Fine Times on Isla Bonita
Special to The ARS Sojourner
We knew it was going to be a good day when we passed each other on the main road leading to the small hamlet of Swansboro. Given the fact that we were coming from different parts of the state, this was a good omen. The looming storm clouds to the West were not such a good sign, especially when they made their appearance so early in the morning!
Isla Bonita is located about two miles off the NC coast, midway between Cape Lookout and Cape Fear. The island is surrounded by shallow water, accessable only by canoe or kayak. The estuarine environment is a hatchery for a variety of fish, crabs, shrimp, birds, and sea turtles. (Also, add red ants who have a propensity for opened bags of chocolate chip cookies.)
Our route to the island began at the Intra Coastal Waterway just east of the White Oak River. From there we paddled southwest two miles through the estuary, skirting several islands and enjoying flat water conditions and a helpful outgoing tide.
We arrived at Isla Bonita around 11 AM, two hours before the start of the contest. While Aaron paddled off to check out the local fishing with his fly rod, Randy and I set up the antenna farm and the tent. For antennas, we ran a pair of phased halfwave verticals on 20M, along with single halfwave verticals for 10M and 15M. Randy then pulled his K2 out of the drybag, and we both smiled when we saw that the rig was still dry as toast.
Overall, conditions on the three higher bands were not as good as we had hoped for. We ended up settling on 20M, where most signals were moderate, with few signals being above 559. Our friends operating WF4I at Mt. Mitchell reported significantly better propagation during this same time period, a situation which I can only describe as "odd." From the coast, we never heard AA7QU, who usually pounds through 599 on both 15 and 20M. No other West Coast stations were heard, either. The shining star for us was HP1AC, who was worked on 15M.
About an hour into the contest, Randy was making good progress on 20M, while Aaron and I paddled over to nearby Bear Island and investigated Bogue Inlet. We decided to skirt Bear Island on the ocean side, enjoying the light swells while keeping a safe distance from the breakers. The storm clouds to the West started looking pretty ugly, so we decided to paddle back to camp. Upon our arrival back at the tent, it started raining and thundering, with no visible lightning. The storm was short lived, with the sky looking a lot friendlier afterward. Randy passed the paddles to me while we scarfed chocolate chip cookies "ala red ants."
It was fun hearing a lot of activity on 20M, mostly from the midwest and northeast. It was obvious that some of our QRP brethern were making lots of contacts while we were slugging it out in our "propagation twilight zone."
At 5PM local time, we loaded up our sandy gear onto our kayaks and headed back to civilization, tired but contented with a supremely satisfying adventure combining coastal kayaking with QRP. Once again, the tides were in our favor, making for a relatively easy paddle back to Swansboro.
Thanks to all the stations who made this a fun event!
72, Randy-WJ4P, Aaron, and Paul-AA4XX/BB #84
