Planning the big one

For a little giggle at my expense, I confess that my midwestern upbringing, while satisfactory in many ways, is sadly lacking in any background or training in anything a seafarer might need. The proper pronunciation of “Cay” (which is like “key”, by the way) was something I learned only recently. I’m still working out the difference between leeward and windward.
So, while I’m still working on my sea legs I’m busily planning a substantial adventure which would dwarf all previous efforts: a trip to Cay Sal Bank and Double Headed Shot Cay. This little spot is about 60 nm south of the Florida coast, closer to Cuba than the US, and is part of the Bahamas. This is not an easy place to get to, nor is it going to be an easy trip to plan. The fact that I would be spending a great deal of time and effort working out the details of this trip was one of the impetuses for this blog!
The IOTA web site lists NA-219 credited to only 7% of the IOTA awards chasers. It isn’t quite in the top 10 list of “most wanted” but it is in the top 20 for North America.
I’ll be going on more modest trips that I’ll be discussing while I work on the details for this adventure. It might be that such an endeavor is beyond what I can reasonably accomplish (or afford!). Even so, I’m guessing the lessons I learn, wrong-turns and all, will be helpful to those reading this blog trying to plan their own trips.
The details will be posted on and off over the next year or so. Yes, it will take at least that long to pull this together. Some thinking has already been done on this. I’ll fill you in on those details in blog entries soon.
In the mean time, I’m off to a testing session sponsored by MMRA to hopefully mint some new hams and give some others well-deserved upgrades. And, of course, I’m looking forward to my trip to Georges Island on Sunday.