After a good reconnaissance yesterday, Stefano will try one last time to come
from Longyearbyen with my 2 substitutes, and to pick up Hervé and all the
scientific equipment. For my part, I'm getting ready to ski back to town,
after giving instructions for 2 or 3 days, because my snowmobile's suspension
is broken. The machine will stay here over the summer, hoping that it will
resist to unavoidable polar bear visits... While waiting, we enjoy fantastic
weather and hard snow thanks to the below zero temperatures for the last 3
days. Best conditions for skiing with the dogs. Hervé organised as much as he
could the shipping of every instruments, and I also could do a CTD from the
ice edge, watching a magnificent eider ducks flight. Being now close to open
water, as we expected it, brought us some more visitors yesterday. A young
determined polar bear, then a big male more careful, and few hours later, the
young followed by the big male. 4 bangers were enough to delimit our te
rritory, but my snowmobile seat has again been damaged!