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Rosie & Tuppergal?s Caribbean Trip 2013

Day 12: Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic

I'm up just after 0800 on April 17th, and we are packing up so we can catch the 1030 ferry back to Trellis Bay for the short walk to the airport terminal.

Here's our direct routing to get to Santo Domingo (MDSD):
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This flight (Beef Island to Santo Domingo) will be Keys/my fourth flight across the northern coast of Puerto Rico :) We are hoping to be wheels up ~1200 EST for the ~2 hour flight.

One tool that I have been using extensively and must give due credit: Jim Parker of Caribbean Flying Adventures. Jim's website has a WEALTH of information that he constantly updates, including current fuel prices, videos of the approaches to the Island runways AND detailed instructions on where/what/who/how/(fill-in blank) to enter/exit a country wiith minimum hassle.

Also, besides using e-mail, you can call Jim DIRECTLY on the telephone, and he will answer the phone.

Caribbean Flying Adventures is a website portal we are using to plan all of our stops on our '2013 Caribbean Flying Adventure'.

I've met Jim at OSH on several occassions, and if you were at Sun 'n Fun this year, you too may have met him!

Jim Parker is a real person: He's not a book :)

Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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now that was an incredible post of pics and emotion for me. 30 years of vacationing there and seeing you flying over it is too much!!!!!!! you got most of the details correct. the fact that you are down there enjoying the islands in those rvs is very cool. i could of coached you on a few nice beach bars to fly over but might have and did a grand job of it anyways. carry on.

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From Rosie: Turbo, we had dinner at the Mine Shaft but "Linky" wasn't there :(
 
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Hi All,
We are here in Santo Domingo, hurray! We were able to 'sleep-in' today since the ferry did not leave until 1030. Jailbird took Sharkbait, Steph, Opie and his wife e-Stitch to the ferry port at 0800 since 1) Steph was traveling back to Colorado on the 'big' airplane (she only had 2 weeks vacation) 2) Sharkbait, Opie & e-Stitch flew to Grenada enroute to Brazil for their 'below the equator' run. We'll meet back up with them when we arrive to Grenada on April 22.

We got on the 1030 ferry, and after arrival to Trellis Bay, a van carried us the very-short distance to the terminal. We had pre-filled out our GenDecs at home so we proceded to the west (arrivals) door then pounded on the door (which was closed since no planes were inbound). A guard opened up, we showed him our pilot license and GenDecs then he escorted us to the Immigration office. No money was exchanged and he kept one of the GenDecs then sent us back out the door to pay the departure tax.

If there's one thing you need to know about Island life is "Patience is the key here in the islands". What you think should be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time may take much longer than you think. I was first in line to pay the 'little planes' departure tax for my passenger ($40 since Tuppergal could not produce a pilot's license). All week, the locals on the ramp referred to us as "The Little Planes".

After paying, Tuppergal/I went through the security line like everyone else, except you show your Pilot's license along with your Passport, and that is your 'ticket' to the ramp (unescorted access). We figured Keys, Jailbird and Indira would be right behind us...No, didn't happen. They were at least an hour inside...we had time to pull their planes off the grass to the ramp, and sort their luggage next to the planes. And we waited while it rained (short bursts then the sun comes out.

I believe we departed Beef Island around 1300 for the just-less-than-two-hour flight. We had quite the showers in the BVI area, and I actually called Axel to get a PIREP for Puerto Rico. He gave me a great one, and we departed with a little bit of zigging and zagging to get out of Beef Island. Once we cleared the western edge of Puerto Rico, it was clear skies. While enroute, I checked the GPS route that included our next over-water leg to Curaçao, and at 160 knots, flight time on Friday (April 19) is planned at 2 hours 15 minutes from Santo Domingo (MDSD) to Curaçao (TNCC).

Upon arriving the the eastern coastline of the DR, it was overcast with big puffies over the entire island, and we got rained on the last 40 miles. The controller had me at 3500' on a westbound heading. I had to follow the coastline for a direct entry to the right downwind for runway 17 as I could not get to a base entry as requested. We flew the last 10 miles in light rain and funny thing was we got wet on downwind but not on the runway.

Customs was easy to get through since we NEVER had to go see them. The FBO Servair (and representative Jose) was very helpful after we ´called off´ the handlers that wanted to charge us for something we could do ourselves (Thank you Jim Parker). We finally convinced somebody that we needed to tie the planes in the grass and were allowed to place the nose in the grass just enough to beat a stake in the ground and tie the wings down (tail is not tied down).

We will be here for two nights so we have a full day planned on Thursday (April 18) starting with a 5-hour tour to see old town Santo Domingo.

For Friday (April 19), our goal is to depart the hotel at 0800 and be in the air by 1100 for Curaçao. We'll fill the tanks there then I'll be a 2-ship with Keys to Bonaire for some great diving. Jailbird/Indira will spend one night in Curaçao and two nights in Bonaire.

Thanks again for following along and keep poundin´them rivets!

