Card's Caribbean Trip 2015

Ok, Ok, I couldn't resist...
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=074zP4y9ev5RHmAynvLslNYdx1AGGkKj4

aprs track in the signature.

The grand adventure is yet again afoot. Stuff happens out here in the world that you just couldn't make up if you tried and creates some great memories. We're spending just as much time recounting past adventures to the newbies as actively creating new *very* impressionable ones at every turn.

Charlie flight launched out of homestead and Lead immediately split the comm onboard and gave me a job "Just get us cleared through the delta." She was meanwhile busy on the other radio opening flight plans with Miami Radio. One of the flight plans had the wrong N number which was corrected and they started making comments about the second leg flight plans filed wouldn't work. "Ok", we'll deal with that later when we come to it...

Off we went with out three ship. We spent the whole day at 9500'. Our fuel stop at Stella Maris was a seemingly easy quick hop and they had us cleared in, cleared out, and fueled as fast as possible.

Back up top for the run to Punta Cana was super easy cheesy until we hit the Santo Domingo FIR where we got a much needed Spanish lesson as they repeated transmissions over and over for us... Rosie got to avoid the dreaded lady on Santo Domingo Radio that is absolutely impossible to understand and was calling traffic opposite direction 40 miles ahead!!! I kid you not.

We followed a 737 to the runway and did a sorta' modified trail/staggered three ship landing on the huge runway. Nobody said a thing. Good wingmen that followed instructions all the way to touchdown and rollout.

Customs was ONE form and done in a jiffy.

And, Oh the adventures in between. Diddy got her call sign, Taco might get his changed to "Floater". I spent at least 45min of the day in tears of laughter over some of the stuff that comes up. On the ground after starting back up at our fuel stop, "Charlie flight check. ..., ..., Threep." grr, "Charlie flight check! .. Uh, two has an issue." (in a slight tone of shame) Be careful of the inflation mechanism of the life vest to say the least.

We'll see where the adventure takes us tomorrow. Breakfast between 8-9 with Charlie flight at the buffet (good). Rosie, check in. We launch from here on Friday.

Half way through the first full day. We've almost worked out a comm protocol. This bar / that pool. Started the morning calling room numbers to coordinate breakfast with the majority of the crew. We finished that after a couple of hours of telling stories and eating. Then off to a waterpark a short walk on the same resort. That was crazy fun with water slides. Rosie, Dave and I had never done the water slide thing. We only expected to be there for 30-40min, but were there for a couple of hours.

Back to Lunch with six of us then to the pool with swim up bar where the rest of the afternoon was spent with Scoot, Cookie, Taco, Bell, Shiner, Diddy, Rosie, Tuppergal, Nordo... Rosie taught us some kinder garden songs in the pool. Dave got some new pimp-daddy flip flops that he is supposed to wear to dinner in an hour.

Tomorrow, some will be going scuba diving and further exploring for our last full day here at Punta Cana before we launch to the next adventure on Friday.

The water is warm, the breeze is cool, and the company spectacular.

Not Photoshop

No, not photoshopped. Just one of many from a simple point and shoot camera. One of our newbie RVs for the trip with Jeff and Staci taking in the view over Great Exuma, Bahamas.

thanks for the extra thread on the trip. love the pics.

Did you guys have to do CARICOM EAPIS too?

I haven't been to the Caribbean in a year or so and was in a biz-jet where they required it for Private Aircraft.

I was just wondering since you all are island hopping and there are so many of you.

It had to take a lot of planning.

SmilingJack said:

Did you guys have to do CARICOM EAPIS too?

It had to take a lot of planning.

Click to expand...

We have to file CARICOM EAPIS for 2 of the countries we are visiting. Fortunately, it is a much shorter process than that for the US.

It does take a lot of planning. Rosie has provided the examples, and we've been soaking up as much of the wisdom as possible making these runs. A lot of it is 'monkey see, monkey do.'

Upon our departure from the waterpark, the lifeguards photo-bombed the frame. Believe it or not, there are 7 slides if you look carefully.




And, of course, no trip is actually real until there is Ice Cream! We had to make a stop after dinner.




Once the ice cream was decimated, it was time to finish out the evening with a drink or two. We relived some of our younger years at the beach bar. Yes, the swings were around the bar, something we can't imagine would fly even in anyone's imagination back home. Run Rosie, Run!

Some day!

Thanks for the write up Scott. Someday, I'll want to do the same trip!

I was looking at your track and noticed just north of Interstate 41 halfway through the Everglades management area, there is a fairly large airfield in the middle of no where. Looks like an abandoned airforce base.

Anyone know what it is or the history behind it?

