After one month of coralline mission, technical adventures to overcome the snorting of our compressor and narghile, the scientific teams are happy and we finally arrived at the bay of the meetings:

1- Le Manguier. Appointment made in Akunaq based on a small island, on National Day, June 21st. We didn't have any opportunity to meet since the North East Passage in 2009, on the tug boat now reconverting into artists residences. Philippe Hercher the captain felled in love with Greenland, we are happy to spend time with him again. This Manguier is still poetic.

2- At Ilulissat it's Thierry Dubois, on La Louise, who takes the moorings. Happy reunion! I have known him for 25 years for having sailed on his 60 feet Amnesty International while Thierry was racing on the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Tour of Europe... Built with his hands, his schooner La Louise is beautiful. His charter program is very intense but it matches his character, always as lively. He has also enjoyed this high latitudes for 9 years.

3- At Oqaatsut, just further north we find Atka, Ben and his sons who have wintered here. There is also Julien who lives in the village with wife and children, for 15 years in Greenland. More extraordinary characters, with lot of incredible lives stories, it is like a breath of fresh air and enthusiasm that everyone on board fully enjoy!

After the north wind, we will leave...

Steffen, a german scientist, is now on board searching for coralline and setting up some data loggers on the sea bed to study the coralline habitat. We have 4 more diving tanks from Nuuk firemen, as the compressor is under repair. We get it back in Aasiaat. But on this leg, the first 7 days are so unsuccessful: no coralline most of the time! Finally the 3 last days we found very good spots around Aasiaat and now, the narghile is working again. Saved mission!

The quest continues, in vain since our departure from Nuuk... Despite the lack of coralline, small adventures embellish our route: a story of a lost diving belt then found again, whales in a sunny fjord for my 50th birthday, a tough hydrographic profile by 20 knots of wind, narrow and very shallow passages between the islands, very old stone tombs that reveal skulls and bones, French exam on Harry Potter prepared by Léonie for Aurore, crossing the Arctic circle for the first time for Natasha, delicious pan-fried scallops, the recovery of our diving compressor...

Louis, a sailor and diver I met in Antarctica, and Natasha, a PhD student in earth sciences in Toronto, joined the crew for almost two months. The aim is to search for coralline algae along the West coast of Greenland, from Nuuk to Qaanaaq.

The first week is a busy one, in Nuuk Fjord, with Lina and Emma. Great dives, lots of icebergs, drifting ice and breathtaking under water cliffs... Louis and I are coming up with bags full of coralline, despite some problems with both of our on board compressors. Our colleagues divers from Nuuk, whose compressors also broke down, manage to fill up our tanks, and the mission keeps going till the end. Card games and laughter are showing our success! Lina and Emma are going back to their labs, in Sweden and in England, well loaded with samples.

Vagabond is coming back to Greenland's capital. Here, on June 1st, will start the 2019 scientific cruise. Two months of underwater exploration along Greenland West Coast, to sample coralline, the red algae telling about the Arctic ocean past. The second part of the mission will be in Nunavut.

From Narsarsuaq, our photographers are lucky with a nice spring cruise, we are all enjoying this Greenlandic coastal sailing. Aurore and Leonie are taking photo lessons with Christian. Pascal, Claude and Robert are so enthusiasts that one cannot resist to taking pictures!

When leaving Ipiutaq, Vagabond has hit hard a shoal. I dived to have a look, nothing, just a scratch and some paint off. Once more, we admire the strength of our faithful red hull.

When we arrive in the after noon, we just wanted to go ashore. We met again with Agathe and Ina on the beach, then we went to the sheepfold. Because it was the lambing period there was more work than usually: we had to feed the sheeps, help them to give birth and feed with milk the lambs that didn't get enough from their mothers. In the end of the after noon, we met with, we left him with the sheeps and we went to prepare diner and have fun at home. We went to eat on the boat and we decided that Aurore and I could stay and sleep on land. When we got ashore at nite, it was really late and we went fast to the sheepfold where we were gonna stay up to 3am. This nite, two lambs were born. At 12am Aurore and I went to have lunch on board. We decided that Aurore and I could sleep an other nite on land while dad and mom where bringing Christophe and Ronan to take the plane at Narsarsuaq and take on board 4 photographers...

Very nice reunion yesterday with our friends Ina, Agathe and Kalista, at Ipiutaq farm, near Narsaq, South Greenland. It is the high season of births, and the sheeps need all their care! But they are happy to have a break and visit us for an evening on board Vagabond. Then Aurore and Leonie join them for the night watch in the sheepfold; it's also a chance to sleep on land with their friend Ina (12 years old).

After these great shared moments, and some nice hikes around, we end up leaving without our daughters. Further in the fjord, in Narsarsuaq, Ronan and Christophe have a flight tomorrow morning, while the next crew will arrive a few hours later, Christian and his 3 trainee photographers.

Quite hard to believe that we are already in Greenland, we never started a season so early! The nature is beautiful, when winter is just over, very enjoyable after 5 days sailing from Newfoundland. At first there was some swell, and some hard time. But on the other side of the Labrador Sea, we had an incredible arrival. Listening to Eric Clapton, while sailing over Erik's Ridge (The Red), that was nice on Saint Eric's day!

Vagabond was back in her world. Well, the current was up to 2 knots, trying to push us to the West, and the freezing fog didn't help either, but we were happy to be sailing in the ice again, under the moonlight and with no wind. It was all about finding our way to the Greenland coast, crossing the drifting pack ice coming from the East coast with the currents. Tired but delighted, we entered the fjords on Sunday 19th in the morning, at last. Girls were smiling like the sun, warming us up. Yes, we missed all that a lot and we feel real happiness being back in the Arctic for a new mission.

The swell is still 5m offshore, so we wait until tomorrow before leaving Newfoundland to head for Narsaq in Greenland. Eight years ago, on May 13th as well, we left Brest with the same destination!

The snowmobile season is just ending here in Saint Anthony, and the Coast Guard icebreaker came three weeks ago to free the fishing boats. As every year, about ten polar bears have been seen in early spring. But Mooses are present all year round.

Still getting our sea legs, the conditions are nice, the fishermen as well: "which side would you like to pass?". The new radar, the search light ahead and the central heating are very welcomed for this first night of sailing between all kind of ice coming from Baffin Island and Labrador. At Musgrave Harbour, we find a technician for a last setting of the radar, and we let pass some bad weather. It's the beginning of the snow crab season, and we're enjoying it.

At 9am this Wednesday morning, we leave the very protected port of St John's, the end of an busy technical stop. Vagabond is ready for the next mission, heading to Greenland!

It has been ten days of work and revisions of all kinds: paints, engines, diving equipment, bilge pumps, fire extinguishers, navigation lights... and even setting up a brand new radar, since its predecessor has given up. The multi-beam sonar arm, which will be used during the month of August, was designed and tested with the help of Kirk and Andrew. Thanks to Dana and Patrick we met the day we arrived in St John's, we enjoyed their huge and beautiful pick-up to get all our supplies. Thanks also to Rick from Ocean Quest and his daughter Jill, Tony from Atlantic Electronics, Jerry the Marine Insultant, Ben for his cookies... not to customs for keeping our bottles. The entire crew was busy, under the expertise of Christophe, and Ronan joined us Sunday night for two weeks.

Vagabond had not stopped in such a large city since 2011; a population as welcoming and helpful as fog and icebergs are present!