But there is more to the story than meets the eye.
There was more complaining and down right hostility on their website than I have ever seen. A lot of it seemed to center around the way they worked the US verses Europe and I'll have to admit it did get a little annoying.
Right in the middle of a run they would stop working the US and call for only "non US stations". Well this did seem to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
I followed this expedition pretty closely because I have an interest in the history of Clipperton. There has been a lot happen on this very small chunk of land. Everything from murder and madness to cannibalism. Several countries have laid claim to it over the years and now it seems the controversy continues.
One of the main problems I believe was the lack of communication on their website. The updates were few and far between and pretty vague. The ones that were done seemed to mostly talk about what a rough time they were having with the weather and the sun and heat. Had they not read what others who have been there have said about the place.
It's a very harsh environment.
Since returning the website has been updated quite a bit. A lot of pictures have been added and it's a pretty interesting site.
People are getting to where they expect to see pictures or video almost in realtime. Sat phones are available and the service is being donated by the companies most of the time (I think) so why not use it. I know they are not there to entertain us with multimedia presentations but a little would go a long way to keeping people informed and yes entertained.
There were some great operators there! They worked the pileups very well and most of the time came back with the whole call and had it right! They did a great job in much less than ideal conditions. This in no way is a slam to them they did a very very good job.
I do think the website could have been handled a little better.
TX5C - Thanks for putting another far off place in my log!
73, Jeff