Thanks


Don

Don Patrick said:

Thanks for the write up Scott. Someday, I'll want to do the same trip!

I was looking at your track and noticed just north of Interstate 41 halfway through the Everglades management area, there is a fairly large airfield in the middle of no where. Looks like an abandoned airforce base.

Anyone know what it is or the history behind it?

Thanks


Don

Click to expand...

Dont quote me on it, but it used to be used by PanAm, 747, etc...and alike for training flights from Miami area. It was a nice big field away from Miami.
Edit-
History of Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport
Constructed in the early 1970s, Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport was originally the Everglades Jetport. The initial runway at the site was planned as the replacement runway for Miami International Airport to serve South Florida, but environmental concerns in the late 1970s to early 1980s stopped further development of the facility. The 24,960-acre property has approximately 900 acres of developed and operational land. The remaining area is managed and operated by the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission. Since its original configuration, the airport's most notable enhancements have been a runway overlay and lighting upgrade in 1992, costing $3.5 million, and taxiway rejuvenation in 1996, costing $100,000. The Miami-Dade Aviation Department is exploring a variety of opportunities to generate revenue at TNT.

Airport in middle of nowhere

Don Patrick said:

Thanks for the write up Scott. Someday, I'll want to do the same trip!

I was looking at your track and noticed just north of Interstate 41 halfway through the Everglades management area, there is a fairly large airfield in the middle of no where. Looks like an abandoned airforce base.

Anyone know what it is or the history behind it?

Thanks


Don

Click to expand...

It was not a military base, it was built in the late 60's for airline training.
There is a good amount of info on the Lost or little known airfields website.
Look at the Florida, Miami northern area page, for the Everglades Jetport

Standby! THE group picture is scheduled to happen in 32 minutes by the ocean. In standard form, Rosie says, "We'll get 'somebody' to take it". If you haven't seen this happen, it is a hoot watching him butter up someone to have dinner with us if they will take this picture...

I've got on my best suit, and Dave, his best flip-flops .

Thirty two minutes is up...here's the 'teaser' photo. I did indeed find somebody, Brian (and Margaret) from Canada who took the 'official' photos on his monster camera and will send those to me later, Rosie



Brian & Margaret (thank you again for all the time for the pictures you took of our group!!!!

So, the last day in Punta Cana is in the books. As the night wore to a close after dinner, our fearless leader chose to spend the rest of his evening with his online friends as opposed to hanging out telling stories by the surf with the others. Rosie, we picked up the slack for you buddy and closed down the party with the Dodson's in the dark on the beach with a drink until 10:30pm. Present for the last "late" evening were Taco, Belle, Nordo, Diane, Moody Blue (after his ill timed afternoon nap), Opie, e-Stitch, Scoot, Cookie (instigator / pre-brief).

I have a bunch of pictures of the setup of THE picture. It is interesting stuff, watching us all assemble and Rosie going out to accost some unsuspecting soul, convincing them that they WANT to do this... It happens every time and is still an amazing act to watch. I'll try to get some of those off of the camera at some point, but we have to be focused on the next big operations tomorrow for our relocation to the next island. Tanya is giving the brief at 8:30am over breakfast with all in attendance reqd to have their international flight plan forms and a pen.

Good times all around.

Last day on Antigua. By the way, the 'u' is silent. We asked the locals, who were happy to give us the proper pronunciation.

Wi-fi was challenging, accommodations and food were so-so, scenery was great, but the best part is the RV circle of friends. Sometimes figuratively, and sometimes literally as we wind down the evening.

As we sit with the crickets chirping, light seabreaze blowing, waves crashing, and bugs biting Rosie while he waits on the challenging wi-fi to update the thread many of you are waiting on, the stories are still flowing and hatching the plan for the trip to Dominica.

Heading off on her another adventure. One week down, and one to go.

Houston, We have landed on Dominica!!! It is amazing! All safe at the hotel, which is also amazing! A major step up from the resort on Antigua. And, the internet connectivity is great here. Expect a flood of pictures from Rosie. I'll probably look at some of the thousands that I have taken so far tonight as well, now that we have good network resources.

We circled the island of Montserrat to take a peek and smell the sulphur still oozing from the volcano, then did a lap around this island, Dominica, which is totally Jurassic Park!

Gotta' run to go see what the next plan is... All I know is that we're WAY out here, and it is easy! (in an RV)

Wow!

Scott,
Your report today made me want to hop in the RV and fly down there!

Sounds like a wonderful trip you guys are having.

Keep the reports coming.

Mark

Dominica Videos

We made it to Dominica today and have a couple videos to share.

