At the end of September, my grandfather and I decided to go down to Marseille. My grandfather has some memories of the city, since he did his military service and has family from Marseille. We'll be there for 3 days. We visited the city, some quirky places and then the southern part of the 8th arrondissement, which was much more natural and wild.
Freed to Catch Something
by a wandering wonderer
Master's field
In the Canadian Arctic
January 2016
I’m standing in line to go through customs in Montreal. I get a call, pick up the phone—it’s Isabelle, the lab technician Pascal and I work with. We have to get back to the mining complex fairly quickly to take more samples from the boat…
January 21–27, 2016 - An Unexpected Winter Experience
It’s January 2016. I went back to France for the holidays and to spend some time with my family. Looking back, 2016 was truly the best year ever. I loved that year—so many interesting and varied things happened. I’ll have a chance to talk about it again…
I’m taking a flight to Montreal, as I usually do. I’ve developed a little routine for when I arrive in Quebec before heading out to Rimouski. I often book a hotel room not far from the bus station, and that same evening I go to the movies. I love doing that. And on my way out of the theater, I stop by the IGA to grab something to eat. But today will be different. So here I am in line to go through Canadian customs. I’m a little tired, but a phone call brings me back to the present moment. It’s Isabelle on the line, the scientific technician Pascal and I work with. She tells me the ship is approaching Deception Bay and that we need to head to the mining complex as soon as possible to sample the ship’s ballast tanks. This sampling campaign was planned, but not this quickly. I tell her I just landed in Montreal and I’m not quite sure what to do. We also have to catch a flight from Quebec City in two days, so there’s no need to go back to Rimouski. I call Pascal; he tells me it’s a mess and that it’s a bit rushed. After talking for several minutes, we agree to meet in Quebec City at the hotel we usually stay at.
I go through customs, pick up my suitcase, and take the shuttle to the Berri-UQAM bus station in downtown Montreal. From there, I think I book my ticket to Quebec City for the next day. I spend the night in Montreal. The next day, I leave for Quebec City, check into the hotel, and shortly after, Pascal joins me. I have my big suitcase, which I won’t be taking with me, so Pascal has everything planned out. We take his car and head to his aunt and uncle’s house. I’ll leave my suitcase there. We spend a little time with them, then go to a restaurant for a bite to eat. It feels good to settle down after all that unexpected excitement. Pascal and his aunt and uncle tell me some stories ; it’s nice. Then we head back to the hotel.
The next day we head to the Quebec City airport to catch the mining company’s flight. The terminal is a bit off to the side from the rest of the airport. Pascal brought his guitar. During the downtime, he plays the guitar—it’s cool. We go through security and board the plane.
We’re looking out over the white, frozen landscape of Quebec in January. The sky is blue, the ground is white—it’s very pretty. We can even see a meteorite crater (there are several of them; I don’t remember this one).
We arrived late in the afternoon on the frozen tarmac and were driven to the mining complex. It feels like coming home. It’s nice. It’s warm inside. We met up with our on-site scientific liaison, who told us that the ship is trapped in the ice and can’t reach Deception Bay. So there’s nothing we can do. We’re stuck; there’s nothing we can do for now. Maybe the next few days will be more favorable. For now, we head to our rooms, and I take the opportunity to snap a photo of this sunset.
Maybe the weather would improve in the coming days? It didn’t. So we ended up staying here for just under a week, in -35°C weather. We couldn’t fly out because the weather conditions wouldn’t allow it. We kept ourselves busy as best we could; we even went outside.
There’s plenty to do at the resort (movie theater, pool hall, gym, even a sauna)... We met a cook who worked here full-time. His work schedule is three weeks on, then two to three weeks off. It’s an unusual schedule, but I found it pretty interesting.
Back on board the MV Arctic for our final sampling campaign. I couldn’t wait to get back out there, to reconnect with that sense of freedom and adventure. It was pretty wild to experience that—boarding a commercial vessel and crossing the Labrador Sea to reach the Quebec Arctic. I was thrilled.
Back on board the MV Arctic for our final sampling campaign. I couldn’t wait to get back out there, to reconnect with that sense of freedom and adventure. It was pretty wild to experience that—boarding a commercial vessel and crossing the Labrador Sea to reach the Quebec Arctic. I was thrilled.
And so my experience in the Quebec Arctic comes to an end. I never would have believed I’d get to experience this. It was incredible. I haven’t felt that sense of freedom and fulfillment in what I was doing since. Sure, there were some tough moments, but every time I’d tell myself, “OK, things aren’t going well, but I’m in Quebec,” and right away I’d feel a little better…