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Card's Grand Turk Trip 2013

scard

Well Known Member
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So as not to muck up Rosie's thread:
We launched from home this morning out of 40XS on a local IFR "to VFR on top". We had 500' solid overcast morning crud just in the local area. I made the telephone call to Austin approach while Tanya was on the ramp warming up the EFIS. Of course the oil was already warm via the new electric / timer sump heater :). We launched and were 'in it' by 400' and out the top at about 1000' to a beautiful morning on top for the next ten minutes.
I set the power for 145kts true at 7.5k' burning 6.5gph, and we were off to see the Horton, direct 600nm. The newbies at Austin approach didn't really want to let me loose until I could convince them that it really was "a beautiful morning on top." So here we sat for the next four hours. Eating peanuts and freeze dried fruits. Absolutely uneventful except for the amazement that I still get watching the machine work.
600nm is a pretty long leg for us. I used up most of what was in the right tank down to about 1.5gal, with about 8gal left in the left tank as we rolled out on the super smooth, guaranteed, grass runway at Wetumpka. Ahhhh, 22C lands on grass for the first time Ever! A milestone with no unknowns, because when Dan says it is perfect, "put it anywhere on the green stuff", it must be perfect, right? Yep.

(Scoot too pooped, TC picking up the story here...)

With the grass runway excitement under our belt, we taxied to Hortonville and promptly paid our homage of a bag of chocolate chip cookies and were allowed to deplane.

Off to lunch and a hole-in-the-wall diner that everyone and anyone should request when landing in Wetumpka. Best homemade burger I've had in a long time. Joel, a driver of a very nice RV-10, and his family joined us. Then to an hour of dancing with the locals and chatting airplanes. Never a bad day.

Next stop was the Horton recommended cheap fuel locale of Alexander City (ALX). The Horton with his super slick and fast RV8 allowed us to catch up after takeoff. Scott made the mistake of telling him that we could do 10-15 knots faster for the short trip. That was all it took to see the rocket ship take off ahead of us. His airspeed indicator must be calibrated differently than ours. :D Oh, and if you land at ALX, be sure to land short on 18 and long on 36. It has a serious downslope on 18.

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We were a little too early for spring in North Carolina, so the Smokey Mountains are still very brown and were covered in a thick haze. We finally landed in Asheville and made our way to the hotel.

We planned for dinner at a little place in downtown Asheville and then off for a beer or two with Bill. Well, the hour and a half wait was a little too much for us travelers and we opted for another of Bill's suggestions that didn't have a wait. A little Scottish-type pub with good beer (ooh, yeah!) and decent grub - Jack in the Woods. Bill joined us for a couple drinks until we were run out by management. They had a band for the evening, and when it was about time to start up, the waitress 'reminded' us there was a cover charge after we ordered another round. Huh? Never heard of being asked for a cover AFTER eating dinner and drinking a few brews at a pub long before the cover-charge time was reached. So, we asked for the check and proceeded to finish our round. Well, it apparently wasn't fast enough - the manager then came around to remind us of the cover charge. Ask all you want, from where I come from, you're going to have to kick me out :). Yeah, not really, but I ain't paying your $7 per person 'cover charge' on my dinner.

The sun had been down for a while, and our traveling tootsies were too pooped to pop, so we called it an evening and headed for the hotel to see what happened on VAF today. It is kinda' funny, after you've been traveling all day, you're informed of the VAF conversations that you haven't seen yet, about your travels over dinner at your destination. Off to the Biltmore tomorrow.

Got Pictures!
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Hey! Had a blast meeting you guys. Looking forward to hearing about more of your trip as it unfolds.
 
Scott and Tanya, thanks for sharing your trip with us. Hope you enjoy the Biltmore. We found it amazing that someone (Mr. Vanderbilt) could build that place where he did and when he did. :)
Looking forward to your next report. :D
 
Biltmore...been there, done that...and it's GREAT!!!!!
Two words: Butler's Tour!
Have a great time you two and see you soon! Rosie
 
It was fun meeting Scott and Tanya yesterday. I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

It is true that my favorite restaurant (Tupelo Honey in downtown) is sometimes hard to get into. No reservations. Its OK, there is always a backup with all the local restaurants available.

It is also true that the band cover charge is a bit annoying after dinner at the Jack of the Wood. We finished our Green Man Porters and made an exit.

Since someone mentioned chocolate, there are a number of chocolatiers in Asheville. All within walking distance of the downtown parking deck.
 
Did Someone Mention Chocolate?

With that little nugget, it seems there are two chocolate shops within about 2 blocks of our planned attempt to go back to Honey Tupelo tonight. We're hoping Sunday won't be nearly as busy. It's a good thing I have the keys to the car!

Bill, it was great to meet you in person and thanks for the fun conversation.

Off to the Biltmore. By the way, the FBO is now selling tickets at a $10 discount. No lines for tickets, and I'll be happy to put that $20 in the gas tank instead.
 
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Got pictures off of the camera and added to the original post. No flying today.
 
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I am quite envious, Scott! I would love to be taking trips like you and Tanya. My build has been progressing quite slowly. :(

Looking forward to more pictures and the trip-report! :D
 
The French-Broad Chocolate Lounge is the place I've been. I couldn't imagine having a choice after experiencing that place.
 
Ice Cream

I don't know if Rosie has had his requisite vacation ice cream for today, but I've had mine while sitting in a comfy chair surveying acres of pasture at the Biltmore. In case you don't know, he brainwashed me with the idea that it just isn't a vacation or trip worth having if there isn't ice cream. (Yes, master, I will comply.)

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Turks Day -2

After some morning munchies, we made our way to the highly-anticipated Biltmore. The house and grounds were nice, but we were either expecting too much based on all the hoopla or we were here at the wrong time.