Dinner above the rocks
http://youtu.be/smZGNiWVvtY

Morne Bruce overlooking Roseau
http://youtu.be/1YqOYTKLq0c

Ok, Rosie is across the table from me at the end of our first evening on Dominica working on filling in on the past days. I'll give you my camera dump from the last five hours:

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...ms/6139997264966679425?authkey=CLXy8KDvnpGJAg

We did a great clockwise circle of the Island taking pictures all the way, just rotating the autopilot heading every few seconds:



You really might want to go flip through the whole album above.




Canefield at Dominica, right downwind.


There is a little Mountain almost directly in the way of the base to final turn, so I chose a nice little dog-leg final. Taco's comment was, "Geez, when am I supposed to turn final, when I'm in that guy's living room (on the side of the mountain)?"

So, we did a grand walk through the botanical garden and hiked all the way up Morne Bruce.

Bamboo anyone?


What the heck is this?


Hike it baby. XXX feet


If you know me, you would believe that I had absolutely no idea what I was in front of after having sprinted the last couple hundred feet up the mountain.




Hotel, top dead center, green roof. This picture from TOH (top of hike).






It kinda' looks like Dinner for Two. We gave Paul a couple of hours off. He was able to observe ALL of the rest of his ducks from the next table with his better half.


Good night from Dominica. Diving in the morning 8am, then....?

Flashback!!!

Ooops, found some more pictures from earlier, leaving Antigua this morning:

So, one of the big questions was if Rosie would have an alternator today for the hop over the water....
Yep! Delivered by the cab driver.


On the ramp at Antigua after clearing out. Preparing airplanes for launch, and Rosie swapping out the Alternator with Shiner's help. We let Rosie clear out first so he got a jump start on the maintenance. He was pretty much done by the time the next two of us were allowed on the ramp.



Here is the normal state of Rosie, late in the evening. Posting by committee, but now hours later, just him and I enjoying the evening air with our "online friends". He wins, I'm going to bed. Flip through the album above for the rest of the pictures.

Good morning from our last full day on Dominica! Today was a sleep in day for me. Tanya is out running 'errands' at the grocery store to prepare for in flight lunch service tomorrow while I type this in bed.

We had dinner at a little island joint in downtown, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We packed the place. Yum.

How about a quick gopro camera dump from the past few days: https://plus.google.com/photos/100499760963951648786/albums/6140541759136522753

Chillin' at Punta Cana resort on the Dominican Republic with Shiner and Diddy


...More later

Mmm, breakfast by the crashing waves.

One of my favorite past times in the salty sea:


Tanya's turn! (I don't think she is doing it quite right .


The Punta Cana resort was very nice.


Next island, Antigua. Note, the 'u' is silent.


We sailed, kayaked, flopped around in the water...


Selfie! After sailing the little resort catamaran for an hour.



Next Island, Dominica (emphasis on the last 'i' 'eeeee kah)
Diving

Yesterday on Dominica, Shiner and Diddy got their FIRST SCUBA introduction right there at the dive site with all of the rest of us. Of course they stayed in some very shallow water with the instructor. Lucky dogs! Their dive expectations are completely skewed heretofore!


The rest of us went down to see some of the most amazing colors and creatures as seen in Rosie's photos.

Sharkbait, Cookie, Scoot, Taco getting ready to drop in for the first dive of the day.


It was a beautiful dive site in about 75' of water. Super calm, no current to fight.




Tanya was in charge of the camera below. Hey, we all know that guy! Tidbit... He once AGAIN has no alternator, the day before we depart Dominica. It lasted about 30min of the flight out of Antigua after the cabbie 'had it fixed'... There is no need to give him any more grief about that. We've already fully taken care of that around the bar.


Expert camera work (first pictures underwater for us). A shot of the back of my head .


When the wife says wave...


As usual, that is just a sample. See the album for the rest of the images in between. Time to head out to find some more adventure this morning. This afternoon 2pm we all are going on a tour to Trafalgar Falls and Titou Gorge. 200' swim in 68deg water (burrrrr) at a location where some of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.

LIAT!!!

scard said:

Ooops, found some more pictures from earlier, leaving Antigua this morning:

Click to expand...

You are SO lucky that you are lot flying with LIAT (pictured in the background). Although they are "The Caribbean's Premier Airline", that's not saying much. LIAT stands for Leave Island Any Time. They stranded us in Antigua once and were nice enough to put us up at Jolly Beach as well. Unfortunately, it was only from midnight till 5am. It was really frustrating because you can see St Kitts (where we were headed back to) from Antigua, but couldn't get there. Would really like to get back there sometime.

How about answering some of the mysterious questions from land lovers about how to get in and out of some of these countries. Keep in mind, I'm just a passenger, so my comments are from the 1000' level. Ask Cookie for the micro nitty-gritty.