Rosie & Tuppergal

Ground track of Today's flying courtesy of Daryl Tolliver :) Notice that we had to again stay north of the island because the clouds form over the island:

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Here's the Virgin Gorda airport that runs right along the coastline...and it's open ONLY to twin-engine aircraft:

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Here's Saba Rock Resort, a rock's throw from the famous "Bitter End Yacht Club":

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...and Leverick Bay:

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Rosie, You got me!
Leverick Bay on Friday night (Jumbie night) is my wife's Favorite place around.
Bitter end was one of mine!
But to 2-ship around the BVI has got to be the total bast of a blast...I'm floored. :D I was going to ask why not land on the VG strip? Twins only?

Planning a BVI sail excursion for next year. Now maybe an RV/Sail/beach trip!?
Many questions when you get back...carry on!!

From Rosie: Thanks for checking in Tailwind! Yes, flying around these islands with friends is GREAT! Evidently, there was a fatal in single engine at Virgin Gorda so somebody in the BVI airport authority said 'No Singles'... I tried writing them but got no where...though we were 'blessed' to land Anegada :) Let's talk about next year as Jimmyb/I are already planning a commercial flight to make the same sail trip!
 
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Day 12: Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic

The beach at "The Baths" is a short walk down the single lane cement road to the end then down a short path to the beach:

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These pictures are from the Southern Gables where we stayed. I was here before in 2010 with my Velocity-flying friends Craig & Denise Woolston and have been waiting three years to return :) Howard & Irma Levenson manage this property along with other spectacular Virgin Gorda properties.

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Today's ferry was a nice cabin cruiser:

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This is the beach right next to the ferry dock:

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Day 12: Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic

All right...let's get geared up for the overwater flight! I wear a fishing vest under my life jacket that has a dye pack, mirror, 12"x40' orange streamer, brimmed hat, sunscreen and chapstick:

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Load 'em up...

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Let's Taxi...

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Let's Roll!

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Here's the famous Pusser's Marina Cay that has the telephone booth where you can take a picture:

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We chose the path-of-least-resistance and flew on the south side of Tortola and Tuppergal shot this picture of the bay:

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This is an over-the-shoulder shot with the US Virgin Islands below:

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This is what we saw once we deviated slightlly left of course:

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Here we are arriving to the eastern shore of Puerto Rico covered in clouds:

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What I tried to show here is an over-the-shoulder picture of where we came from (e.g. picked our way through):

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Day 12: Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic

Here's the Aguadilla airport (again), this time from 8500'. I was flying directly over the airport so I had to 'turn' the plane to shoot this:

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Leaving the western coast of Puerto Rico and Axel's old 'stomping grounds':

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The WX we left behind...

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My autopilot (roll) quit working so Keys has been doing a lot of the leading:

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I believe this is the island we could see from Axel's Grandpa's house. Axel?

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Handoff from San Juan Approach to Punta Cana Approach occurs at the 'boundary' line.

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We passed within five miles of Punta Cana (MDPC) where we stopped for fuel inbound to Beef Island (TUPJ):

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With Punta Cana off the right wing, here's the left wing:

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Everytime I see a 'deck' in front of me, I ask myself..."Do I want to go over or under?" Condor taught me well...

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Let's go under!

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As you can guess from the picture above, we are probably going to get wet...
 
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Day 12: Flying from the BVI (back) to the Dominican Republic

I mentioned it earlier but while cruising along, just to pass the time, I'll preload points farther along the router just to see what the leg time might be for our normal cruise speed. Here are the times to:

Santo Domingo - 12 min
Curaçao - 2:17
Bonaire - 14 min
Grenada - 2:17 (about the same distance as to Curaçao from Santo Domingo thus the same time)

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This is a small coastal town just to the east of Santo Domingo airport:

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The tower wanted me to report a two mile left base to runway 17. Due to weather, I declined and continued to follow the southern coastline until I could see the airport.

Oh...there's the airport! The picture looks worse than it really was :)

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Left downwind for runway 27:

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And to think I had to PLEAD with the ramp guy to get this little bit of grass so I could pound some stakes in!?!

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We are staying at the Hotel Europa that has this cool staircase you only see in the movies!

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So....if you've been following along...think "Caymans/Belize" 2015! Good night!

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL WORTH IT! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Wow thanks for the pictures/stories/adventure.
Brings back a lot of memories of sailing the Virgin islands, surfing Aguadilla and Kalik's in the Bahamas.
 
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Beef Island

15 Years ago when I tried to depart Beef Island, they wouldn't let me on the ramp to go to my plane without a ticket. I tried to explain that I was the pilot and I wanted to depart. They wouldn't let me go onto the ramp. A local pilot overheard this exchange and pulled me aside and handed me a white pilot shirt complete with shoulder bars to put on. Then I was allowed to go onto the ramp since I now looked like a pilot. This whole process too was on island time about 2 hours.

Gary Specketer

From Rosie: MUCH EASIER now Gary!!!! We came and went with ease, no problem. We just walked up to the departure gate with our Pilot's License sticking out of our passport, handed it to the agent, they looked at it and gave it back me (after telling them my wife was with me). Then you dump your articles in the plastic tray and walk through metal detector. Once past the metal detector, we asked somebody to open the locked-door to the ramp which they did, and we had FREE access to the ramp. I'm sure the people inside the terminal were wondering who we were to be getting such 'special' treatment. Also, to facilitate your (non-pilot) passenger not having to pay any departure taxes, (builders) take along your REPAIRMAN Certificate and place it in your passenger's passport: NOBODY ever pulled it out to take a look at the name on it :)
 
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Day 13: Touring Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

Hi to our RV Family of Friends!

