We take lots for granted in our daily lives. One way to accentuate our appreciation of these routine elements of our lives to deprive ourselves of them for short periods of time. Then, as we remove the deprivation, we can find what is wonderful about these things again. Such was my experience as a broke the surface of the sea this morning with my fellow Aquanauts and felt the sun, the sky and the air caress my face and lungs.

The morning began at 6 am - most of us had not slept well due to the need to sleep straight in our beds without curling up (a potential problem for decompression in terms of reducing gas exchange). Following breakfast, we followed Otter, Smitty and James' instructions to clean the Habitat in preparation for the final ascent. Each Aquanaut experienced conflicting feelings as we longed to remain in our submarine world yet wanted to travel to our airy element above.

Pressure in the Habitat was now equivalent to 0 feet of water. That is, we were at 1 Atmosphere yet were looking from our sealed home onto a reef that was at 3 Atmospheres. We were a tiny depressurised bubble sitting in a pressured world.

By 8 am we were ready. Unfortunately, we got word that the fast boat (the "Manta") had developed a freak engine problem on the way out. This delayed our exit while the "Wildcard" was dispatched from base to do the pick up. We waited, talking excitedly among ourselves and then the word was given from above and divers appeared in the Wet lock. James, Smitty and Otter began to drive the pressure up to 3 Atmosphere for the final ascent. The door between the Main Lock and Wet porch swung open and piled through to the Wet porch where divers were waiting.

The ascent (just with fins, mask and snorkel) took 2 minutes - we scrambled aboard the boat. On board Alexios (Doc) looked us over and assessed our condition. It was truly wonderful to see the sky and breathe the air. It was so vast - the submarine world had basically been no more than 100 feet across at any one point due to the limits of the visibility. Now it was miles wide.

The boat ride in to the NOAA/NURC base took no time at all and soon we were being greeted by NURC staff and Pete, Ruth, Casey, Laurie and Sergio.

With the mission closing, I have to say this was one of the high points of my life as a scientist. I am indebted to all the staff of the NOAA-NURC Aquarius facility - particularly to Otter, James and Smitty, but also to Steven, Craig, Alexios, Paul and the surface support crew. The smoothness and uncomplicated way that these guys executed this complex and challenging mission while supporting the science to the hilt is beyond praise. It is this type of team effort and excellence that allows us to push to new understandings of our precious ocean. Congratulations and thank you NOAA-NURC.