Going into Stella Maris in the Bahamas was very easy. We pretty much didn't talk to anybody after crossing the ADIZ outbound until Stella Maris traffic the same as any US uncontrolled airfield. Al on ctaf piped up with the winds and sounded like he was expecting us (he was thanks to Lead). The fuel truck was rolling by the time we shut down and we went into the little customs building to clear Into and Out of the Bahamas at the same time. The customs agent was in absolutely no hurry as is usually the case and made it very obvious that he hated his job and would rather be taking a nap. 5 General Declaration forms (2 in, 3 out I think) and some other minor paper work, $50 each plane, and 1hr to process all three of us and we were on our way.

At top of climb at 9500' out of the Bahamas on the way to Punta Cana Dominican Republic, we coupled up with Miami Center who followed us all the way to the FIR off the north shore of the Dominican. There we got switched over to Santo Domingo Control. Boy, this is where things got interesting. We don't speak Spanish, and some of the controllers just barely speak English. It worked out, but we very politely asked the controllers to slowly repeat some things many times. Passing beyond Santo Domingo on the way to Punta Cana, inside the Dominican airspace, they switched us over to a Santo Domingo Radio (I think). This lady spoke so little English that we could only pick out about every five words,"quatro ocho dos dos Carlos... blah, blah, blah...". "Oh, ****, I think she is talking to us again..." We were just basically faking the readbacks, which it seemed that she barely understood as well. We just kept moving forward.

Out here, it seems that they want everyone to be under full control. There is no dumping flight following or doing "unapproved"... Although, if you ask to do something different than the flight plan (always required for every movement), you almost always get what you want. Anyway, we're with the impossible controller on the way to Punta Cana that we can't understand but it is time to start our decent out of 9.5k'. We chose the easy way out and contacted the last controller that we could understand at Santo Domingo Control for that approval which worked perfectly. "Descend pilots discretion, contact Punta Cana Control."

Down we went, switched over to the TCA controller who spoke very good english. "Whew." 4822C Follow the Southwest 737 on 4mi final to runway 08. 22C and flight, traffic in sight follow runway 08. They almost never acknowledge the fact that this is a flight, but we clarify that fact clearly, slowly, and often. Switch tower, that spoke even better english, cleared to land. We had our three ship in moderate (not close, not extended) trail just in case the tower got nervous about us landing three airplanes at once. It happens, but nobody said anything so we all touched down in pretty close spacing.

For the taxi to the ramp at Punta Cana after collecting the flight, Ground was pretty chatty and I indulged his curiosities about the airplanes, where we had come from, etc. Customs and flight plans in and out were very easily handled by one FBO lady. $25 in, $25 out as we were using their ramp. It took about 10min / airplane to process here. Outbound from Punta Cana, we cleared out with the same FBO lady and she filed our International flight plan forms with the tower. Taxi out. As much as we tried to explain what we wanted to do, they didn't quite understand the concept of launching a flight. Each wingman got a squawk code and we got launched individually on a pretty short interval. It worked. I heard that the later flights were able to do a more normal section takeoff.

As I said, always in radio contact and control along our route to Antigua... Arriving Antigua, again they didn't say anything about the formation arrival, so this time we landed 2 + 1 and proceeded to get a full taxi tour of the entire airport grounds. The had no clue what in the world to do with us, especially when we told them that there were six more airplanes inbound in a bit. We toured all three ramps as a little traveling parade of three taxiing formation airplanes. We shut down at one end of the airport and Cookie called ground while all wingmen held tight in their airplanes. "Antigua ground, 4822C... Go ahead. Yes sir, I don't think we're in the right location here on the airfield. Please understand that we are an international flight that will be staying for three days and we need to properly clear customs and immigration..." They had taxied us out to some distant location that was deserted. "I'm sorry, 22C, you're right, that probably isn't where we should have sent you. We're contacting the airport authorities to try to figure out what to do with you. Please standby." They eventually found us a spot on the main ramp as we formation taxied all of our ducks back across the airfield.

Clearing into Antigua was also pretty easy but did require some patience, smiles, and deep cooperation. More GenDecs, and another slightly grumpy customs officer who's first reaction was something like "no, you can't do it this way, you must go....", until her supervisor came into the small office and told her, "No, Private Flight, you stamp here...." She begrudgingly did so and the supervisor said, you are cleared to go and pointed to the exit door. This is where you don't ask questions but smile, say thank you very much and have a great day, as you immediately start making your way to the door.

(whew, break time. We're getting there.)
Time to reposition to the pool...


