[n.b. This is a backdated post, part of a May/2014 blog catchup.
This post's content is based on email updates I wrote when FedEx located the CTD that we'd attempted to ship to St. Croix in August.]
Following the resumption of normal activities after the US Government shutdown, I was put into touch with a NOAA employee whose role it was to act as liaison (and arbiter, in case of problems) between NOAA and FedEx. She was able to accomplish within a few days what I'd been unable to do in two months: get FedEx to look for the missing package. And they found it! It was found in some sort of waystation for lost items in Utah.
Initially I told them to just send it on its way to St. Croix as originally planned, but I thought the better of it and asked them to ship it back to me in Miami. I figured I should reevaluate the CTD and make sure it hadn't suffered any damage during its two-month journey from Memphis to Utah.
As of this writing (late October) the plan is to evaluate the CTD and then send it (or another) on to St. Croix so that the Shallow CTD can be replaced as originally planned last August.
(signed)
Mike Jankulak