Rosie & Tuppergal's Caribbean Trip 2017

[Robert Anglin]

Christion-Sted, old forts, grate diving, Flying Goose ramp in the cove, Bacardi Salorie Select and chary vanilla Dr. Pepper. What a grew of lushes and vagabons to get to see it all. Can't wait. Yours, R.E.A. III #80888

[Michael White]

Originally Posted by scard

Rosie is on the ramp with the hood open again.

I think Rosie's entire electrical system is allergic to salt air...

[Robert Anglin]

Originally Posted by Michael White

I think Rosie's entire electrical system is allergic to salt air...

Time to find some silicon, WD40 or LPS and wet it down a little. Clean all the connections as you go though them. Don't use the Rum for him or the bird while doing this, however. Good luck and safe returns. Yours, R.E.A. III #80888

[scard]

Upon arrival, Rosie dropped his two (2!) alternators off at an alternator shop on the way to the hotel (as usual). Same dance as two years ago. (same alternators?) It is a little comical, but I can relate, being the one stranded in Exuma two years ago for filling up the B&C voltage regulators (yes, two of them!) in the rain. They don't like that and now live in a condom. I don't know if I said it, but his first failure that had him RTB in Florida was a fully broken alternator bracket that he had to get welded back together. I'm thinking really hard here, but I don't think he has made a leg yet without alternator issues. I feel for my buddy but, if anybody can persevere, it is Rosie. He just keeps on chugging with his eye on the next dive.

[scard]

Ahmmmm... May I present "The Money Shot". Many thanks to Jimmy B. for the idea. This is Mopion island. The picture isn't perfect, but I bet there are less than a handful of RVrs that have this one. It is a super tiny island that took some navigational planning to get to. It is north west of Petit Saint Vincent, about 40mi NW of Grenada. We didn't spend any time working on the setup. The plan was to hit the island at about 100' agl, roll in for about 270deg, then roll out on course. This is the result that I'm pretty excited about.

[scard]

Grenada





Saturday on Grenada was the opening of a carnival season. The opening event was called "Spicemas 2017" in town. Tanya gathered a group of party animals to venture out into the night. Ok, these "old farts" were home before 9pm, but we had fun with the locals none the less.











We also got a dance show from twinkle toes!


The colorful vegetation in the rain forest is just amazing. This island has the most color and variety that we've seen on any of the islands over the years. Does anybody know what this tree is? Most of us (not me!) have eaten it's product.



Then, on our last full day, Sunday, Tanya organized another adventure to hike through the rain forest to some falls for a swim. AMAZING!

[scard]

Hike to the falls continued...
Our taxi driver sent his two boys with us as guides to the falls. They were quite knowledgeable of the local plants and history. The boys had just as much fun as we did swimming in the falls.


We swam in these two pools for a while. It was "Refreshing". I think Roy has those pictures, but I don't, I was busy enjoying the swim.




Can you tell what makes Tanya happy? She is a ball of fire hiking around in the rain forest. While my legs were on fire on the way back, she raced one of the boys back up the steep trail and won!

[scard]

So, do you remember when we "invaded" Grenada back in the 80's?
The locals do! They are very grateful to this day. One of our guides took us by this wall and said it has only been touched up once since then.





One of these pictures from our camera will be the official class pictures from this year.










Then it is time to leave Grenada with our wingmen.





Hello St. Croix! (22kt direct tailwind for the last 50mi) Apparently we do some refining down here.

[scard]

Landing St. Croix. Do you think I have the field made? Our turnoff is way down there at the other end.



There are all 9 of our ducks. I don't know what is up with all of these other pilots, but Larry Vetterman long ago taught me to "point my chicken into the wind!" There are no tiedowns anywhere of any kind at anyplace we've stayed. They're just sitting out there in chocks. Ahhmmmm, sometimes, for those that have chocks. Some in our group need some public shaming, but I'll leave that for later.



Then there is Taco who inexplicably had a W&B issue after loading back up after visiting customs for the taxi to parking, narrowly avoiding a tail strike. Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. They solved the problem with some external storage for the taxi.



Check-in time with some Rummmm punch.




View from the room.





Accommodations. This is three star, where most of the essentials work. Perfect for our group, but if you're looking for a "nice" place, this isn't it. IE, your functional a/c might sound like a freight train and the sink might leak, but hey, the toilet works.

[scard]

Contrary to the belief of some, our Bravo flight of three has had absolutely no problem operating as a proper three ship from startup, takeoff, landing and shutdown at every location that we have been so far. Heck, at many places, I'm sure we could have asked for the overhead and gotten it. I don't know, maybe it is because we have very good wingmen that make us sound like we know what we're doing by being quiet and just following the instructions of Lead (TC) at all times on our discrete frequency. The local ramp operators are usually quite impressed to see a disciplined flight taxi up and shutdown on a head nod, or fire up and taxi out with complete coordination. I think those ground ops go a long way to the tower expectation of professionalism when you ask for a formation departure.