The 242-nmi transit to Site 1208 was made in 22.5 hr at an average speed of 10.8 kt. Upon arrival at the site coordinates, the ship's crew commenced lowering thrusters and hydrophones, and the ship was switched over to dynamic positioning mode, initiating operations at Site 1208 at 2315 hr on 14 September.
After deploying an operational beacon, an APC/XCB was assembled and lowered close to the seafloor. After one unsuccessful attempt at obtaining a mudline core, a 4.75-m core was retrieved at 0920 hr on 15 September, initiating Hole 1208A. The recovery of the mudline core indicates a seafloor depth of 3356.8 meters below rig floor (mbrf), or 3345.7 meters below sea level (mbsl).
Piston coring advanced to 185.2 mbsf, with recovery averaging 105.3% (Table T1). Cores 3H through 20H were oriented. Attempted retrieval of Core 20H resulted in overpull of ~75 kilopounds (kips), which required drilling over with the primary bit to free the core. We continued coring with the XCB, taking 22 cores (Cores 21X through 42X), extending the hole to 392.3 mbsf. Average recovery for the XCB interval was 73.5%. At Core 42X, only 0.25 m of chert was recovered, and the hole was terminated. The drill string was retrieved, clearing the rotary table at 1330 hr on 17 on September, ending drilling at Site 1208. After recovery of the beacon and retraction of the thrusters and hydrophones, the ship began the transit to Site 1209.