We’re headed in.

Several of us stayed up until midnight last night, chumming for sharks and jigging for Humboldt Squid, and we caught exactly one of the former (a small Blue) and two of the latter.

That might seem slow but the night was lovely and lots of small fish and a few smallish squid, and one small diving bird (a small auk of some kind) enlivened the water within our halo of lights.

This morning’s set brought several small Blue Sharks and one hefty Mako who left us with a satellite tag.

The trip has been perfect in many ways—interesting, great people, terrific animals around us, and great weather.

I hope that a few decades from now the youngest on our crew—16-year-old Matt Ramon—and the students working with us, will still be going on research cruises, still opening the wonders of new understanding, and still be able to say they saw at least as much as we have this week.

And now my attention shifts, again, homeward. It’s with equal anticipation that I return as that I came. And that is saying something.

–Carl Safina