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hk0rmr@ G8CYK - 2017-10-07T21-38-56Z_14213kHz.

San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (Wikipedia)

OK, I confess I too had not previously been aware of this Columbian outcrop in the W Caribbean. Known colloquially as San Andrés y Providencia. It is one of the departments of Colombia in the Caribbean.

Frank Charmello Gonzales is a very fine small island DX operatolr, and he deals with pile ups as well as anyone. I was lucky to catch him late on Saturday when most of Europe and Russia has probably eaten and drunken itself under the table.

 

Pushing luck a little, but conditions have been pretty good for the past few days.

From the Latin American Travel Guide...

The small Caribbean islands of San Andres and Providencia are laid back retreats, boasting white sand beaches, turquoise waters and dramatic corral formations. S

San Andres is the larger of the two islands, has a wider range of accommodation and receives a greater number of visitors. Providencia is more rustic, but also more picturesque and relaxing than its larger neighbour.

San Andres and Providencia both form part of a small archipelago located deep in the Caribbean sea, just under 800km off Colombia’s northern coast (and approximately 200km from Nicaragua).

The population of the islands is predominately mestizo and creole; a legacy of the archipelago’s history, which was variously controlled by the British, Dutch and Spanish. This ethnic diversity is reflected in the islands’ linguistic make-up: islanders are trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and a Creole dialect unique to the area.

It looks absolutely bloody lovely - and you can book your trip with Expedia. A week for 2 adults in July costs a modest £1500 - which seems to be the benchmark these days for this sort of exotic Island package holiday. But a lot of the hotels are sold out - it seems it's been discovered.

Biding my time

I hung around about 20m waiting for the moment - and Franks excellent operation - asking for Europe only when besieged by local US stations, was helpful. Americans hams are far better behaved than Europeans, and largely did as asked!

Cheers - Frank


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