Day 4 (Th Sept 9):  I started this morning with a 5:00 am starry run along the adjoining pier  – my last chance for land legs before we set sail.  The day was filled with more meetings, presentations, and discussions including a few ‘field trips’ to see the pipes, platforms, cones, and other giant equipment that makes up an ACORK submarine instrumentation set up (from drilling into the sediments to leaving the working sensors embedded 300 m below the ocean floor).  There are so many experts from around the world here and they are all very nice, passionate about what they do, and happy to share.  By late afternoon I wished my head had a backpack to stuff all these new ideas into!   At 4 pm Pacific time, under a gorgeous blue sky, we pulled in the giant ropes, received a push from a few tug boats, and started on our way towards the installation site.  Although at noon I began my sea sickness prevention pills, I am already dealing with the symptoms of being at sea – sleepy, hungry, & light headed.  Everyone says the rocking of the boat means I will sleep like a baby!  I will probably dream about ice that burns (methane gas-hydrates).  Tomorrow another great day is planned.  We get to take a core sample from the last expedition and run all these fun tests (from gamma to x ray to infrared) to see what kind of tectonic, climate, and energy information we can gather from its innards.