In the mean time, we have built a good relationship to the Isola Esperides inhabitants and we learned so many stories about the island, about the past times and all the happenings on that island. We know these stories are not all true, but some really require detailed inquiry. One thing is about this ancient culture that lived here long before the elderly people came to the island. More about that will be revealed in coming stories. For today, we heard about that shaman who lived high up somewhere on a peak in the south area of the island. It was said that he could influence the weather of the island, maybe even the whole archipelago. He was known to call up fog in certain valleys and let the lights never go out in other areas. Of course we had to start investigating this legend and the first step was to locate the anicent home of the shaman. So, I talked to Serena and Paolo, two nice phytotherapists of the main village. While Paolo didn't dare to come into one of those "noisy tin birds" (his words...), Serena was more than keen to come with me. Victoria agreed to keep talking with Paolo to learn more about the shaman's legend, and Serena and me were quickly looking to lease a plane. The only one at hand (as the trusty Annie was in repair this day) was the SAdA BEach 18, tri gear.

After a short preflight breafing and area recon on the maps, we were up in the air in excellent weather. Ok, there was some wind from 170, but pretty smooth. After a uneventful but very pleasant flight, I made a cool field landing on that high mountain slope:

One bloody tree wasn't playing well and stood in the way when I turned right to prepare for later take off. This did cost me minor headache as I had to repair a broken fuel hose:

The black smoke was looking worse than it actually was. While Serena looked around to find remains of the ancient housing or any traces of rites and magic, I was fixing the engine. I knew I had to do it quitely and very properly so no one will notice it. I can't use any questions about this mission...

In short: we didn't find anything so I decided to return home and go get us some thermal imaging equipment. Once we will see the first snow, I'll be back up there taking IR pics of the slope. Buried walls of stone often lead to visible differences in the way the first snow accumulates on the ground.

On the way back home we made two passes over the wind mill location to see if all is running fine.

Fortunately, the wind mills really work well, now that the new motors are built in. Thanks, Cpt. Brick, the delivery job back in times has proven to be well worth the effort!

Back home, I found a hand written notice glued to my wardrobe in the hangar:
The experimental helo platform building team has findished the initial installation of at least the basic part of a helo platform on the south flank of the highest mountain. The platform is located outside the gate of the level 5 cave of the recently discovered cave system inside the mountain. More about that discovery later on. For now, our goal was to have a helo platform there, so we could bring in and out equipment for the further cave exploration. I stepped into the suit again and ran to the next available euro copter. After a long flight, we made a close fly by of the site and it looks ok so far. We went home and I will now pick up helo training to be able to fly to that platform soon. Stay tuned...