France, Léonie and Aurore are in Grise Fiord since Friday. Invited by Liza and Aksakjuk, we went with the snowmobile and the big sledge (qamutik). What a surprise to see our hosts coming to meet us by car! On the ice, at 20km from town, the girls jumped inside the well heated vehicle and went ahead all the way to Grise Fiord. Supplies, mail and parcels, real showers and laundry, health centre, Internet and phone... but first of all, the pleasure to see our neighbours and new friends. Léonie is at school for the afternoon, and in the evening, always by car, Liza is taking us all to check her big seal net: nothing. The next morning, not to leave Vagabond and the dogs alone too long, I drive back the 50km, alone, without any sledge. All is fine on board, but wind starts blowing and, it does no harm just this once, despite high pressure (1025mb), bad weather is setting in for two days. I manage to check the net on Saturday night (two hours are needed to break ice around the ropes holding the net under pack ice), before isolating myself inside Vagabond for 36 hours. This morning, all is quiet and our scenery has changed a lot: big snow drifts had formed around the boat, spectacular.

Today, between 12:23 and 13:19 (local time), sun will be at less than 6° below the horizon: it will be daylight for almost one hour (read more here)! Before going back to town to pick up the rest of the crew, I need to check the net again, collect some ice (iceberg for fresh water), feed the dogs, run the generator (batteries), fill up the stove tank, clear the snow from the snowmobile (buried), and above all, go for scientific measurements. Last time, to do longer profiles, I decided to use the snowmobile. But I broke down 4km away from the boat! I could get it the next day, with Tom and Jerry's help, as they were passing by. A godsend.