Getting organized for an expedition takes literally a year of planning. Even when you arrive there are days of checking in with collaborators, securing the final permits that allow you to do research. Part of our team spent most of the day meeting with government officials, arranging final details with our collaborators at the University of the Philippines and securing the final permits necessary. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was at the Philippine National Museum unpacking the supplies we shipped in advance with great facilitation from the U.S. Embassy. The team also met with our other collaborators and with the Director of the Museum. Elliott mentioned that we needed to find a place where we could fill our emergency oxygen tanks for scuba diving. After asking several local divers who have been on trips with us previously, we located a source. Most business is transacted via text message so we texted Nathan who was incredibly helpful and we were trying to arrange how to drop off the oxygen tanks to get filled. We got the following text from Nathan: "Hi, Terry. You can just leave the tanks at our place any time. Just look for Rasty. He sleeps in the warehouse. I will look at the tanks when I get in around 10". We were hoping to meet Rasty but found another source right where we are going to be diving. Life here is always filled with people bending over backwards to try to help and come up with creative solutions to solving problems. Rich and Terry

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