Ok, where were we, Antigua! After all of the fun was consumed everybody got their Intl. flight plan forms prepared, CARICOM filed (kinda' like US EAPIS), and back to the airport. First step was to find the A.I.S (Airport Information Services) office to file flight plans and pay fees. This took about 45min for 4 planes. Pilots only for this step, so I kept 'the ladies' company on a bench in the breezeway . From what I hear, the official doing the flight plans was completely overwhelmed as usual. After that, we collect our bags and "passengers" or "crew". Quick distinction: passenger = someone that doesn't have pilot credentials or can't be sweet-talked into being allowed as crew and few more dollars to pay. Crew = has a pilots license or other credentials associated with the aircraft that may or may not be checked (repairman's certificate?). Muddy waters on official island business can sometimes be used to your advantage.

We belly up to the "Secure" area for outbound customs and immigration, again with a little more confusion on the part of the officials. The magic words are "Private Flight" as we're basically in the main passenger terminal where some are trying to herd us through the normal lines. "No, private flight, here are our GenDocs." I think it was two more GenDocs out. Then to baggage screening. We're talking about the fact that we're in the normal passenger screening line with "unusual" stuff in our bags such as many bottles of water...

At the baggage screening they wanted to see our ipads but not laptops. Shoes off (are you kidding me). "Uh, ma'am, what is all this liquid!" "Yes sir, Private Flight. I am the captain of a small aircraft preparing to depart over the ocean, as are all of these people behind me, and we must have these required provisions onboard.... Private Flight." "Oh, yes ma'am, (smiles all around from the officials), I just had to ask. No problem. You can all pass right on through." Out the back Jack! Next hurdle, the ticket agents guarding the doors to the ramp... Walking quickly now that security isn't on our tail, "Private Flight", pointing to the doors to the ramp. Guards frowns turned into smiles as they realized that they weren't being approached by lost passengers, and the final exit doors swung open to the ramp. Everybody just keep walking... as someone else on the ramp just outside the door began asking more questions. Nope, just keep walking toward the collection of "cute little airplanes on the ramp". We had collected attention of all kinds of people on the ramp both coming and going. All friendly. When we arrived, Tanya was chatting up two airline crew that came to check out the cool little airplanes. She even got the email address of one, who later helped provide advanced perfect clarity on the process to get out. And we're clear of Antigua!

Hang in there. We're headed to Dominica! Once again ATC "control" the whole way, minor PITA. If you're not comfortable in and out of a C or B or IFR in the states, this might very well exceed your comfort level or capability...

Land Dominica at Canefield. Small airport with no real commercial traffic. Tie down and walk into "customs". One very nice guy greets you at the door of the little building with a smile. We handed him one GenDec and $3/airplane. Immediately walked into a small office and handed another guy a GenDec. Smiles all around and the taxi was waiting for us. This one takes the Easy Cake hands down! I write this by the pool on Dominica. The dive boat just returned. I expect that customs out will be just as easy, probably with a trip up to the Canefield control tower to file flight plans and fees and we'll be on our way.



https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...s/6140608207600592321?authkey=CObcrp_GpuLJswE

Very detailed, thanks Scott.

Refueling Experiences?

Good report, Thanks, Scott.

I've already seen some of the fuel prices there by looking at AirNav and other sources. Not too surprising, but I'm wondering if you guys have any concerns about the quality of the 100LL. I'm sure you're checking your fuel sumps each time for water, contamination and blue (?) color. (100LL is blue in other countries, or is it?)

Anyway, do you have any stories to tell about refueling out in the boondocks? Rosie has already posted something about a fuel run to Martinique but he left us hanging by not completing this sentence: "Got spanked by both the tower in the air and" over one of his photos.

So we're all waiting to hear his version of what happened. So the different fuel burn rates drive some of the refuel location decisions. Same as here in the states, but you guys have fewer choices.

Enjoy your vacation! We are enjoying your photos and narratives.

All of the fuel seems to be just fine. It is sometimes far between available fuel, such that they pump quite a lot of it where it is available. Yes, we sump many times before firing for a leg, and I ALWAYS watch every last drop enter the tank. I've yet to find any water or other particulate in the Blue fuel.

Yeah, Rosie "messed up" and got his lashings real good from the Martinique controllers AND the cops that met him on the ground for "dangerous maneuvers", by not contacting the departure controller outbound that he didn't know he was supposed to contact.

Just one person somehow showed up with a fuel state that made him nervous for the return, so Rosie escorted him to nearest fuel ahead of time at great expense. That is all I have to say about that...

We had an amazing last 4hrs touring / swimming some of the falls up in the rain forest. Simply amazing. Gotta' run for dinner plans again.

The last night on Dominica is in the books. After 11pm getting back to the room from a 3hr dinner. Island time you know. Packing, flight plans, double checking strategy for getting out with all wingmen intact, getting fuel at Anguilla, and over night in Puerto Plata Dominican Republic tomorrow. Taxi leaving 8:15am for a long day ahead.

