16 February, 2025

Hello fellow friends of Wake Island,

Last Monday I actually took my day off from work and relaxed for a change. The past several weeks have been non-stop busy. I needed a day for some rest and relaxation to enjoy Wake Island a little. Thanks for understanding and letting me give the radio a break.

Well, anyone who knows me knows I can’t sit around and do nothing. I did work on some upgrades to my 10 meter VDA last Monday morning to make it a little more rugged. After that I went for a walk down the shore and found some interesting artifacts along the way. After lunch I managed to find time to take a nap on an old concrete footing for a bridge along the channel to Peale Island. I was just relaxing up there as the tide was trying to rush out of the lagoon, but the waves from the reef were battling to go the other way. The tropical fish seemed not to be bothered as they floated back and forth below my perch amongst the churning water. I took a long blink then moved along the shore a ways before wading into the ocean (the water temperature is about 82 degrees this time of year) for a float in the buoyant salt water. That pretty much sums up my Monday. It was great.

We also had some big ten-foot swells rolling in that were crashing along the reef for a few days. The low rumbling from the waves sounded like a distant jet airplane running their engines. When we get high swells timed just right with a high tide it makes things interesting. Those waves that break on the reef can then roll all the way to shore and into the lagoon and can get very high, on this very low atoll.

The rest of this week I was very busy with work so it feels like I have been off the radio for too long. In my limited spare time I did decide on a final QSL card design and put those on order this week. I hope to start returning paper QSLs no later than the end of March. I also received some antenna making supplies and hope to put those parts to use here soon.

Below are a few photos from my walk down the beach, an early morning moonsetting, and my first shark sighting in the marina. 73, Allen