The west-northwest transit from Site 1162 to Site 1163 took about 10 hr at an average speed of 10.4 kt. At 2330 hr on 31 December, we slowed to 5 kt and ran a south-to-north single-channel seismic (SCS) survey on a line 1 nmi west of and parallel to the precruise site survey track. Since the valley hosting the sediment-filled pond (our proposed site) opened to the west, we hoped that we would find a more inviting drilling target along this line. When we could find no suitable sediment cover along this survey track, we steered a southeasterly heading, which carried us directly over the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of the prospectus site. Although the sediment pond is a small target at this location, we decided that the sediment thickness was sufficient to provide lateral support for the bottom-hole assembly (BHA). Although the duration of the survey was only 1.6 hr and covered 8 nmi, it had the distinction of lasting from one millennium to the next.
The precision depth recorder (PDR) water depth referenced to the dual-elevator stool at this site is 4365.4 m. The nine-collar BHA employed at the other sites was reassembled, along with a previously used hard-formation C-7 four-cone rotary bit that was still in good condition. This bit was run with a mechanical bit release. We began Hole 1163A at 1030 on 1 January by washing through ~160 m of sediment below seafloor at an average penetration rate of 54 m/hr. When the driller noted a hard contact, we pulled the wash barrel (Core 187-1163A-1W, 0.0 to 161.0 meters below seafloor [mbsf]; Table T1). We advanced Hole 1163A by rotary coring 161.0-208.1 mbsf (Cores 187-1163A-2R to 11R) with generally good drilling conditions and 33% recovery. Microsphere tracers were deployed on Core 187-1163A-2R. We terminated operations at this site when we reached our depth objective of ~50 mbsf. The drill string cleared the seafloor at 2345 hr on 2 January and the rotary table at 0700 hr on 3 January.