Ric,
What is the current status of Niku VIII funding?
Your previous froum posts (in October) said the first payment of $41,300 for the Nai'a charter was due at the end of October 2014, and this money was raised and the payment was made. The next payment for the Nai'a was $111,350, due on 10 Dec. 2014.
Your recent (around 15 Dec. 2014) e-mail bulletin said the next payment for the charter was due, $25,000 from two sponsor team members was in hand, and a total of $133,7000 needed to be raised to complete the Niku VIII budget. Once the $133,700 was raised, the $100,000 pledge from a foundation plus a total of $75,000 in additional pleages from the two sponsor team members would then become available, and the budget would be completed.
Adding this all up:
41,300 Paid in Oct. toward Nai'a charter
25,000 $ in hand from 2 sponsor team members
100,000 Pledged by major foundation
75,000 Pledged by the 2 sponsor team members
133,700 Still needed to be raised
Total of above: $375,000
I've seen this number mentioned somewhere as the total Niku VIII budget, and it makes sense with the budget for the Nai'a charter being $264,000 plus an estimated additional $12,000 in fuel costs, the remainder of the $375,000 presumably being for ROV rental and operation, scuba diving operations, land operations, and incidentals.
What is not clear to me is what has happened with the $111,350 payment for the Nai'a charter due on 10 Dec. 2014. I see in the above numbers only the $25,00 total from the two sponsor team members available cash in hand to put toward that $111,350 payment, whose due date has now passed. Was that full payment made? If not, how much were you able to pay, and have the Nai'a folks granted you a time extension to pay the remaining amount?
Also, your mid-December e-mail bulletin said you would be issuing a press release at the end of that week discussing the status of the 2-2-V-1 investigation, including an account of your visit to MIT and publishing Prof. Eagar's letter to you following that MIT visit. I didn't see any press release after that. Did it happen?
Finally, you always seem to post the contents of any such e-mailed TIGHAR bulletin on the website a few days after you do the e-mail notification. I haven't seen any sign of such a posting on the TIGHAR website. What happened here?
Jeff P.
