VO2A update

From QRZ.COM: Aug 7, 2008, 12 UTC - Yesterday morning the weather took a big dip, with very dark clouds and lower temperatures - perfect for polar bears getting active (hihi). Based on local weather forecast our guide has insisted that we prepare to leave the island rather than being stranded. Made a little ~1600 QSOs, but are happy that we logged all continents, including our friends in VK, ZL, JA, UA9/0, 4X, PY, YV, etc. Yesterday night I had a short run on 30 m, followed by an even shorter one on 40 m, before the bands died on me like someone pulled the plug. First I checked the power, but the battery was fine, then I asked the guide (who never slept during the night, having his shotgun ready and walking the dogs around the camp (despite the fact that the camp was secured with an anti-bear alarm fence) to check if the antenna is standing, because the wind gusts dropped it once earlier. 'The antenna is up', he said, 'but you should get out of there if you want to see some Northern Lights'. The display was absolutely magnificent: almost half of the sky - or so it appeared - seemed on fire and then I understood why the bands died like that. Under the circumstances, I decided to take a 3 hour nap (my only in 3 days since we walked up in Goose Bay, hihi). A truly big thank thank you to EU stations for kindly following our instructions to QRX while we were targeting other parts of the world or specific areas of EU. Presently very cold in Nain, with the wind effect around 0C. We hope to be QRV from NA-205 starting around 17 UTC - depending how the transportation and camp set-up goes. The good news for us is that the possibility of polar bear presence at this time of year on Paul Is. is almost nil (not zero though) and it's only the black bears patrolling the ground. They are not to be ignored, but our guide indicated that it's a different ball-game.