5 July 2023, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

It's Wednesday at 9pm, the music is beautiful, but we know we've got to go.

The air is cool. Not freezing, just around 9 degrees. Although, it's a little humid. Actually, it's downright damp, the same kind of fog we've been blessed with in Saint-Pierre for a good week now. Perfect weather to not have to look far for a horizon that once might have been blue. Best to just concentrate on scraping down the hull of the ship whilst it lays aground and the tide is low. We're giving the hull a coat of beautiful antifouling paint. This deep black protective agent should repel algae, keep us safe from the abyss, and might even attract whales (or perhaps mermaids too!).

For above the waterline, we'll settle for just a few red and white touch-ups to restore the ship to her former flamboyance. We might have repainted the whole ship, but the local fog is hardly conducive to the task. Besides, she might end up looking too new and dapper for a vessel that's been playing the Arctic for over twenty years now.

I remember twenty years ago. In 2003, we were in Kamchatka. The ship was in the middle of its grand tour. It had completed the north-east passage and was about to begin voyage of the north-west passage. Having now passed her exam of these two daring passages with flying colours, the deities of the boreal decided she could stay.

Armed with this credential, our proud vessel has never left the Far North since. Overwintering 12 times, first in Svalbard and then in Nunavut, and putting the ship to work on some sixty scientific programs, our valiant crew have remained faithful to their project - to provide a logistical base for polar science.

In 2007, a little Léonie was added to the crew, followed by her littler sister Aurore in 2009, but the ship hasn't changed course: once ice, always ice.

This year, even though the girls have gone to sample the summer delights of the warm French metropolis, we must go back once again. Science can't wait, and serious business awaits us on our first mission of the summer in Greenland. Just look at the title of the project: "Protero-Litho in the Gardar magmatic province". But it's probably too early to talk about scientific details, so just hang on a while and, if you continue to follow this blog, some of the researchers will tell you more.

It was 9pm and we had to go, but the music was beautiful. For our departure, the shore had been invaded by a group of Irish musicians: "The Celtic Cods", a name the brings delight the little son of a cod fisherman that I am. And so three fiddles, three flutes, a mandolin, a guitar, an accordion and even a Celtic tambourine (which we should call bodhran), offered us a beautiful aubade. Sorry, I should say a magnificent serenade, since it was the evening and an aubade is reserved for the dawn of the morning.

After reciting "Au bord de l'eau" by Rémi Geffroy, a song that always moves me, we cast off. Swallowed up by the fog, we hear a flute playing "Cape Clear" in the misty distance, a melody that tells us about Cape Clear Island, yesterday's powerless watchtower turned temple of memories, with its long-shimmering tears dried in the wind. A jewel rediscovered from the splendour of the ocean, still looking for its starving children in a fold of the horizon.

The music is beautiful, but we know we've got to go.

More about August 2022 events, with images shot by Vagabond's crew and team members.

Weekend in Langlade organized with Gilles Gloaguen / Escapade Insulaire.

From Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the large Canadian island of Newfoundland reaches out to us. An hour and a half by ferry only.

In search of wide open spaces well covered in snow, and after a few weeks of preparation, France and I set off for the center of the island. Starting from the village of Buchans (the same size as Miquelon and 5 times larger than Grise Fiord!), we discover a region with exceptional conditions for a nice little ski-pulka expedition!

Temperatures are between -20°C and -5°C, the layer of snow is thick, wooded areas provide good shelters in high winds, a large frozen lake reminds us of the sea ice, small mountains offer beautiful panoramas, animal tracks are everywhere... Two memorable encounters with moose, another with a coyote.

For about ten days we tow our sleds and carefully choose our bivouacs, what a freedom! What is unusual, almost weird, is that we have neither scientific instrument nor protocol!

In the only emergency shelter in the area (located 8km north of the site indicated on the map!), we enjoy the wood stove to unfreeze our equipment and we meet some happy hunters passing by. They wonder how we decided to come here: the only foreign travelers they can remember are two Germans with huge backpacks, fifteen years ago, in summer, exhausted! We definitely picked up the right region for our winter wanderings.

