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Caribbean Adventure!

Chattin35

Well Known Member
So, I had a friend who recently started flying helicopters/seaplanes on St Thomas in the U.S. VI's. He was joking around one day and said, "you should fly the -7 down!". I had been itching for a change of scenery. So, I decided to call his bluff and was like, "alright!". The next day I had the customs sticker on it's way in the mail.

While I was building the -7, I read the book 'Vegabonding' by Rolf Potts. It planted the idea that I'd like to do an extended, similar "vagabonding" style trip with the airplane once it was done. I'm in the fortunate position to be able to work from anywhere I have an internet connection. So, no excuses. This was a perfect opportunity.

The plan was to load up some backpacking gear and crash on friend's couches as much as possible.

Here's the story mostly in pictures...

All packed up. The little -7 can carry quite a bit. That's food/clothes/laptop/camping gear for the next couple months.

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Taking off out of Boise I heard something rattling near the fwd left firewall. Thought about it for a second and flipped her around and landed to check it out. It ended up some tape that I had put on the inside of the upper intersection fairing to keep it from rubbing against the fues and come lose. Quick re-attach and we're on our way.

Here's crossing the mountains near SLC. That's Park City off my right wing.

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Ended up staying in Grand Junction on night 1. I was going to try to make it to Telluride or Durango, but I ran out of daylight due to the late start. The FBO at Grand Junction is awesome, btw. Highly recommend them for an overnight if you're passing through.

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Took off out of KGJT the next morning without a destination (I know, I know, downgrade me for planning). It was either going to be AR or TX depending on which friends got back to me first. Got the text over OK. San Marcos here we come!

Crossing the CO Rockies (non-issue from GJT heading SW).

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The boring part of the country...

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Heading into TX... (Austin area)

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Stayed in San Marcos overnight. Gave my friend and his wife a ride in the -7 the next day. Ended up tying one on with them. So, stayed an extra day.
 
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On to FL!

Once again, the weather across the SE was awesome. So, I took off out of San Marcos with no plan.

The Mississippi River delta.

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Flying across what is affectionately known as the Redneck Riviera.

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Joining the 200kt club.

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Decided to stop in Cedar Key for the night.

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Camping out in Cedar Key...

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Oops... Just a reminder that towing a plane, rebuilding an engine, dealing with insurance, the FAA, possibly losing your license, etc, is way more of an inconvenience than going around.

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On to more happy pictures...

Next day was a short hop to Miami Homestead to camp out again and make sure all the docs, etc, were squared away for the ocean crossing.

Crossing the everglades.

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Miami Homestead is an awesome place to stop, btw. Cheap fuel and the guys who run the FBO are incredibly warm and welcoming. True Southern Hospitality.

Next up, leaving the USA...
 
Dominican Republic

I spent the night in Exuma in the Bahamas. Pretty expensive place to stop. Actually had to get a hotel. Lame! But, the gal's were super friendly and helpful.

The customs guys were pretty funny too. They started acting all serious like I was in trouble, then looked over at his buddy and they both started laughing. We're just messing with you mahn! Enjoy the Bahamas. Lol.

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The RV is an instant conversation starter. Made friends with a couple of the other pilots and ground crew guys.

A couple times Miami Center and/or another pilot would ask over the radio "What kind of experimental?". "It's an RV-7." "Nice!"

On to the Dominican Republic! Getting into more unknown territory. Followed the chain of islands down to Turks and Caicos and hopped across the pond from there.

Leaving Exuma.

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Jumping the pond.

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I can almost glide from here (not really).

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Puerto Plata for a fuel stop and to clear customs. Nobody spoke English. So, I had to dust off the rusty Spanish (8 years since I'd spoken it). Got some funny looks. But, it started coming back to me.

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Got gassed up and on to Punta Cana. Here's leaving Puerto Plata.

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Flying over the D.R.

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On the ground in Punta Cana.

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Punta Cana

Pretty sweet open air FBO.

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The security guys were kind of confused. I guess I didn't look like the normal pilot they're used to seeing, haha. A couple of them came out to check out the plane. The mood was pretty tense until I told them "Hecho en mi garaje". "!?Que!?" Then, it was all laughing and joking after that.

Leaving Punta Cana a couple days later (which is a pretty wild and fun place, btw).

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Puerto Rico and St Thomas

Crossing another mini-pond towards Puerto Rico.

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West Coast of Puerto Rico.

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Overflying the north side of PR.

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Decided to skip Puerto Rico and fly straight on to St Thomas.

Approach into St Thomas.

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Made it!

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This was my office for the next couple weeks/months. Don't be jelly.

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On Island

These little RV's are such great airplanes it's hard to put it into words. The longest leg on the trip was 750 miles non-stop from Grand Junction to San Marcos. I have much more to say about the RV (glowing appreciate for the design). But, I'll leave that for another thread.

I had a blast on island. Having the RV down there was a novelty. I gave just about everyone I met from friends of my friend, boat captains, mechanics on the field, to guys at the FBO a ride. Prob about 14 people in all.

I love sharing the RV with people because it's a type of flying that you just don't get to experience any other way. I can show them what it feels like to pull G's and not be limited by which direction the ground is in the wind screen. Plus, seeing their reactions re-lights the joy of flying for me. One of the reasons I built this plane was to share the experience with as many people as possible.

Anyway, here are some pics of flying around the various islands.

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Rincon, Puerto Rico

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3 ship to Anegada.

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More formation flying.

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Formation flying with friends over Puerto Rico.

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Culebra

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Looping over the BVI's. The grins are real.

