections among the stakes. I followed behind, "taking wraps" to help secure the line in place. On our return to the boat we practiced "sharing air" for a long distance, pulling ourselves along the excursion line. It takes a lot more energy to share air while swimming and holding on to my buddy than it does just swimming next to my buddy. This drill reinforced that we need to carefully watch our tank pressures. We returned to the boat for a surface interval before our second dive.

Our second dive was to the Pinnacle. We went inside the "fill station" gazebo. The Pinnacle site is a good distance from the habitat so we will use the gazebo to refill our scuba tanks. Tim told us to "bleed the fill panel" before attaching our tanks or our fingers "will bleed" from the force of the air inside the fill whip. We listened carefully. Tim led us on a quick tour of the area to familiarize us with the topography of the Pinnacle. The site orientation dives along with the other training dives made me confident that I can find my way around during saturation.

One of the most important things we've done in training so far is our trip to the grocery store. Mark Hulsbeck accompanied us to make sure we did not get any "forbidden" items. We could not buy perishables, foods with strong odors, or foods that could be a fire hazard. Popcorn, sardines, and tuna fish are not allowed since their odors tend to recirculate. Pop-Tarts were outlawed after an incident where the metallic wrapper caused problems in the microwave. Of course, we went shopping hungry after a long day diving so we got a little carried away. It seems like we bought enough snack food to last us a few months. I've never seen so many Pringles and candy bars in one cart before. We will burn a lot of calories during saturation so I might be surprised by how much food we go through. I've heard from veteran aquanauts that constantly breathing under pressure and spending 6-9 hours a day diving can be tiring. I plan to eat my share of the junk food to keep up my energy. Our meals will mostly consist of microwave foods and ready made canned goods. We also have a good selection of freeze-dried food. We definitely will not go hungry. I'm looking forward to getting down under for many reasons - including the food.