V62P - V62S - Polap Atoll - Satawal Atoll

[4L5A]

V62P V62S News 3 November 2023.
NFC guys worked tirelessly in order to be able to accommodate this project. Today is a national holiday, as the people here celebrate the Independence Day of Micronesia. However, their staff in Weno is still in the office for another hour or two as they are taking bookings for a trip to the western islands, required only to assist me. I am very grateful for their understanding and consideration. Here is what has been discussed and how my scheduled looks:

8 Nov - Depart Weno on North Star, direction western islands of Chuuk. The boat will carry passengers and cargo.

9-10 or 11 Nov - North Star will stop at as many islands in that group as needed, depending on the final list of passengers and cargo. All these islands belong to OC-155. At each island, passengers and cargo must be transported to the atoll by motor canoe, since there is no harbor to dock to. Once all drop offs are done, the boat will head to Satawal. This portion will a charter for me only, as they have no other passenger or cargo for that destination.

11 or 12 Nov - Arrival in Satawal. I will disembark and the boat will return to Weno.

16-17 Nov - The boat will travel again from Weno to the western islands with a crew belonging to the state utility company, who has work to do on three of those islands.

19 or 20 Nov - The boat will pick me up from Satawal and take me to Puluwat.

24 Nov - Depart Puluwat.

25 Nov - Arrive in Weno and fly out the next day.

Mark, who is the Assistant Manager here in Weno, will meet with the Chuuk utility company on Monday morning, in order to discuss with them the possibility of better accommodating their project and mine. Their field team left yesterday for the Mortlok islands, with another boat, where they arrived today. Once they finish their work. they will be return to Weno, and after a short break, will head out with North Star to the western islands.

It appears that in order to accommodate the second part of my project, the utility company crew must hang in there on the western islands for a few extra days. The plan is that following Mark's discussion with the head of their project on Monday, he will bring me into the picture. If they agree to help me out, I am prepared to compensate their crew for their extra time. Additionally, I will ask them to look into possibly leaving a bit earlier for the western islands.

[4L5A]

V62P V62S News:
2 Nov 2023 (12 UTC or 10:30 pm)

The plan was for Pat and her group to go through all calculations and provide me with the travel options this evening at 7:30 pm. However, I was told that they were still working on their transportation schedule, aiming to help me as much as possible – working to find people interested to travel to at least one of these islands.

Meanwhile, I learned that they announced today that are organizing transportation to three of the western Chuuk islands which are part of the IOTA group OC-155. I’m only guessing that their plan may be to use this opportunity in order to take me to Satawal after their drop off the rest of the passengers. I will definitely be the only passenger going to Weno. However, this is to be confirmed tomorrow.

I was also given the green light to purchase different supplies that I’ll need to take with me on the islands. Despite the fact that I don’t have yet a firm trip schedule, I was encouraged by this and spent a few hours shopping around. I also got oil for the generator, and will put it tomorrow.

1 Nov 2023 (13 UTC or 11 pm)

NFC scheduled a working dinner with me at 6:30 pm. Pat, Cora, captain Mariano, and Mark – their manager here in Chuuk, were all present. We had a very nice discussion, in which I summarized the scope of my project, indicating the logistical aspects that I need them to provide me with.

Pat indicated that they want to honour this project, which was initiated with her predecessor (Peter Sitan), and which was confirmed by late captain Callistus. The cost of transportation for a complete charter is $40k. We worked the past months on the premise that they will be able to do it for $20k. However, in order for this to happen, there would have to be a combination of charter service with regular service, on different legs of the voyage. The regular service can obviously be done with there is a sufficient group of people interest to travel to the islands. It is like a puzzle in which several pieces must come together nicely.

One such groups that hoped that will come on board to the western Chuuk islands is most comprised of people from the public utility company, working to provide solar power on these islands. Unfortunately, they cannot take the trip prior to November 15, and plan to stay on various islands up to 12 days, which creates a time problem for me.

This being said, they will work on this tomorrow, and will provide me with the available options. The good news is that captain Mariano is originally from Satawal, and so he can contact the Chief in advance and secure his permission for me to go there. We also discussed the fact that the Deputy Mayor of Puluwat, Hernit Ikea, has been receptive to my request and offered to talk to their Chief and find someone to host me while on their islands. While the details are still to be worked out, everyone is on the same page in that my destinations are Puluwat (OC-155) and Satawal (OC-299).

31 Oct 2023 (12 UTC or 10 pm)

The municipality boat is busy over the next couple of weeks providing health / hospital services for all the communities in the large Chuuk lagoon. After this, it will leave on a contract to Mortlok islands, so it won't be able to assist me in any way during a convenient timeframe.

Meanwhile, the boat that I am supposed to travel on, which is named North Star, has finally returned to Weno today. It transported the remains of captain Callistus to his native island, in the state of Yap. It didn’t make any stop on the way.

The company operating this boat is NFC. Pat - their CEO, and Cora - their accountant, arrived this evening from Pohnpei in order to carry out some interviews for job positions, as well as other business matters. They will be very busy tomorrow, but I hope that they will be able to make time to meet with me and discuss the existing options.

The President of FSM - originally from Chuuk, his wife, and other dignitaries arrived from Pohnpei with the same plane with which Pat and Cora came. They had dinner at the restaurant of the hotel I am lodged in, with numerous guests. Lots of security measures at the hotel.

[4L5A]

V62P Polap Atoll V62S from Satawal Atoll News 30 October 2023.
My contact and I decided that he will approach the local leaders this afternoon all by himself, and if the discussion is fruitful than he will come to pick me up so that I can meet them subsequently. However, if his discussion with them is not fruitful, then I will have to change my destination from Pulap to Puluwat, where my contact knows people in the community. My operation will be the third one from OC-155. The first activity was from Puluwat by DF6SL/KC6 in Feb 1979, and the second from Pulap by V6O (Lanny, W5BOS), in Oct 2004.

