Story 49DX/E092 Story from 49DX/E092 activity. On the 7th of July we drove to Es Cana resort and arranged with Steve a dxpedition to La Redonda island, the 8th of July 2012 would be the first time La Redonda island as been on air. We meet Steve the boatman aprox 09:15 local on Sunday morning, within a few minutes equipment was on his boat and we were speeding out of Es Cana in Southwardly direction, we first travelled past E-096 es Cana island which we had the pleasure of activating in 2009, a few seconds after we went past E-095 Sa Galera, a couple of minutes after we approached Grande de Santa Eulalia island which is referenced E-091, our intended target was just passed this island, within a few minutes we approached E-092 La Redonda island. Even though sea conditions were good, Steve found finding a place to get on this island difficult, first attempt was not possible due to rocks just under the surface, on the second attempt and location I did like because the sides of the island were so steep I wouldn't have been able to erect the antenna, finally Steve found a place which looked ok. Steve quickly put the speedboat in forward gear but at really slow speed then he quickly jumped over the windshield of the boat to the front of the boat, he stops the boat from getting damaged on the rocks while I jump over the windshield, onto the front of the boat and scrambled on the razor sharp and slippery rocks at the end of the island, Sean quickly passed the bag with the car battery to Steve, Steve passed it to me followed by the large holdall and finally the Antenna and parasol, Sean quickly followed over the windshield and jumped from the boat and I pulled him onto the island, all this must have took about 10 seconds, one mad rush but boat undamaged, Steve proceeded to reverse away within a few seconds he was on his return journey to Es Cana, I'd arranged to be picked up at 13:30 local. Once on the island I wasn't sure we made the right decision re the landing site, txing position was perfect for the radio, it was like a little cove shielded from the sun, but very little place to erect the antenna, after a few minutes I decided to climb the side of the island to erect the antenna, I admit it was a little scary at times, one slip and it would have been a 30ft fall onto rocks below, thinking back it was a little irresponsible of me to do such a thing, but when the adrenalin is pumping we sometimes do stupid things, if I'm ever in that situation again, I'll opt for the safer but less radio / antenna friendly location. Antenna was assembled and the tiny one meter long stub pole was wedged in a bush, radio was put in it's place then I collected necessary proofs, I find it better to collect proofs first, when that important job out of the way, then concentrate having fun on the radio, once proofs were collected power cable and antenna was connected and we were receiving on .555, band didn't seem in great shape, but the odd station were heard calling, I did a quick CQ and qsy'd to .570, first station to reply back was 68WR048/M quickly followed by 47DX101, once John had spotted me on cluster.dk a healthy but well behaved pileup of friends arrived, 35AT160 Peter, 26DX059 Bill followed by Leif 47DX054, then 26AT111 Mark, 19SD285 Gers, 26AT114 Paul followed by 47DX002 Soren and 47DX132 Carsten. The Pileup was soon logged which resulted in sometimes a quiet frequency, band conditions wasn't fantastic but it could have been much worse, so I was happy to have some conditions. After an hour or so I had no takers so I decided to climb that damn rock face again and explore the island and take some more photo's and some video footage from the top of the island, this turned out to be one of the highlights of this mini Dxpedition. Once I returned to the radio I had quite a few guys waiting for me on frequency, time passed really quickly, and it's wasn't long before we had to go qrt and start packing away, I seriously thought about leaving the antenna and coax, I didn't fancy climbing up there again, but I'd left a few tools at the base of the antenna which I needed, plus I'd half planned another activity the following weekend, so decision was made to go up again get the equipment. It took longer than normal to pack stuff away, but we were ready 15 minutes before Steve was due to pick us up, it wasn't long before we saw the green and white speedboat racing towards up. Steve pulled up to the island in the exact same place he dropped us off, I quickly jumped on the boat and got in position for when Steve received the bags and antenna from Sean, just has the first bag was getting passed to me there was a loud bang as the bottom of the boat hit the rocks, Steve shouted " OUCH " , a few seconds after we were all on the boat and reserving out into open water, I hope Steve Boat didn't get damaged. After a rough ride back it wasn't long before we returned to Es Cana, after a chat with Steve, Sean refitted the battery to the hire car while I packed the stuff in the tiny Fiat Panda, wasn't long before we were on the road returning back to Portinatx. Activating 49DX/E092 La Redonda island was great fun, by far the most enjoyable island I've ever activated, can't wait for the next adventure. 73 de..Darran & Sean. return