I'm leaving behind our "jump start" battery for Rosie as his Denso (da' electronics not so operational) is dead again.

Good night from Dominica as I listen to the waves crashing on the rocks only 30' below our balcony door for one more night. Tomorrow starts the multi-day "RV race" for home.

Home? You guys just got started.

zilik said:

Home? You guys just got started.

Click to expand...

Apparently they only paid for the 5 minute argument, not the full half hour...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

APRS tracking again!

Congratulations, Scott, the APRS iGates in the Dominican Republic started tracking you again today. I am surprised that there apparently aren't any iGates operating in Puerto Rico.

Everyone** landed safely this evening at Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic) after departing from Dominica this morning. Scoot will check in when he can Rosie

**Scoot/Cookie, Shiner/Diddy, Scott Loftin, Moody Blue/Bun, Nordo/Diane, Taco/Belle

Yes, it was another day of flying adventure! Our six ship is all safe in Puerto Plata DR. The morning started off with moving a bunch of airplanes on the grass/ramp at Dominica. I even orchestrated the movement of Rosie's airplane multiple times without him present. Oh, the horror . Rosie, I hope you found your airplane somewhere on the airfield.

Once we got our airplane, and a couple others out from behind the ditch, we were off. Easy flight. We got a formation departure out of Dominica after Tanya explained to the tower controller what we wanted to do while paying fees and filing the flight plans for the flight.

We approached Anguilla and had planned on going around the West side of some airspace, but the controller had another idea around the East side. Ok, no problem, right 90deg turn. Anguilla tower was super easy and we were met on the ramp by handlers pre-arranged by Cookie (aka Flight Lead, aka La Hefa tonight) many weeks ago. They were great. They met us at the plane on the small ramp with the fuel truck, Cookie had already e-mailed them our GenDecs some time ago and they were already stamped when we got there! They put us in a nice A/C truck for the 50' ride across the ramp and shuffled us in a back door to bypass all airport operations (security, customs, etc...) to go to the bathroom. They took our flight plans at the airplane and went in and faxed them to the tower. Pay for fuel and departed in formation 2+1. Excellent fuel stop. Sound familiar Rosie? Yes, we're going to go see Jermain tomorrow at Exuma. Ooh, Top this, after we paid for fuel, we all got a small bottle of Rum just before launching! Wow, nice touch. A gift from the Anguilla handlers.

Anguilla for fuel to Puerta Plata, we were much enjoying talking to San Juan Puerto Rico American controllers at 10.5k', but were praying that the impossible lady at Santo Domingo Informacion was off today... No luck. Apparently all VFR traffic gets funneled through this torture chamber controller between Puerta Plata and Punta Cana. The flight behind us actually failed so horribly that they got the pity of an interpreter from above that was translating for them. I called Cheating! Anyway, we survived it yet again and have written down notes on how to traverse this "impossible zone" successfully. I almost want to back-track to Punta Cana tomorrow just to test out all of our new wisdom . Nah, maybe we'll save that for another year. We're "experts" though now.

Another formation landing at Puerto Plata with good instructions from the tower on where to park. Just as advertised, Jose met us at the airplane and was our savior! He was a full handler and liaison to all operations and was a very fun guy that has been here all his life. He arranged parking, fuel, taxi (the ShagWagon!!!), customs (told the customs guy what to do and how to do it, "No, no passengers, only pilots and crew!"), security (checked one bag out of all 11 people, then waved everything through), AND held our hand to the A.I.S office to file flight plans for tomorrow. His boss will be waiting for us curb side tomorrow when we arrive since he arranged for the "ShagWagon" driver to call ahead as we arrive... Jose says all we have to do tomorrow is show up and depart. All simply amazing. Jose is your guy at Puerto Plata (tip very well!).

Alina had the tall 40s flowing in the hands of many of us for the party ride to the hotel, Blue Jack Tar. I gotta' say, there is something very weird about this hotel. I can't quite put my finger on it and would probably choose not to come back. It took Cookie almost 20min to get a hand written receipt for paying for the room when all of the booking stuff was running Windows8 at their POS terminal? The rooms are like little multi-plexes that are pretty weird. There are almost no other guests in sight anywhere. The pool was completely abandoned at 6:15pm when we arrived. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone and don't know what to expect next .

There you have it. A good tiring day. Cookie is sitting here doing flight planning and paperwork for tomorrow's run to the US entry, hopefully at Fort Pierce FL. I guess I should look at weather as opposed to writing this. We're looking forward to getting back to US flight operations.

