The water is clear! and it was warm! But I did not see any artifacts today! We dove just west of the area that we were surveying. We decided to survey this area just to see if the concentration of the artifacts extended or not. So, not finding any artifacts may have been a good thing. Each day, we are getting closer to answering mysteries of the Ertugrul shipwreck. Besides the project, I used full face mask for diving. I didn’t feel comfortable having something on my mouth all the time, and my jars usually got really tired. With full face mask, I can breath normally without any effort.
Tonight, the mayor of Kushimoto and the municipal office had a dinner party for the group. As usual, I had to translate the speech and had to work as an interpreter. It wasn’t that bad actually, and I think I’m getting used to this kind of task. The mayor showed great interest in our project and our work. I think he would like to support the project, but at the same time they made it clear that financial support was not an option. Well, but they are willing to do other support. We found a school that has been abandoned several years ago, and the mayor was happy that we would like to use the building for a possible conservation lab. The town may not have money, but the people are nice enough to offer us help in many ways. Let see how the project grows.

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