Wake up at 10. The sun is shining (again !), the sky is clear, and most of all, no more wind ! F. who had her night shift last night, tells us the wind dropped around 2:30 am. But the "night" was cold, as water in a pond nearby started to freeze !



































We have breakfast and pack our stuff. The ocean seems so calm compared to the last two days !


















































































We board the kayaks. Crossing the bay is only 4 km here. With sun calm waters, it should not take long ! Today, O. and I share the same kayak again, but this time I'm in the back and will pilot for the first time.
In 40 minutes of time, we reach the opposite shore.






























































We make a quick stop and then continue towards Nordeskjöld glacier. We won't stop at Bruce Byen. We do not have enough time and it may not be worthwhile.
5 km later, here we are, close to the large and beautiful glacier.



































































































In front of the glacier lies a rocky island where a couple of polar bears have been seen a few days ago. We are very careful then. We move on a single line and Benoit leads the way. We come close to the shore of the island when suddenly Benoit shouts "BEAR ! BEAR !".
No time to think, we paddle in the opposite direction, trying to get as far as possible to the shore. Quite stressful ! F., who is on Benoit's kayak, is allowed to take a few pictures. The bear is alone, very close to the shore, but was hidden by a large rock and Benoit could only see it at the last moment. He is staring at us but not moving. We stop paddling, take a few pictures too.


















The bear finally leaves the shore slowly. We can see he has blood on his feet, meaning he might not be hungry anymore ;-) Nevertheless, we do not come too close to the glacier and enjoy the landscape from a safety distance !





































































































































We finally move away from the glacier, towards our campsite. On the way, Benoit spots a large and fat bearded seal resting on an iceberg. We manage to come very close as it does not move a bit ! What a day !

















































When then paddle to the shore. We pass close to the base camp of a Norwegian company proposing kayaking and hiking in the neighborhood. We finally reach the shore and get the kayaks out of the water. This was our last navigation day...
The beach where we settle the camp is gorgeous, its shore covered with large ice blocks !
























































We settle the camp and have lunch on the beach.
Then Benoit suggests we go for a walk close to the glacier. In the meantime, we will collect fresh water in a river nearby. We are still very careful about the bear tat we saw earlier. When we reach the Norwegian camp, we discuss with the guides and they tell us that the bear has been here for 10 days, and that he is not timid at all. He comes very close to the cabin almost every day ! That is a problem because polar bears are supposed to be afraid of men and especially armed men !
The Norwegian camp is indeed guarded by several armed men and several dogs... Not the same kind of protection we are used to since the beginning of our trip ;-)

















We keep walking to the glacier. Benoit first leads us to a pont where we can overlook the glacier. The scenery is amazing, all the more with the dimming light.































































We then walk to gigantic ice caves. It looks amazing and completely unreal. The ice is so blue and clear...





































On the way back to the campsite, we fill our water supply. With advancing days, the night gets darker. When reaching the camp, we have dinner and Benoit tells us the last night will be shorter so that we can adjust on the real time ! So the last night will be 6 hours long only. 5 shifts of 1h10min. O. will be from 1:10 to 2:20 and I will be up from 2:20 to 3:30. When we go to bed, the sky is low and filled with thick clouds. Eventually a truly arctic weather ;-)







































































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FIGURES OF THE DAY : 14,6km of kayak in 3h48