Today was a day-off from flying, and we all took a tour of old town Santo Domingo. Our tour guide arrived at 0900 that began with a walking tour, driving tour, more walking, more driving and finishing with a final walking tour.

Here are a bunch of picture of what we saw, and there is no way I can remember what everything was!

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The remains of Christopher Columbus are buried here:

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Tres Ojos National Park:

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Jailbird, Indira, Keys, Tuppergal and Me:

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Day 13: Touring Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

Our Tour Guide Rudy who spoke fluent Spanish, English, Italian and German!

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The Capitol Building:

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I do remember Rudy saying this is where Robert DeNiro and Angelina Jolie filmed a scene from "The Good Shepherd".

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Day 13: Touring Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)

That's Christopher Columbus on the left:

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Keys found some new friends!

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The original gateway to the city:

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The dinner menu:

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We are planning to leave the hotel at 0800 on Friday (April 19) for the airport with wheels-up planned for 1100. The flight is expected to be 2.5 hours to Curaçao where Jailbird & Indira will stay two nights. Keys/I/Tuppergal will continue on for the 65nm flight to Bonaire, and we have setup two days of diving with Buddy-Dive as recommended by Jimmyb.

Keep an eye on our SPOT TRACK if you need to goof off at work!

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal

Update on Friday at 0630 local: The satellite pictures are looking good so we are a GO for the overwater flight today. Will check in later today from Bonaire.
 
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Wow! What an epic journey. I am truly inspired now. I didn't get to see the huge smiles on my face when I was looking at all of your pics but I'm sure teeth were showing. Thanks a lot for posting all of these. Lot's of fun to look at.

PS: You see what happens when you don't check the VAF website for a month?

~J~

From Rosie: ~J~, you are the reason I LOVE to share our passion of flying our RV! Thank you for the kind words :)
 
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Day 14: Santo Domingo to Cura?ao to Bonaire!!!

I need to say a late 'good evening' to our RV Family of Friends! We've had QUITE the LONG DAY today, and it started with our normal wakeup call...actually somebody's car alarm going off at 0600-0630...quite annoying, but hey....no problem! Getting up early makes for a nice LONG day!

Jailbird, Indira, Keys, Tuppergal and I met for breakfast at 0715 on the outside terrace (4th floor) of the Hotel Europa in old Town Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). Our taxi arrived at 0810, and we were at the airport just before 0900. Check out the blue skies in this picture....

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Using a screenshot (on our camera) of Jim Parker's instuctions, we were able to navigate the airport and found the General Aviation office at the far west end of the terminal building, second floor. That's where we filled out our flight plans with some minor corrections per the young ladies in the office.

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Once complete, the office manager was very kind and walked us to the weather office where a really 'spry' gentleman, with excitement in his voice, gave us a complete WX briefing. He said it would be blue skies all the way to Curaçao, but from the Satellite picture we saw, we knew we'd have to do some cloud dodging (if you zoom into the SPOT Track, you can see where we did a little bit of zig and zag)

Once the WX briefing was complete, we walked out of the office to find 'Jose' who brought us from the FBO located at the far southern end of the runway ACROSS from the main terminal building. There was no way we could walk across a ramp full of Boeing aircraft so Jose drove us over. His timing was by chance so he walked us to the metal detector then to Immigration. One simple form and were out-of-there!

A short walk to exit the building where the 'workers' work (not where passengers exit the building) and we piled into Jose's van. Once back to the planes, we got them off the grass and onto the pavement....when those blue skies started looking not so blue...we got the planes packed and the fueling truck started with Jailbird's plane, then Keys then me...

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...and then it began to rain! Blue skies to rain is less than an hour...welcome to life in the islands. We waited it out, maybe 15 or 20 minutes, and then jumped in the planes, and taxied out with Jailbird leading.

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Once at the runup, we really took our time and made sure the planes were ready... you ready Keys?

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Only 376nm of open water to Curaçao!

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Looking South: Here's the ramp where we parked, to the right of the two twins. The FBO trailers are there too:

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By the way, the tower cleared us on to the runway maybe 30 seconds apart. Keys/I caught up to Jailbird pretty quick, and we climbed on course but had to deviate right of course to 'dodge' some clouds, no big deal.

Here's what we saw once on course. Realize that we climbed over the first deck that you can see but the rest of the clouds were REALLY high and 'no factor':

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As you can guess, there are not many pictures to take when over the water...except for clouds. We leveled and flew to Curaçao at 8500', and at one point had to climb to 9500' for a short while with a little more zig/zag. Here's the on-course heading to Curaçao just off the left at 8500'....NOT GOOD...but notice the deck is falling off to the right so we flew right:

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We needed to deviate maybe 20 degrees right and climb to 9500' feet (and we were not concerned about the even/odd rule for our direction of flight 100's of miles from nowhere). Here's the deck we climbed over and 'through the valley' that looked just fine:

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Day 14: Santo Domingo to Cura?ao to Bonaire!!!

