3Y0K: D(rama)Xpedition to Bouvet

Recent events regarding this year's attempt to activate Bouvet Island have made for very interesting reading and I hope that once the dust settles, we DXers will be treated to "the rest of the story".

Official word from the team's leadership has been sparse but two team members - each of whom paid huge sums of money to participate - have dropped out...with no refunds being forthcoming.

The two DXpeditioners are Krassy Petkov K1LZ and Greg Hernández KP4PK.

22 Oct: Krassy's open letter to the DX community is here

13 Feb: And, today - Greg's is here

Both ops cite similar reasons for leaving but only Greg did so voluntarily.

As of now (14 Feb, 0030Z) the ship (Argus) that will transport the remaining team to Bouvet is en route to Cape Town where the team will board the ship. It is due to arrive 17 Feb at 0600 local time.

The Argus can be tracked here. 

They will probably depart Cape Town after 2 or 3 days for the 6-day voyage to Bouvet, arriving there around 25-26 Feb.

The DXpedition was originally planned to end in late February, not begin then.

This is due to weather and sea states becoming increasingly worse as the southern hemisphere heads toward its winter.

All past DXpeditions (and attempts) to Bouvet going back to 1999 have ended no later than February.

Another point of concern is the small size of the helo pad on the Argus and the fact that the ship will likely be rolling, perhaps significantly, during the length of its stay off the coast of Bouvet.

Regardless of whether or not you are a DXer, this will be one to watch. 

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