120 river km, four locks and three sampling stations - this was the ambitious goal set for August 18. After leaving Linz in the morning, the expedition passed the first lock at Abwinden/Asten (Sampling Station 8), the beautiful scenery of the Strudengau river valley and Sampling Station 9 at Ybbs/Persenbeug. At Station 9, airlifting sediment samples proved difficult on the river's steep banks. Later near Melk, the Széchényi arrived exactly at the same time as the only cruise ship of the afternoon, making for a complicated double-docking for the Captain. Then it was on toward Krems, passing through the famous Wachau wine and river valley, along the way sampling at Station 10 at Oberloiben. Earlier on, realizing that the cooling capacity for samples was running out, Austrian Team coordinator Mr. Wolfgang Rodinger and JDS2 Technical Coordinator Jaroslav Slobodnik made a quick car dash to the city of St. Pölten to purchase two large and 17 small portable refrigerators.
The next day, after finally catching up on some much-needed sleep, the crew was greeted by beautiful sunshine in Stein/Donau near Krems. Sampling Stations 11 and 12 at the dam in Greifenstein and then Klosterneuburg proved problem-free, each sampled within two hours. For the first time, core team members also had a chance to truly enjoy the landscape, update their laboratory protocols, organise sampling procedures, prepare the ships for the next day's press conference in Vienna, and swim in the crisp 19°C Danube waters.
