LOCATION: Site U1331: Hole U1331A (PEAT-1C) Preliminary Position: 12°04.089’ N, 142°09.698’ W. Preliminary Water Depth: 5143 meters below rig floor (mbrf).

PRESENT ACTIVITY: Update as of 1000 hrs 15 March 2009 Started lowering thrusters and changing to dynamic positioning mode between 2330 and 2400 hrs. All thrusters extended by 2355 hr. Began positioning over U1331 (PEAT-1c). Now running in with the drill string at Hole U1331A. Beacon deployed at 0101 hr. Once the drill string is deployed, we will pump down a clean out plug (“pig”) and drop and recover a core barrel two times to make sure the core barrels are clean.

TRANSIT: Previous distance traveled – 843 Nm over 80 hours with 238 Nm remaining; Today – 238 Nm traveled over 23.5 hours with 000 Nm remaining. Challenge: Calculate the speed in knots, the total distance traveled. If you’ve been following our challenge, now you know our arrival time!

WEATHER: Heading: 080°; Wind: 12 -15 kt gusting 15-20 kt @ 080°-115°; Seas: 4 ft @ 6 sec from 070°-100°; Swell: 6 ft @ 8 sec from 100°; Sea Water Temp: 26°C; Barometer: 1013 mb steady; Air Temp: 25°C; Heave: 6 ft; Max Pitch: 4° @ 6 sec; Max Roll: 6° @ 8 sec.

OPERATION PLAN (next 24-48 hours): There are three holes planned. Each of the holes will be APC/XCB (advanced piston coring/extended core barrel) cored through the sediment cover (187 mbsf). The first hole will attempt to sample basement with the XCB and a hard cutting shoe to verify basalt at the bottom of the hole. We will attempt to obtain four good heat flow measurements in Hole 1331B and/or 1331C. Hole 1331A will be logged as per program.

CURRENT TIME ZONE: GMT -10 (Hawaii Time)