The water is cold and gales follow one another in winter in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, but on January 18 and 19 the weather conditions are exceptionally calm.

Thierry and Pascal join me for a great sailing from Saint-Pierre harbor to Miquelon. We spend the night at anchor in front of the village, and we have a successful dive the next day in the bay.

Our mission? To collect around fifty Saccharina Latissima, a kelp algae currently being studied by Merinov over the Canadian Atlantic provinces. Perhaps we will discover that the genetic and nutritional properties of seaweed from Saint-Pierre and Miquelon are unique, even exceptional?

Before we set sail and leave Grise Fiord, I am invited by the Hamlet to say goodbye. There are many of our friends, gifts, speeches, each one higher than the other, hugs, tears... "Thank you for giving us another look at science", "Aboard our little boats, we feel safer when Vagabond is around", "Come back soon with the whole family". Very emotional moments.

Loic Sanchez arrived three days before departure, which allowed us to set up the water filtration system to collect environmental DNA. The aim is to better predict the impact of climate change on fish populations. The DNA collected in the filters makes it possible to identify the species present in the area during the 30 minutes before sampling. Our friend Sébastien Roubinet is also taking part in this unprecedented scientific program and we chat together every day, while he is on an incredible expedition!

France, Leni, Ana and Yves flew back south, also I'm happy to welcome my four Breton teammates: Marie, Christophe, Ronan and Yves. Time to get our last food supplies, fresh water and fuel: ready to head south.

The ice is blocking the northeast of Devon Island, we are struggling to get out of Jones Sound. And darkness is back and it is snowing! The crew is adapting quickly, the watches are intense, we reach open water the next day. Here we are in Baffin Bay.

First stop at Clyde River where I find my old friend Philip. He provides us with engine oil and we share our diving memories!

Three days later we have a very friendly time in Qikiqtarjuaq where I lived with my family between 2013 and 2016. I'm so happy to see all our friends again, I keep sharing news for almost two days, without forgetting to climb the hill overlooking the village with my teammates.

The next stop, in northern Labrador, is due to the bad weather. Luckily, we find a good shelter for two days in a magnificent region. A polar bear, caribous, lots of blueberries and other berries that we can even pick up under the northern lights!

On September 21, Loic, Ronan and Yves disembark at Nain, in the middle of the night. Time for them to fly back to France. Vagabond set off again while the weather is fine.

Last stopover in Cartwright, still in Labrador, to let Fiona pass! Another four days for Vagabond to round Newfoundland and reach Saint-Pierre and Miquelon on October 1 at 1am, after sailing 3,200 nautical miles (5,900 km) from Grise Fiord.

The latest events have also affected the crew, Leni is replacing Minoli who is sad to leave our team...

Still too much ice to reach Nares Strait (between Greenland and Canada), so the search for coralline continues on the south coast of Ellesmere Island. We cannot find any thick algae near Harbour Fiord neither at Cone or Smith islands, but Starnes Fiord is a real mine! The thick samples collected might offer great sclerochronological analyzes (the aquatic equivalent of dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating).

We probably have to forget about Talbot Inlet this year due to the ice conditions, but the winds have blown away the ice in Jones Sound: so Vagabond can repeat oceanographic transects through Jones Sound and in front of Sverdrup Glacier, as well as an ocean profile at the deepest site (852m), as every year since 2019.

It's at the front of Sverdrup glacier that we pick up Borge Ousland and Vincent Colliard. They have just crossed the Devon Island Ice Cap. It's really great to meet again! Vince is staying on board for a few days more, happy to help us out with the science work.

At the end of August, we drop anchor at Vagabond's overwinter site 2011-12. A good opportunity to stretch our legs and to climb "our pyramid" where two batteries used for timelapse series have been waiting for recovery. Vagabond's three timelapse photo equipment are being used since 2021 by David Didier's team for a Grise Fiord coastal erosion study.

At the end of the mission, I was asked to search for some equipment lost near Brume Point, not far from Grise Fiord. This ended up with a great dive for me and a relieved scientist!