When filling out the flight plan, they asked when we would cross the FIR. I forget what that stands for but it's the boundary line between two centers and who controls who. We started with Santo Domingo controllers then were switch to Curaçao controllers at the boundary line. It's not showing in this GPS picture because I was not zoomed in enough but it did alert me that we were close:

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Here I zoomed in and cursored over the Curaçao Boundary to see this (cursor down show Santo Domingo):

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Ok, here's the most exciting things we saw....some clouds:

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Like I said before, it's fun to see 'Nearest Airports' when out in the middle of the ocean.
In order: Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire and two Venezuelan Airports:

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Nice and comforting to see your RV buddies out there!

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Next thing you know (time flies over water...yea...right...), Jailbird says, "Let's head down"...........Keys asks, "Are we over water yet?" I love these guys!

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We went from nice flying to 'hazy' flying as we headed downhill to 1000'.....

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I chased Jailbird and Keys chased me down final (he's just to the left abeam the beginning of the runway):

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It's official....we are in Curaçao!

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I'll get the details from Jailbird but let it suffice that he was in contact with the Aero Club AND the Tourism Department...this is the group who were there to greet us on our arrival....VERY COOL!

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Day 14: Santo Domingo to Cura?ao to Bonaire!!!

We had the MOST AWESOME WELCOME PARTY OF PEOPLE we've ever seen in our lifetime of owning and flying an RV! Here are the pics to show you how much fun it was! We received a framed "Welcome to Curaçao" award, a Book (received directly from the author) and a big, blue bottle of Liqueur:

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The author of the book, Bea Moedt with Keys:

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Proof Positive we are in Curacao....at least for a few hours...You can see the flight from Santo Domingo was only 2:35 :)

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Day 14: Santo Domingo to Cura?ao to Bonaire!!!

Jailbird, Keys and I could not help but offer rides to our hosts so off we went, and it was GREAT!

Rudolfo was a tower controller(?) and pilot so I got to look around as he made ALL the radio calls and flew the plane:

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It was time for Keys/I to head out for Bonaire as we were told we had to be on the ground before 1800. Jailbird & Indira had planned to stay two nights on Curaçao and will join on in Bonaire on Sunday evening.

Here we are on the runway cleared for takeoff:

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The flight to Bonaire took maybe 20 minutes, and Bonaire Klein (the small island next to Bonaire) is prohibited from overflight:

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We climbed out above this layer to 3500' for the short flight:

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On final to Flamingo Airport, Bonaire (TNCB):

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The terminal building is actually PINK!

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Yes Keys..."We have arrived!"

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The rampees brought us some concrete blocks to use for tie-downs:

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Here's the SPOT Track from today:

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Here's our arrival to Buddy-Dive:

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Ok, it's nearly 0100 local time, and I need to get some sleep. Keys/I have a dive brief with Buddy Dive at 0900. I also received an e-mail from a local who is following the trip and will join us diving, Gert Post.

I thank you all for watching us on the Spot Tracker as we crossed 375nm of open water!!!!

Keep poundin' them rivets because its DEFINITELY ALL WORTH IT! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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GPS signal

So what do you do if you loose all GPS signals for whatever crazy next to impossible reason? I assume you do not have radar contact for very long or do you? Flying just a heading for two hours will likely not take you to the destination:eek: maybe close though. Just curious as your destination is a pretty small target compared to all that water. Lol.

Sure is exciting watching your travels.

From Rosie: Funny you ask....Jailbird and I still have VORs, and if those fail, we fly south till we hit land. We had a squawk all the way down, but I could tell the radio calls were scratchy...not sure how well they were seeing us :) Here's one more picture from the ramp on Bonaire. This is the LOWEST latitude (farthest south) that we landed for the entire trip.

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Day 15: Diving in Bonaire...a little

Tuppergal was up at 0630 and I was able to get almost two hours more sleep but I couldn't sleep through the room remodeling going on next door...

Keys joined us for breakfast at 0830 (it was excellent!) and he/I attended the mandatory just-checked-in-to-the-resort brief. Keys had mentioned his stomach was bothering him a bit, and we completed the brief.

Our first dive (mandatory) was off the Buddy-Dive dock for ~50 minutes down to 100' max. We didn't know it but Tuppergal took some pics of us getting ready (and Keys jumping in):

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"Dude, that was a long way's down!"

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Once back on land, Keys said that he was out for the rest of the day (bummer!). I put my name on the 'I need a buddy' chalkboard but nothing came of it. I asked the dive shop guy about it and he said, "Go to the Bar to find a buddy". Those who know me know I don't sit at bars and drink...oh well.

About 1300, the phone rang, and it was Gert Post, from the Curaçao Aero Club. He had landed behind us yesterday, and he invited me to go diving with him and his wife Tanya (thank you, AGAIN, very much!). I took in the (Buddy-Dive-rented) truck to the drive-thru-tank 'store' and grabbed a tank:

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From there, I followed them to the dive site "Karpata", and for the record, this was my very first shore dive ever! We had a great time, and the coolest thing I saw was a sleeping turtle...it was 'out'.