Regarding Satawal, it seems that there won't be a problem for the locals to receive me, but I must negotiate tomorrow with the boat operators the length of my stay. I told them numerous times that I need to be there for a minimum of 5 days, and that I can stay longer if convenient for them, up to 10-12 days. Despite of what we have already agreed upon prior to me coming down here, it is apparent that they want to wait for me there rather than come back to pick me up at a later date. This is why we need to have another, hopefully "final" negotiation tomorrow...

I picked up a 2kW generator, a 30m long power extension cord, and a power bar. The boat doesn't allow me to transport the gas in plastic canisters. Instead, it will provide me with a large metal barrel that will hold the quantity I need. Regarding the intended gifts for the locals, I learned that medical supplies are provided free by the state government to local communities, but are extremely expensive when purchased directly. Consequently, I was advised to focus on purchasing school supplies instead, since this will be more beneficial for the locals given what I can get for the money spent.
V62P V62S.

[4L5A]

V62P from Polap Atoll, IOTA OC - 155 and V62S from Satawal Atoll, IOTA OC - 299 News:
All my flights went according to schedule. On my way, I was Dave's (AH6HY) guest in Honolulu for the night of Oct 26. We spent a very nice evening together, chatting about amateur radio and IOTA, and coming to know each other better. I am very grateful to him for all his support.

I arrived in Weno yesterday afternoon just before 4 pm, and all my luggage made it as well. My contact picked me up at the airport and we went to purchase some supplies for my anticipated voyage. Following this, we met with some of the local leaders who know the Chief of Pulap and were interested to find out more about my project and the benefits for the local community there. It is 8:30 am now when I'm posting this message from the hotel where I'll stay at least one more night.

I am scheduled to meet again with the local leaders on Monday morning. Their support is absolutely necessary, and I hope to get it. The boat that is supposed to take me to Pulap will arrive in Weno tonight. It will have to be refueled Monday, and I'm not convinced that it will sail out the very same day. Meanwhile, there shouldn't be any problem to purchase on Monday everything else I need and want to take with me for the voyage. However, we'll have to work hard getting the generator.

My contact told me that since captain Callistus was from Satawal, he knew very well their Chief and they had a close relationship. Consequently, he didn't inform the Chief of my project in advance, because he thought that it was unnecessary. Now that the captain is out of the picture, my contact suggested to me that I should just show up. I don't think that this is a good idea, and so I'm working to obtain the Chief's permission prior to arriving on the island.

[4L5A]

V62P Polap Atoll V62S Satawal Atoll News 19 October 2023
The group I retained for boat transportation confirmed this early morning that they will be able to provide me with their services as planned. Thus, I will depart to Micronesia on October 26 as originally scheduled.

[4L5A]

V62P Polap Atoll V62S Satawal Atoll News 16 October 2023
This morning at 02 am (06 UTC), I received the shockingly sad news that captain Callistus, who was in charge of sailing the boat to Pulap and Satawal, has just passed away. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and colleagues. He was in mid 50s, had a very good understanding of this project and obtained the support of the local Chiefs, whom he knew personally. Captain Callistus was truly happy to be part of this project and will be sorely missed.

I am in close communication with his employers, who are distraught by his sudden passing. They are already working toward finding a replacement and asked me to be patient until they have a solution. I may have to change the timeframe of my plane ticket, but I will wait for more feedback from my contacts in Micronesia.

[4L5A]

V62P Polap Atoll V62S Satawal Atoll News 9 October 2023.

I am working with my local contacts to have everything ready for the voyage so that I can depart to Pulap as soon as possible after my arrival to Weno. Depending on how things unfold, as well as weather conditions, I expect to head out sometimes between Oct 29 and 31.

The Icom IC-7000 transceivers accompanied me in many radio expeditions. They have been very robust and performed admirably in either very cold or hot and humid environments, while enduring very well rough transportation conditions. However, in the unlikely event that one of the transceivers will get damaged during the operation from Pulap, I may decide to keep the second transceiver for Satawal.

[4L5A]

The flight out of Syracuse, New York is October 26, to Denver, then Honolulu, arriving October 27 for an overnight at AH6HY. The next flight is to Kwajalein, Kosrae and
Pohnpei. Arrival on Truk is October 28, then over to Weno by boat.
October 28-30 are for local purchases of generator, oil, fuel, extension power cable, food, plus medical and school supplies as gifts to the local communities. October 31 is travel to Pulap and arrival the next day, and radio operations November 1-7. November 8 is further travel, to Satawal and arrival the next day, on the radio November 9-16. November 17 and 18 is the return to Weno, arriving November 19. All the dates are subject to weather conditions and unforeseen things. Departure from Truk is scheduled for November 26, allowing some date flexibility, but he may change to an earlier flight.

[4L5A]

21 Sep 2023

I just finished a very informative, almost two-hour Zoom meeting with the boat captain and my contacts down in FSM. We reviewed every step of the logistical plan, and the captain confirmed the transportation schedule I already announced, as well as a number of other logistical details. Meanwhile, he indicated that relatively small delays may occur, due to weather conditions and/or other unforeseen reasons that may arise. However, this is not going to shorten my stay on each atoll. If anything, my stays will be longer than originally planned.
VE3LYC V62P V62S.

[4L5A]

PA3EXX will be pilot of V62P Polap Atoll, V62S Satawal Atoll DX Pedition.