There are some great pictures, but wifi is too slow at Puerto Plata to even mess with this evening.

Scoot

Just made it home safe. The travels back to the US delivered our first real major sucky mechanical issues, induced by once in a lifetime rain in Exuma. We've been traveling and 'operating' non-stop since my last post with no time to update. Eat, sleep, travel, deal with whatever comes along. I'll try to get Tanya to help catch up the story this week.

These trips are NOT a "vacation". They are a huge ADVENTURE. You can plan a vacation all you want, but ADVENTURE just happens!!!! You can't plan it or make it up. Go, Do, Fly, Live. I'm ready for the next adventure (after some sleep, airplane adjustments, and cash replenishment).

More to come this week as we look at pictures and document some of the things we've learned.

We followed your APRS tracks from Albany across the southern states all the way into Texas. Saw that you made it home safe and breathed a sigh of relief. I just saw a weather report and would say you two made it home just in time. Looking forward to hearing the "Adventure Report."

Thanks for the adventure report Scott I was following you. Please tell what kind of technical challenge you had.

The morning of leaving Puerto Plata DR, the ‘shagwagon’ showed back up at the resort to take us back to the airport. As promised, Jose’s boss was there to greet us curbside. He very easily escorted us through the airport for one last personal stop then to the airplanes. Taxi out with a formation takeoff and away we went, northbound. Our flight of three had Shiner and Scott Loftin (Glassair) as wingmen.

As we were climbing out northbound over the water on our way to Exuma for fuel, Scott L. began talking about a red gear indication that he had on the runway during takeoff. He thought he was on company but was transmitting on Puerto Plata tower. That was a mess. They began going into minor emergency mode and really wanted him to return. We pressed on after a visual inspection that all gear were up and stowed properly. We spent the next hour or so briefing all of the contingencies on the other side. He had a hydraulic down pump failure of some sort. Technically he had enough fuel to make it all the way back to the US!

Scott ended up doing a manual gear extension at Exuma with three greens. Believe it or not, the excitement had only just begun. There was a rain shower over the airport. This wasn’t just one of the normal popup showers that puts down some wet stuff then moves on. The rain lasted all day long. Most of the locals had never seen such a thing. I’ll just say that the approach to the runway in the rain peaked the ‘exciting’ meter at 11.

We got all three airplanes down and on the ramp in the pouring rain. After shutdown, we hung out in the cockpit for a few minutes expecting the shower to pass. It didn't, so we made a run for cover. This was supposed to just be a quick fuel stop. The rain eased just enough for us to go out and fuel the airplanes under an umbrella. Scott L. made the decision that he would not attempt another gear cycle on the leg back to the US, so that meant he would be doing 120kts (indicated) all the way. We decided that Tanya and I would escort Scott back as a flight of two up at 12.5k’ for best true at that speed and send Shiner back with the other flight.

During a momentary break in the rain, we went out and fired up our two ship for departure. Note the airplanes had been sitting out in this driving rain for some time. Upon start I noticed that my main alternator (B&C) wasn't making power. No problem, I have a second one that can carry all load that we’ll fly on (B&C SD20). So we launched. About two miles from the field, the secondary field circuit breaker popped. 2/2 alternators not working now and we did an immediate return to the field. By the time we shut back down on the ramp, I could imagine only one way that we lose both of these alternators in similar symptoms and circumstances… Their voltage regulators are symmetrically mounted on the bulkhead in relation to the left and right tipup canopy hinges.

I dove in and found a bit of moisture on the bottom of each of the regulators. There are no services or hangars out there on the ramp. No way to get out of this next round of rain that is now pouring. After two more iterations of working on removing the main VR in between showers, I had it out by about 5:30pm. It rained hard all day and I just wanted to get this thing dried out. Clearly we were going to be here another day. Scott Loftin launched with the other flight and Shiner and Taco opted to stay behind with us. Good wingmen for which I’m very grateful.

While I was working out the mechanical plan, Shiner found us lodging and transportation for the evening. This was no small feat as there was a regatta that had the entire island completely booked. People were talking about the best we could do would probably be sleeping on the floor in the FBO office. He ended up finding us a very expensive, nice, two bedroom villa for the three couples. Tanya and I took the couch. It was an amazing place to stay. Definitely not roughing it during a time of chaos. We could go back there.

Taco was evaluating the parts that we could steal from his airplane the following day if I didn't get things worked out. He has the exact same set of alternators and voltage regulators in his dual split buss electrical system. At the villa, I immediately set the VR up in the bathroom with a hair dryer on it all night. Absolutely everything we owned was completely soaking wet by the time we left the airport that evening. (Hey Rosie, you know that map we all signed on Dominica? Ours has some serious extra ‘character’.) Before dinner, I reviewed the B&C wiring diagram and debugging steps. All very straight forward. Tanya worked out the changes necessary for customs, flight plans, eapis, etc.