Once back to the resort about 1530, I turned in my empty tank, parked the truck and joined Tuppergal and Keys (he'd been sleeping for several hours) for a Coke. We then took a drive into town for a little food shopping (we have a kitchette) and then visited more in our room:

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Here's the view out our room towards the pool area:

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The Bar and dining area are under the Thatch Roof 'hut':

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The Dive Dock:

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The weather station:

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Day 15: Diving in Bonaire...a little

Keys enjoying Island-Time at sunset:

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Cookie: This picture is for you!

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Chris & Indira will be arriving from Curaçao around 1200 on Sunday, and I'm HOPING that Keys feels better in the morning so we can DIVE.

Here's the summary shot of our travels since leaving Florida on April 9th (about 1800nm from Homestead, Florida to the BVI, back to Dominican Republic and south to Curaçao/Bonaire):

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Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Rosie, if you get a chance, do a shore dive to the Hilma Hooker, an abandoned drug hauling ship that they sunk in 80' of water...a fabulous dive.

Best,

From Rosie: We did Pierre! Great Call!
 
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Rosie,
I'm still enjoying your adventure. We're happy that you're still out there reporting, and we're at home :). But it sure made me race, first thing, to the shop to pound some more rivets when I got home.

From Rosie: Scoot, I'm glad that I can still be an 'boost' for you even after you been over-water with us TWICE now!!!!!
 
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Day 16: Our Last Day on Bonaire

Hi to our RV Family of Friends!

Our second full day on the Island is coming to a close following a GREAT dinner with Chris & Indira Kleen who arrived today from Curaçao. They stayed there on Friday and watched Keys/Tuppergal/Me depart for Bonaire.

Bonaire is a SERIOUS DIVE DESTINATION and there is really not a whole lot of things to do here other than DIVE so it was much more enjoyable for the Kleens to stay on Curaçao!!!!

I'm going to save this post for the pictures that Keys has been taking but he's asleep now, and I don't want to wake him. Unfortunately, since we arrived on Friday, he's been a bit under-the-weather (his stomach), and we are guessing it's the Chicharrones Salad that he had Friday night.

Key's pictures to go here.
 
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Day 16: Our Last Day on Bonaire

Since Keys was sick on Saturday, in my book, I did not get in all the diving I wanted to. As you read in a previous post, I am VERY THANKFUL that Gert & Tanya Post were here from Curaçao for a couple of days of diving. I joined them Saturday afternoon for a single tank dive to make two-dives on Saturday. For Bonaire, that's like taking your RV around the pattern...twice. I e-mailed the Kleen and let them know that I wanted to stay through Monday night and depart on Tuesday...yea...that way I can get TWO FULL DAYS OF DIVING with Keys (maybe six day dives and a night dive)....yes, I can make up for Saturday...or not.

Today, Key's/I got in our morning 2-tank dives, and then we came back to the resort around 1300 to change out our tanks (at the Tank Drive-thru), have lunch then go out again...dive, come back, get more tanks...dive, come back, eat dinner...go on a night dive. Repeat on Monday (until no later than 1500 Monday so I can fly around noon on Tuesday to Grenada). I'm excited....until I got back to the room.

Tuppergal said, "The front desk called and said your rental truck was due back at 1200"...I look at thetime and it's nearly 1400. I walk to the front desk, and find out 'The Rules'. Trucks are due back by checkout time, 1200.

As you can guess, most ALL people who travel to Bonaire arrive on big airliners...on a weekend... and stay for a week...

I plead my case that I was not told about this...short version is "We'll let you slide for today (Sunday). Have it back by 1900...or you can keep it another day and bring it back tomorrow (Monday) by 1200".

Let's see...if I keep the truck, Keys/I can go diving on Monday morning for one or two dives....THEN HAVE TO WAIT out the rest of the day on the resort, a DIVE resort, no more diving...so I can fly to Grenada on Tuesday morning....

From the TV Show Home Improvement, and Al says: "I don't think so Tim." We are OUTTA' here Monday Morning.

But, hey...I can have the truck until 1900 tonight (Sunday). So we loaded up the Kleens and went for a drive around the island.

With Island map in hand, you drive around and pick the site you want. They are marked by yellow stones:

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This is the last Dive Site we dove today. You park the truck, gear up, walk, carefully to the dive site 'over the hill and through the woods'...

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And the 'rock stairs' you have to descend to the nice sand below:

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Looking south from the rock stairs:

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Looking north:

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Here's the road that runs around the west coast, northern end of the island...one lane wide...you get to practice your 'Play chicken' skills! Actually, pretty painless and everybody yields to everybody!

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Is this not the coolest fence you've ever seen to keep people AND animals out!?!

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Here's a closeup of the house that visible in the picture above...typical "Island Colors":

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And for those traveling on a budget...

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Remember the 'Blue' Bottle of Curaçao Liqueur we received in our Curaçao welcome packet...We ordered a drink that used it, and you can't tell but my drink (and rare to see me with a drink) is the very same Blue (and it was good!):

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Once again, thanks so much for 'flying' along with us!

And keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Day 16: Our Last Day on Bonaire

Hi to our RV Family of Friends!

This is a quick update to let you know we are planning a 1000-1100 EDT departure from Bonaire to Grenada on Monday, April 22. I had considered another day (as detailed in the previous post).

We plan to depart for the Flamingo Airport (10 minutes away) at 0830-ish, and not sure how long it will take to 'clear out'...hopefully painless!

Keep an eye on our ground track :D Rosie
 
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Day 17: We have arrived to Grenada from Bonaire!

I have a few minutes while Jailbird/Keys check in to the hotel and wanted to let you all know we are safe on the ground at Grenada :) Flight time was 3:00.

Our routing was actually IFR way points to vector us through Venezuelan airspace. We started out at 7500', then 9500', 11500' and even 13500' for less than 30 minutes :rolleyes:

The descent into Grenada had us, at one point, at 1000' over the ocean due to cloud coverage over the island but it all worked out. We'll be here two (2) nights, and I have a morning Dive planned with Keys.

Sharkbait is still trying to get out of Brazil, and we MAY see him tomorrow (Tuesday). Opie & e-Stitch are on their own till they get back to SoCAL, and I believe they were going to St. Lucia.

Thanks again to all who tracked us today (at work no less), and I'll check back later with more details! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Our routing was actually IFR way points to vector us through Venezuelan airspace. We started out at 7500', then 9500', 11500' and even 13500' for less than 30 minutes :rolleyes:

Rosie, if you did actually get into Venezuelan airspace you should check to see if they in fact charged you for the transition. We have been navigating around Venezuelan airspace because it is very difficult to pay the fees. They aren't expensive, they just don't respond to correspondence. Something you don't want to get surprised on later. Sounds like a heck of a trip! Great Read!!!
 
Thanks

Rosie,

Thanks for your help with the preparation details and paperwork that we needed for the trip. Sorry that Robin and I missed you on Grand Turk. We had a great time with the remaining RV folks though.

After leaving Grand Turk on Tuesday, we headed to Exuma to clear customs with the rest of group and then off to Nassau as a single ship to stay for the rest of the week on Paradise Island. What a great experience!

A few thoughts about the procedures that might help folks on future trips:

- I filed IFR for both legs (inbound/outbound) across the ADIZ. This seemed to make things pretty easy since we were already talking with controllers and didn't need to contact FSS to open flight plans, get squawk, look up frequencies, etc. I made the international part of the trip transparent and I recommend this method for any IFR rated pilots.

- I called US customs at KFPR on Saturday to let them know I would arrive on Sunday at 10am when they opened. No problems and I beat the rush that they said was coming. Apparently, most people wait until 10am to call and then arrive around noon. This helped avoid some weather and get us back to NC by 3pm.

- Customs in the Bahamas and Turks were great. No issues whatsoever and the pre-planning/paperwork that you prompted was great. We literally had smiling customs people meet us at the plane or door with all paperwork filled out and stamp ready for the passport. The US customs in KFPR went really smooth as well. They asked for a passport and we filled out the normal customs declaration sheet. No airplane/pilot paperwork was requested. They didn't even check our luggage. In and out in 5 min.

International Flight Plans - I used both Duats and Foreflight for flight plans during the trip and had no issues with acceptance from the controllers. Ran into a few issues getting Duats to accept the flight plan due to small typos or equipment on board. Apparently if it isn't perfect Duats will kick it back with little explanation. Foreflight seemed to take anything, but there were obviously missing sections on the flight plan such as safety gear onboard. It went through though.

Thanks again for all your help getting us in on the trip at the last minute. I doubt that I would have ever done something like this without someone like you blazing the path ahead. Truly a bucket list item.

From Rosie: Thanks for checking in Greg and glad you could make the trip to join the group the day after we left. One thing we've learned for Duats/Duat is that we were unable to use it to file for 'foreign airport to foreign airport'. Also, I want everyone to have the chance to join us on these trips thus all who fly with me will fly VFR. I've not yet had anyone ask to fly IFR.
 
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Day 17: We have arrived to Grenada from Bonaire!

Hi to our RV Family of Friends! It's just after 2030 EDT, and everyone is eating (I wasn't hungry).

Our Monday (April 22) started with everyone checking out (Keys/I to the Dive shop also), and the cab was driving away ~0840 for the ~15 minutes drive to the airport:

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After walking upstairs to file our GenDecs and Flight plan, the counter lady handed us back our flight plans and said, "You cannot fly direct to Grenada, then handed us somebody else's flight plan (an old one) and said, "Make yours look like this". Here's what it showed on the GPS once I entered it:

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Great Circle distance was 381nm and the routing above was direct:
LRS (VOR)
TOROP
KOMPU
SIRAS
MTA (VOR)
OSTRA
DAREK
PERGA
TGPY (Grenada)

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The great circle for this was 413nm, not a big deal. As we are filing, a (Dutch?) speaking pilot overheard us as we were not sure if we could pass through the Venezuelan airspace (for whatever reason). We had already decided if they said no, we would turn around and go back to Bonaire, to Santo Domingo and backtrack...but the Dutch guy asked,

"Have you flown that routing before"....