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Over Puerto Rico.

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Approach into San Juan.

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Journey Home

Fast forward 2.5 months and it's time to leave. Bummer.

All packed up.

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Rainbows over Puerto Rico.

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Over San Juan. ATC asked if I was a canard type experimental. Must be getting some good ground speeds :D.

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Stopped for fuel in Puerto Plata.

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Haiti off in the distance.

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Had to dodge some weather over the Bahamas which put me out over the ocean way longer than I would have liked in a single engine plane. But, the trusty Lycoming was purring away.

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Here's arriving back into Exuma in the Bahamas. Fuel stop #2 of the day.

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Leaving the Bahamas. This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

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Back to the USA

Flying into Exuma.

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Here's crossing the ADIZ.

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Stopped in Key West to clear customs.

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Then, flew up the causeway to Miami Homestead to camp for the night.

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End of a long day. Slept well that night. Until it unexpectedly rained on me and I had to grab the rain flap out of the plane, haha!

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Daytona Beach and Westbound

Gator country down there!

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What's up NASA! Was going to try to catch the SpaceX launch from the air, but they delayed at T-minus 1 min.

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Stayed with a friend near Daytona Beach. Sketchy WX on the approach, but we made it.

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Much better the next morning.

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Stopped in LA for some gas where I got some gouge about a hotel built from an old hangar right on the airport in Fredericksburg, TX. Perfect spot to spend the night. Although hotels are lame, I made an exception.

Sorry forgot to take pics.

Next day, headed west. Here's the Laughlin MOAs. That's where I learned to fly. Great memories.

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What's up Mexico!

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Crashed for the night with a buddy in Las Cruces.
 
Back to the Mountains!

Taking off out of Las Cruces.

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New Mexico ain't so bad...

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Stopped with another friend up in Albuquerque the next night. Here I am heading north the next morning.

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Found the mountains!

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Telluride

I'd never been to Telluride. So, I decided to check it out.

The approach...

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Back taxi.

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On the ground. Incidentally, that's the mountain on the Coors beer can.

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This place is spectacular. Also, going for a trail run at 10.5k after living at sea level for the past 2.5 months is a bad idea, haha! Here I am the next day feeling much better.

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Taking off out of Telluride with 11.5k' DA? No sweat in the -7.

Canyonlands!

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Moab!

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More Utah, on the backside of the mountains near SLC.

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The Great Salt Lake

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Sketchy! This is on the Utah/Idaho border. There's a giant wall of precipitation in b/w me and home. Gotta find a hole.

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And, we made it...

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Nice Pic’s Chris!

I haven’t had my airplane west of the Mississippi, but have been to these places in the “work” airplane.

Brings back good memories and makes me want to fly the “real” airplane out there :D
 
thanks for putting all the energy into this post. lots of familiar places. you did it. congrats. no sunburn i hope. ;)
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Russia

Vlad! We have to chat sometime soon. I want to pick your brain about flying in Russia :D.

Rik, that pic I posted above of the 202kt ground speed is pretty typical. The -7 likes to hang out b/w 8.5-11.5k' MSL. Dialed back to 2400 RPM, I consistently see 160-165 KTAS at those altitudes depending on temp, DA, etc. burning ~8 gph. But, I haven't tracked it that close. I care much more about a smooth happy engine than squeezing an extra knot or GPH out of the plane. It did make it from Grand Junction to San Marcos non-stop, though. So, I think it's doing pretty well!

Avgas was not difficult to find at all. Piston aircraft are in wide use in the Caribbean.

Also, I didn't have an autopilot for the trip. There were times when it would have been nice. But, I didn't ever really need one. The -7 flies pretty much hands off when it's trimmed up and the fuel is balanced. Super stable aircraft despite being a total blast to fly.
 
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Awesome! Awesome! Chris... I can?t wait to hear more about it. Tammi and I followed your adventure in total amazement. Glad you?re back home. What an experience...
 
Thanks for the great trip write up! How much were some of the fees at the FBOs in the Caribbean?
 
FBO Fees

Yeah, me too. I'd be curious about the longterm tie down fees especially.

The Bahamas were expensive. They dinged me $200 for an overnight. But, they did all the paperwork for me (flight plan, customs, gen decs, etc) and got me a hotel, ride, etc.

The DR charged me $50 for "services" which was basically calling a fuel truck and stamping the paperwork. I've heard they also help find transportation and hotels and act as a p.o.c. liaison, provide "security", etc. But, I didn't use any of that.

Millionare at Isla Grande (Puerto Rico) charged us $50 for four hours of parking one afternoon. They would only waive part of it for 20 gal of gas minium. I offered to buy some oil to make up the difference since we didn't need 20 gal, but they wouldn't budge. I even rented a car from them for the afternoon. Major ripoff. They literally did nothing for us for that $50. When we got back, there was a truck parked 6'' from the wing leading edge. Yikes! Will never do business with Millionare again.

Long term tie down in St Thomas was $70/mo. They wanted to charge me $25/night at first. But, I was like, "No way! Are those planes getting charged $25/day?" while pointing to the many wrecked/hurricane damaged ones scattered around the ramp. They backed down after that and gave me a number to get on the long term tie down list.

On the way back, I'd learned enough about the paperwork, cleaning customs, etc. from flying around a bunch, that I was able to do most of it myself and avoid the FBO fees.

Culebra, Anegada, Cieba, Rincon, Grand Junction, San Marcos, Miami Homestead, Fredricksburg, Spruce Creek, Las Cruces, Telluride were all awesome places to stop. Zero or negligible fees.
 
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