High speed drift: Vagabond just covered over 100km at 2km/h average speed (up to more than 3km/h!), trapped in multiyear ice coming from the Arctic Ocean, all carried away by winds and currents. It was more opportunities for ice thickness data and for new ice cores (chlorophyll, pH and salinity measures). Many polar bears are enjoying these thick and dense ice concentrations to hunt. One of them, intrigued, came and knock at the kitchen window! Our noisy reactions got the better of his curiosity.

So, without any detour and without using the engines for two days, we left Smith Sound and entered Jones Sound, where we hope to recover a drifting buoy (Ice Mass Balance), deployed by Christian in April 2010 in Lincoln Sea, 800km further north. For now, we are finishing CTD sections in Lady Ann Strait, south of Coburg Island, and in front of magnificent Belcher Glacier.

Before leaving Smith Sound, we visited five young biologists working at Alexandra Fiord station for the summer. It was build in 1954 by Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Not far from there, we were happy to watch (at least!) a small group of walruses.