Greetings!  Your humble guest blogger today is writing to you from the JOIDES Resolution from somewhere other than Subic Bay, Philippines!  That’s right friends, School of Rock 2017 has officially set sail!  Amidst all of the energy and activity leading up to our departure this afternoon, however, we had a busy morning learning about how coring operations are carried out aboard the ship and the careful planning and flurry of activity that occurs once a core is brought aboard.  Without going into too much detail, I think it goes without saying that it’s no small miracle that marine sedimentary records are retrieved at all.  Ships such as the JOIDES Resolution have on board some of the finest instruments in the world, but those instruments are nothing without the synergy of the scientists, marine techs, drillers and roughnecks, cooks, doctors, and stewards and stewardesses all working as a cohesive family.

Leaving Subic Bay was bittersweet.  The Philippines was gorgeous.  The people were extremely friendly.  But, as scientists, we have places to explore and hypotheses to test.  Over the next couple of weeks, we hope to share more of our experiences with you as we continue our transit toward Australia.  Along the way, we plan to share some of the knowledge we gain through classroom discussions, as well as hands-on experiential learning through identification of marine sedimentary records from all over the world.  We hope that you’ll find this journey as fascinating as we do.  So grab your life jacket…permission to come aboard!