"No, this our first time"...

"Then your plane (N number) is not in the system and you don't owe them money. You go."...

"Ok, we'll head that way, thank you!"

We had several of the rampees taking pictures as we got ready. They thought our 'little planes' were the smallest to ever land in Bonaire.

Here's Jailbird & Indira, Keys & Tuppergal ready to go:

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Leaving the coast of Bonaire:

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Over the nose is the first cloud deck we climbed out over less than 10 minutes out. We leveled at 9500':

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Routing and nearest airports (all Venezuelan). I saw the 'danger warning' so many times that I just ignored them. To me, I could here (for you older folks like me), "Danger Will Robinson...Danger...Danger":

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Here's the next deck...up to 11500':

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Day 17: We have arrived to Grenada from Bonaire!

And just when we thought we were done climbing.... here we are heading up to 13500' (and I'm not going any higher!):

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Once over the top, we dropped down to 9500', but when the Venezuelan controller got hold of us, they had to separate us so we didn't run into each other. I tried to 'plead' my case for safety but, short version is: Jailbird (lead) at 9500', Keys at 11500' and me at 13500'..."I don't think so Tim". I told the controller "Unable due to negative oxygen in the plane, request 9500". Back and forth we go since their English is not so good and I finally get 9500'. I did not see Jailbird or Keys until we landed on Grenada.

Lots of nothing over the ocean so I listed to my nanopod and Tuppergal read her Kindle. I watched gauges too :)

Upon arriving to Grenada, I had to do some 360s so as not to 'jump' Keys and Jailbird into the pattern (then found out they had NO radar). We had to pick our way through this:

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Once under, we could finally see the airport:

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We have arrived to Grenada! Flight time was 3:00.

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This is a FedEx pilot on the left and our 'handler' Dubai with the 'very happy pilots':

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Here's Keys checking in at the True Blue Bay Resort:

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After dinner, which ended at ~1900, we went back to the room...and Tuppergal tells me I was snoring by 0715...long day...glad it's behind us...a little stress...poor communication with the controllers, clouds, can't see my 'team', Venezuelan airspace. All is OK because we are here (in these little planes called RVs!)

Ah, almost forgot.... Sharkbait landed Grenada late afternoon and arrived to the hotel around 1700. Opie & e-stitch flew to St. Lucia, and we should see them on Wednesday. They both had quite the story to tell of their flight below the equator!!!!

I slept soundly and woke up, well rested, at 0800 the next day....

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Day 18: A day in Grenada

It's Day 18, and we have a FULL day on the island!

Here's how my day: Up at 0800, breakfast (cereal) then dive boat by 0845, 2-tank dive, back by 1300, hang by the pool with Keys, nap at 1400, up at 1700 (must still be beat), flight planning with the group for Wednesday (heading to St. Lucia), dinner at 1900, update this webpage starting after 2000 and I was in bed by 2230....

Here's Tuppergal, Jailbird & Indira's day went: They met at 0900 to meet with their driver Kennedy who was to drive them on their all-day 'Island Tour'.

This is a breadfruit tree. This fruit was a main staple (food) given to the slaves.

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This is the oldest Catholic Church on Grenada, and it was heavily damaged during one the recent hurricanes (still under reconstruction):

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This is Fort George:

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This is the Concord's Falls, one of about six waterfalls on Grenada:

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One of the few cannons still in-place:

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Here's the inside of a Nutmeg Factory. These are the drying racks:

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The nuts dumped into this 'sifter' and removes the outer skin (mace: another spice) and then runs down another 'trough' where they are 'graded':

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This is the grading area where the nuts are hand-sorted then bagged:

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Here's a picture from the cafe overlooking Duquesne Bay:

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Day 18: A day in Grenada

Here's where the Islanders decided to 'end it all' rather than surrender to European rule:

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Normally, you see ruins of Sugar Plantations...here's a real, WORKING, Rum factory on the grounds of an old Sugar Plantation:

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Here's the water falling onto the paddle wheel...

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...that turns the gears for the pressing machine:

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Distilling the cane sugar mixture:

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Tuppergal was trying to figure out how to get this Potcake sovenier home:

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The next Island-tour stop was the Cocoa Factory. Here's where the cocoa seeds are fermenting (for a couple of weeks):

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Then the seeds are dried on these inside tracks on rainy days. Tupperal is 'walking' the seeds to mix them up:

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Here are the drying tracks used outside for sunny days:

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Still watching intently!

Ha! Didn't you know, IFR Direct simply isn't allowed :)

From Rosie: I know this now!

***********************
Rosie here...hijacking Scoot's thread so I can continue the pictures from Grenada :)

Here's the original Grenada airport called Pearl's Airport back in the day. It's now used as drag strip (with Grandstands) and grazing cattle:

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Anybody know what plane this is?

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Here's a river in the rain forest:

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Driving out of the rain forest back to St. George's Town:

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We'll be departing in the morning for St. Lucia after doing some Island-hopping ourselves!

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

Hi to our RV Family of Friends!

