Amateur radio expeditions to Spratly Islands
by Jack and Jude 11 Aug 2020 01:21 AEST
Amateur Radio expeditions to Spratly Islands, Mellish Reef and Malpelo © Jack and Jude
Way back when we were raising two children afloat, we earned our keep by taking brave Amateur Radio Operators to faraway mid-ocean pinpricks of land, where we set up base stations to talk around the world - sometimes contacting upwards of 30,000 stations.
Spratly Islands
In the news of late is the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. We took a group there in 1979 and nearly got blasted out of the water by military cannons mounted on a tiny sand islet. They were not Chinese like those taking over this very important island group today but North Vietnamese, the greatest force back then. Here's that story.
Mellish
In 1982, we took four operators to a Coral Sea Islet atop Mellish Reef, a treeless sand cay 600 m X 120 m long.
Our dear friend Harry is now a silent key, and to honour this fine gentle person, Franz Langner DJ9ZB put together a photo book and sent one to us. When I went to order extra copies for our sons, I noticed Franz had produced heaps of others. He's a mad DXer and goes on many expeditions. But one of his books popped out because he'd been to Malpelo.
Malpelo
Those of you who have read our latest book, Around the World, will know that name because my sons, Jason and Jerome, and I climbed that bloody gigantic rock jutting out of the Pacific in 1986!
I bring this to your attention because when we were at Isla de Malpelo, it was an uninhabited rock covered in nesting seabirds surrounded by an eternity of ocean with heaps of fish. A stronghold of Nature. After an incredibly scary climb, at the tippy-top, I spoke to my teenaged sons about what might happen to this isolated rock. A prophetic speech to young minds.
Today, Malpelo is one of the world's top diving spots and much in demand by tourist seeking the exotic. And the nesting sea birds? They have been reduced to very few by noisy visitors and foreign fisheries taking all they want.
For a better grip on the ongoing destruction of the natural world by mankind's expansion, read Around the World, written from diary notes recorded nearly four decades ago. An amazing tale of experienced sailors on one last fling.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of jackandjude.com.