The next day we departed for the airport at 7am and I immediately got to work reinstalling the VR and stepping through the debugging. While I was doing that, Taco was preparing to strip his secondary charging system of any parts needed and Tanya was preparing the US side revisions. I got the dried out VR reinstalled in a jiffy and stepped through the verification steps with a volt meter. I fired up the airplane and sure enough, it worked fine.

We thought we would be working on this most of the afternoon so Tanya had filed for much later at customs in the US. They gave her some grief for significantly upping our scheduled time, but that just rolled off as nuttin’ as we were excited to be preparing to launch for home. Oh yeah, of course it is beautiful blue skies now on the ramp in Exuma although hot and 90% humidity. Our three ship launched with Taco in the lead. I departed with only one comm radio on until the battery was fully recharged, then slowly started bringing up the rest of the panel. We briefed all kinds of contingencies for another failure over the water. The flight to Fort Pierce FL was completely uneventful and the main alternator was fine the whole way. I left the still failed secondary off.

I plan on relocating the voltage regulators and revising the tipup canopy sealing, particularly at the hinges. We've been flying this thing for eight years and 1500hrs in a lot of rain. Sitting on the ground uncovered in that monstrous downpour was the deal breaker.

Whew, back on US soil. Customs at Ft. Pierce was totally easy as usual. We got a burger at the Tiki restaurant and launched our three ship hoping to make Tuscaloosa. That just wasn't to be. We put down at Albany, GA just ahead of a big storm. We were delighted to be offered hangar space and the crew van. As we left the airport on the way to the hotel, tornado sirens were going off in downtown Albany. Nice. It rained sideways for a while. We were still working on creative ways to dry out our shoes and clothes.

The following morning we launched our three ship for one final leg to a Mississippi fuel stop at low level for head winds. From there, we departed the flight to head to San Antonio to pick up Watson from ?Grandma camp? and make the 25min run back north to Austin.

There are so many stories to tell and little adventures to recount every step along the way. We gained new valuable experiences yet again and had a TON of fun with our old and new RV friends (for all but about 24 hrs in Exuma). The concepts for the next adventure in 2017 are already being formed. If this sounds like your kind of thing, save your pennies and make sure you ping Rosie earlier rather than later.

Why is he going to San Antonio?

I was tracking you yesterday afternoon and was very confused as to why you were headed to San Antonio. Cheaper fuel? Shooting IFR approaches?

Never considered you were picking up the pet.

charger81 said:

I was tracking you yesterday afternoon and was very confused as to why you were headed to San Antonio. Cheaper fuel? Shooting IFR approaches?

Never considered you were picking up the pet.

Click to expand...

Yep. Any big trip starts with delivering Watson to San Antonio and ends with picking him up. He is 15yrs old and doesn't much like the late afternoon bumps home, but he is a trooper.

We did file IFR from Lufkin to SA. We flew the MARCS9 arrival and I even got a bit of actual.

The quick rough estimate around the dinner table this evening is about $6k total, door to door.

scard said:

The quick rough estimate around the dinner table this evening is about $6k total, door to door.

Click to expand...

Wow! With all the places you all went there is no way you could have paid for the airlines alone for that price!

And it sounds like that last hotel may have been the lion share

By the way, I Was watching the race home between you and Tanya Vs. Vlad on Sunday. You guys would have won if you didnt have to pickup Watson

At one point Vlad won the high altitude portion at 17,500' while Tanya was down low at 1200'.

Thanks for the posts, fun to follow along.

Well, I think I finally got all of the pictures off of the various devices. Three separate cameras kinda' generated a mess, but for now, here they are. On to the next adventure...

(see the captions on many of the images)
https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...s/6142901981541173217?authkey=CMvR0-PJpdrx8AE

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...ms/6139997264966679425?authkey=CLXy8KDvnpGJAg

https://plus.google.com/photos/100499760963951648786/albums/6140541759136522753

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...ms/6142850116022547569?authkey=CPCli9Hxy_7GfA

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...s/6140608207600592321?authkey=CObcrp_GpuLJswE

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...ms/6142824482512465121?authkey=CKP6h4ihwe_APg

https://plus.google.com/photos/1004...ms/6142822959398656033?authkey=CLbH4b7n74KiOg

Excellent Photos!

Thanks, Scott.

I can just see a DILBERT comic strip...something to the effect of:

"Managers and Supervisors all across the country noticed productivity dropped for a few days in April when workers seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on their computers."

Amazing Trip and Pictures. Thanks for sharing!