On August 6^th, with 8 days to go, the crew sets its collective mind for the "downhill" leg of the journey. A school of tuna circles the sub, a pleasant distraction from the scientific routine. They’ve drifted 1000 miles, and now the sub picks up even more speed, exceeding 3.5 knots. They’re 300 miles southeast of New York, and it appears that the Franklin will "splash up" south of Nova Scotia at a distance, not of 200 to 300 miles as predicted, but more like 1000 miles off Cape Cod. Overnight, another storm pounds the Privateer and a Navy hydrographic vessel that has joined the Privateer, the USS Lynch.

On the 12^th, while 2000 guests gather for a state dinner in honor of the three astronauts, the six aquanauts are still looking forward to their first real meal in 31 days. Over the next few days, the crew continues to run experiments and gather data, but there is a notable anticipation of "splash up" just a few days away on the 14^th. They’ve been living on dehydrated meals reconstituted with not very hot water. They know their first meal will be breakfast aboard the Privateer - steak and eggs, with bottomless cups of coffee, with a real hot shower for desert. That night, Erwin Aebersold is the big winner at poker, even though he began the trip with no knowledge of the game.

On the 13^th, the Coast Guard cutter Cook Inlet arrives overhead. Once the Franklin has surfaced and the hatches opened, the crew will be taken aboard, given physicals, fed, and taken to Portland, Maine.

Technically, the 30 days of the mission is over at midnight, but Kazimir and Piccard decide a night surfacing with all that it would entail is too dangerous, and delay until the following morning on the 14^th. The crew is not happy with the delay, but common sense prevails.

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