Geology and geophysics in Gardar, opus III, part 2, by France Pinczon
July 8th, Léonie and Aurore arrive from France, barely ahead of Christophe Prunier, a geophysics engineer, Christian Schiffer, a geophysicist already on board last summer, and Christophe Raylat, director and cameraman, who takes over from Pierre Petit.
The idea is to recover the 15 seismic stations that we set up last summer in order to record the “tremors of the earth”! Joy to be reunited as a family to share this last part of the mission that has occupied us for three summers, and with such good companions!
Christian is delighted, mission accomplished: all the stations have worked. Christophe too: he is the one who had planned and packed all the necessary equipment into the blue IPEV container, stored in Narsaq for a year, and whose return by cargo he is preparing. And our Christophe “meerkat” nicknamed so by the girls’ camaraderie, stores all of this with enthusiasm in the eye of his camera.
Around a bend in a fjord, we spot a small yellow sailboat, the Harmattan, which has been looking for us. We go together to the little fjord that is dear to us in the middle of Tuttutooq Island and spend a convivial evening there. Tanguy, whom we met on board the catamaran We Explore the previous year, is leaving for the Northwest Passage with his three friends. We leave them the next day, not without slowly sailing under wind to the end of the fjord that had welcomed us so warmly in previous years.
End of the mission. We pass through the ice fjord just before Narsarsuaq to marvel one last time… We moor Vagabond to a beautiful ice floe before going to frolic on this bumpy beige-white-blue terrain as the wind rises and then blows in gusts! A somewhat hurried return on board before casting off, while Mother Nature plays one of her symphonies full of strength and beauty. Special dedication to our companions who take the plane a few hours later…
