The friends list would be too long: the wonderful table we had last night was only prepared with gifts (including chocolates, wines, candles, plates...)! Thank you very much to you all for having shared our unusual New Year's Eve.

Amazing weather. December has been unusually warm, and we had a lot of snow. South wind is now bringing a very wet snow (-2). By the way, two days ago, in the package, there were some slippers! Incredible logistics. It will be more comfortable to watch the polar bears and the sun when they will come back next year.

While we were on our way back, after our oceanographic trip in the middle of Inglefield Bay, here was a helicopter who came and flew above us, a strange and unexpected civilised noise. Just about time to reach Vagabond, with the CTD and all the equipment, pulled by the dogs, and we saw a spectacular delivery! The pilot didn't want to land on pack ice, hidden below a thick layer of snow, and brought us quickly the package, crossing the huge cloud of snow created by the rotor still running.

Wind has been blowing for the last 3 days, the thermometer was showing about zero yesterday even though it was -26 the day before, what a season! The moon light is going a little through the clouds, we are hoping a nice moon shine for the Christmas Eve...

Another storm, pack ice is sinking due to the weight of the snow and is flooded with about 30 cm of sea water. Also, when removing the thick layer of snow, we reached Frost's doghouse, it was filled up with freezing water, rescued just on time. Toilets, which were working yesterday, are frozen again, and with this weather, we cannot find any shelter to expose our bottom to the air. Better to need to go not to wait too long with the trouser down to the knees. But we need to take time and dress up properly (gloves, cap lamp, balaclava, and toilet paper) and then sweep up the snow from the deck! Daily little adventures are keeping us busy... About our last attempt with the pulka, pulled by the dogs, snow became hard after the strong winds, and they were going so fast that it was really hard to slow them down! Happy Birthday to Eric (2 years old !) and to Jean-Claude for who we are happy to study the packice.

The snow has been falling down a lot last few days, and the storm is finishing sculpting our new background. Huge snowdrift took us a doghouse, the safety case, the hand drill, the dinghy, the pulka... a good shovel party is starting! Pressure is coming up (40 mb within 36 hours!), still some wind (50 km/h), -15 degrees, which is about -40 degrees with the chilling factor. Sky is clear now, stars are shining at noon like at midnight, and northern lights are crossing the canopy of heaven. The lost polar bear cub settled in the rear cabin, waiting for the sun to come back, cohabitation is easy, unusual, amazing...

We hadn't seen any polar bear since 20th November. Yesterday around noon the dogs suddenly barked a lot, a polar bear was already very close to the boat, it was hard to see him in the darkness, although there was a nice moonlight... We scared him away, but he came back few moments later, he was even looking bigger, we moved and shout as much as we could and he finally gave up. Today, during oceanographic observations on pack ice, while snowing heavily, we were probably more careful than usual!