diff --git a/src/data/gulper.py b/src/data/gulper.py
index 35069b93..ff29fd5f 100755
--- a/src/data/gulper.py
+++ b/src/data/gulper.py
@@ -50,13 +50,15 @@ def mission_start_esecs(self) -> float:
         )
         try:
             self.logger.info("Reading mission start time from url = %s", url)
-            ds = xr.open_dataset(url, decode_times=False)
-            return ds.time[0].to_numpy().astype("float64") / 1e9
+            ds = xr.open_dataset(url)
         except OSError:
             self.logger.info("%s not available yet", url)
             self.logger.info("Reading mission start time from file_path = %s", file_path)
-            ds = xr.open_dataset(file_path, decode_times=False)
-            return ds.time[0].to_numpy().astype("float64")
+            ds = xr.open_dataset(file_path)
+
+        epoch_seconds = ds.time[0].astype("datetime64[s]").astype("int64")
+        self.logger.info("Mission start time = %s epoch seconds", epoch_seconds)
+        return epoch_seconds
 
     def parse_gulpers(self, sec_delay: int = 1) -> dict:  # noqa: C901, PLR0912, PLR0915
         """Parse the Gulper times and bottle numbers from the auvctd syslog file.
@@ -114,6 +116,11 @@ def parse_gulpers(self, sec_delay: int = 1) -> dict:  # noqa: C901, PLR0912, PLR
                 lines = [line.decode(errors="ignore") for line in resp.iter_lines()]
 
         mission_start_esecs = self.mission_start_esecs()
+        self.logger.info(
+            "Mission %s start time = %s epoch seconds",
+            self.args.mission,
+            mission_start_esecs,
+        )
 
         # Starting with 2005.299.12 and continuing through 2022.286.01 and later
         # Used to get mission elapsed time (etime) - matches 'changed state' messages too