"After a snowy and bad-view day that hold us inside most of the day yesterday, today we had a brilliant day with a morning polar bear that was strolling by some 200m away while Eike was outside with the dogs, rolling itself in the snow many times and apparently being just mildly interested in the strange happenings close to the boat. After giving up hope of seeing a polar bear and already doubting all the stories about polar bears living on the east coast Eike was very happy to finally got to see one. After this good start we set out for a sea ice transect and just when we were finished, the sky cleared and the sun showed her smiling face to us. No doubt, we had to extend the trip a bit! The snow is fairly deep at the moment so it is hard work for the dogs to pull the sled but it more fun anyway if we have to work a bit too to go where we want to go. Now the full moon is shining brightly, bathing the world around us in an unearthly light, rivers of snow streaming over the ice driven by the wind. The temperature dropped 10 degrees during the day and we had up to 30 knots wind this evening. Nice to see natures strength now and then and the hot chocolate tastes even better when it is cold and blowing outside :) Eike and Sanja"