Wednesday (April 24) started out with an awesome rainbow that followed a morning squall:

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Jailbird/Indira/Keys wanted to sleep in and fly direct to St. Lucia so it was just Sharkbait joining Tuppergal/me on my one day of "Island-hopping". Here's a picture of Sharkbait:
He flew his RV below the Equator, WOWEEE!!!!

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One thing different from America is that you call the tower prior to engine start andrequest engine start so once 'blessed', we fired up the planes and did our runups in front of the terminal (we took an intersection takeoff):

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Tuppergal was able to get a nice picture of the True Blue Bay resort which was just off the departure end of the runway:

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One last look at the Grenada airport (TGPY):

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As is the case in the islands, the clouds are thicker in the morning and we had a little bit of cloud-dodging getting away from Grenada:

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This small mountain island is just of the northwest coast of Grenada:

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Here's the first island we landed, Carriacou (TGPZ), 34nm (~15 minutes) from Grenada:

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Landing fees were about $11 and Immigration/Customs were about the same and took maybe 15 minutes (small island, not lots of traffic except for the Twin Otter commuters).

This small island (sandbar) is located in the bay right next to the Carriacou airport:

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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

From Carriacou, we were off to Union Island. In my excitement of flying to these cool little Islands, only minutes apart....I totally forgot about overflying Mopion Island on the suggestion of Jimmyb :-( So next year, I'm planning to return to the area (commercial with Jimmyb) for some sailing and we'll get back to see it then!

The flight from Carricacou to Union Island was 8nm (minutes away) and it took us from the Grenadines of Grenada to the Grenadines of St. Vincent:

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Here's the small hill on approach, not a problem for an RV:

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Our last look at Union Island:

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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

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The cool thing about landing in te St. Vincent Grenadines is that once we paid the 'normal landing' fee (~$23), no flight plans were required flying the rest of the St. Vincent Grenadines (to Bequia). The landing fees were also reduced to about $6. Easy in and easy out for a couple of islands.

So you'd think an 8nm flight was short, it was 7.3nm to our next island, Canouan (TVSC):

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Here we are on about a two mile right base to the runway. The threshold is behind the hill on the left:

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C'mon Sharkbait, smile!

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Island-hopping at it's best!

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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

Say goodbye to Canouan:

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Our next stop in the Grenadines was Bequia, however, we just had to overfly Mustique; an airport that requires special training.....of course, and RV would not EVEN have a problem, and I was almost ready to land and beg forgiveness...."Oh, I didn't know about that". We just overflew it:

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Here we are on the 45deg entry to the right downwind at Bequia:

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Check out what's in the water:

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Distance to Bequia from Canouan was ~18nm, once again, only minutes away:

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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

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This is Joshua Airport (TVSV) on St. Vincent. This was a 'big' towered airport, and I knew that we'd be spending a LOT more time getting in/out so we bypassed this one for the sake of time.

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We overflew St. Vincent and arrived to St. Lucia. There is also a 'big' towered airport at the southern end but we opted for the smaller airport at the northern end. On the way there along the western coast, we saw some cool-looking twin peaks so we took some time and circled them:

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Right base, looking east:

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Here we are arriving to George Charles (TLPC) airport. Notice the inlet in front of the runway...

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Day 19: Island Hopping from Grenada to St. Lucia

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What Tuppergal was not able to capture is that just to the right of the inlet is this Cruise Shipped docked in port. Obviously, airport operations cease when ships are passing through!

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Touch-down and seeing the ramp where we'll eventually back-taxi to park:

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On the Main ramp at St. Lucia:

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Sharkbait was greeted at his plane (not us):

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Here's the approach end of the runway:

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'Chalking' up the miles!

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Once we cleared Immigration, then Customs, we were repositioned to the west end of the ramp and crammed-in with everybody else. Opie & e-Stitch are hiding in there somewhere. You know the "Where's Waldo" series? Where's the 'Glass'?

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I don't know when they went missing but I've had no chocks for a few airports so here's my solution:

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That's a wrap for tonight as it's going on 0100 now....

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Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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What an amazing sojourn! I've been hanging on your every posting, living your trip vicariously! Just amazing!!
 
St. Lucia - an aside..

Hey Rosie. My wife and I just left St. Lucia on Saturday after as we were celebrating our 20th anniversary there. We took a helicopter transfer from that very airport to the larger commercial one on the southern end. We hung out for a bit before the transfer and was checking out the black 337 in your pics while waiting. Very nice folks on that island and we plan to go back in the RV soon. The Sandals Grande resort on the north end is paradise.

The peaks you are referring to in your approach pic are the Pitons. The amazing resort between them is Sugar Beach. Matt Damon rented that whole place last week to renew his wedding vows and the airspace, sea, surrounding grounds were locked out for a mile in all directions. Must have cost a mint to do that. Brad Pitt, Angelina, George Clooney, Ben Affleck and all the usual suspects were there. The Gulfstream metal waiting at the airport when we landed commercial was impressive.

Rumor has it they wanted to hang around and meet the infamous Rosey but their schedules couldn't keep...
 
This is the best General Aviation thread I have ever seen. I got into aviation because I read all of Jimmy Buffett's books. Most expensive books I ever read, lol. I really, really have enjoyed this more that words can say.

~J~
 
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