France, Léonie (born in Tromso on last 27 February) and I are in Longyearbyen since Sunday night. I'm getting ready to go back to Vagabond with snowmobile, France and Léonie will fly there when there will be any opportunity. Today is the Women's day and the sun is back in Longyearbyen after the long polar night. 2 very appropriate events for us!

Some news from the boat: "Today we went to the new ice that built up after the sea ice outside the bay cracked two times during the last week during strong winds. We were very curious to see how the ice differed on the surface because we could see the different colours of the ice from the moraine during the last days. To this occasion we finally took out our fresh longjohns and enjoyed the rare feeling of fresh and clean clothes on the skin. Amazing how special that feeling gets living in a place where it is not easy to wash clothes. After a first little fight between the dogs (no serious injuries) since Eike came we hope they understood that this is not allowed. It is incredible that we never saw Imiaq as satisfied with himself and the world as today after the fight before - even with a little hole in his foot and a lot of being told of by us. To compensate for that we had ginger bread as desert yesterday made in a pan and now a new load is in the oven. The doe survived sin ce Christmas, flew here with a helicopter and now is the right time for eating it we decided. Yesterday, after a deliberate cleaning morning, we went downhill skiing close to the glacier front and found out that the dogs just can't manage with us without sled! Sanja found the very fitting comparison with a group of lost chickens. We spent a lot of time trying to convince them not to sit or walk on our skis but to find their own way or at least leave us room to move. We got some funny moment with one of us lying in the snow, dog over, under and between the legs and the poles, ropes, rifles and skis in between. Sanja and Eike."