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We strolled through the house, planned gardens, manicured lawns, greenhouses, and several of the paths. We also toured the Antler Hill Village. Unfortunately, our highlights were lunch at the Stable Caf? and a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a view. Guess we in the minority for this tourist attraction.

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Our second attempt at Honey Tupelo panned out, and dinner was quite tasty. After a slight stroll through Downtown, we stopped for the recommended chocolate. Caramel, cashew, and milk chocolate. Well worth the evil eye coming from my walking partner.

Tomorrow is the final push for south Florida to meet up with the over-water crew. Looks like it will be an IFR departure from Asheville with marginal VFR forecast. Sure is nice to not have to choose between scud running down an unfamiliar valley or having to explain to Rosie that our detour caused us to be late.

More pictures from Day 2, starting at photo 32, but none from the main house as photographs are not permitted inside.
 
You kind of have to take one of the tours (like the Butler's Tour) to get the inside story on each of the rooms, the history, etc. Makes it much more meaningful. Like seeing Napoleon's actual chess set in the Library. Hard to pick out some of that stuff without a tour. I think just the fact that a place like that was built back in the early 1900's is amazing.

Enjoying your and Rosie's travelogue, wishing I was going too.
 
Congratulations to Scott and Tanya! Looks like they got to Homestead about an hour before the Rosales(es) [Anybody know what the plural of Rosales is?] :confused:

But, Rosie and Tuppergal made a stop (probably for lunch) in Key West! :eek:

What amazing machines you guys and gals have! :D

Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable trip! :)
 
All are accounted for in Homestead. We launched out of Asheville NC this morning on an IFR flight plan direct to Williston FL for fuel and a quick sandwich. Good fuel stop. We got a number of funny re-routes along the way, but just rolled with the punches as it was so much easier than dodging clouds and actually having to think :).

The island flight briefing is now complete with all involved. Too pooped to be creative. This pretty much concludes my PIC time for a while. I have been doing all of the flying up to this point. I now hand the keys over to Tanya for all international operations (she is flight lead for our flight). More pictures from today in Rosie's thread and my other links above.
 
5:30am wakeup call this morning. 6:30 rolling toward the airport... eeerrrrrrr...
 
Island time

Greetings from Grand Turk!

We all got breakfast this morning at 6am. The vans started rolling at 6:30am sharp. Luckily I was in possession of one of the keys. We proved, accidentally, that 6:30 means 6:30, NOT 6:32am! Another driver left two of his peeps and we picked up the slack with retrieval. At the airport as the sun was coming up was great. Everybody taking care of last minute business and donning their flotation devices for the obligatory picture.

We launched four separate flights at approximately ten minute intervals. Almost immediately off of Homestead, you enter the AFB class D. So, in a very short span, you?re collecting up your wingmen, contacting the class D controller to ask to fly through his airspace, talking to flight service to open each flight plan? You get the picture, this takes six hands and eight radios to accomplish all within about the first 45 seconds.

We did a nice easy climb up to 9500? for the cruise across the ADIZ out to sea. Next land would be Andros Island. We managed the flight and ourselves successfully. Here we noticed a bag of chips that had expanded. As we got closer to Exuma, there were cumulus buildups and a pretty solid layer formed at around 10000?. Up to 11.5k? we went. Easy cheesy. As this goes, yep, later on down the road, about 150mi from Provo, our first stop, we got pushed up further to 13.5k? for a little while. No big deal, these were just buildups and not huge towering thunder boomers. Chugging along, not real exciting. POP! From the baggage compartment. Not something that you usually prefer to hear at 13.5 over the ocean. Tanya and I looked at each other and immediately smiled as the smell of Harvest Chedder Sun Chips filled the cockpit. Yup, we?ve done that many times before too.

Out of 13.5k? we start down toward Provo, contact approach, make miles of spacing in extended trail (don?t ask) for the arrival. We all landed in Provo and were greeted with the red carpet treatment. Amazing!

The Provo Air Center had all of our paperwork completed, ready for signature. They whisked us through customs, added go-juice to our airplanes, and had us out the door in what we?ve been told is record time. Alpha and Bravo flights launched, albeit very slowly because they had to wait even if landing traffic was 10 miles out. We knew we could launch a fight of 15 with a plane on 10-mile final, but the controller didn?t quite have that same confidence that even one airplane could get off the ground.

As Charlie flight, we waited until they had all launched before firing up due to the long delay. After about 15 minutes of waiting with engines running, we learned we also had to wait for Alpha and Bravo flights to be handed off for arrival at Grand Turk, about 65 miles away. Needless to say, that was frustrating. We were finally off the ground about 5 minutes later with oil temps and CHTs on the high side. The wait on the ground caused our wingman?s alternator to blow a circuit breaker. We stayed on his wing, handled all the radio communication for both of us until about 10 miles out, and made sure he had wheels on the ground first. The alternator came back to life after cooling off, but it isn?t always that easy. Exactly why we fly in teams.

All four flights were marshaled off the runway and parked off to the side. Time to grab the tie down stakes and BAH (Big, um?Armed ? yeah, that?s it, Hammer) to get them pounded in to the coral ground. No room here for wimpy stakes. We all piled into two large vans for the short one-mile trip to the hotel. It took all of 5 minutes for the instigator of the trip to make his way into the pool. That was all the suggestion we needed, and into the water we went.

A good part of our crew made their way to the beverage establishment by the pool overlooking the ocean and relived the excitement. After a short briefing with the dive organizer for the next day, it was time to find dinner and rest up for tomorrow.

Bed time. Let the adventure begin! (oh, it already has.)

Data service here almost works but is impossibly slow so I?ll just provide a link to a few low res pictures.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100499...&authkey=Gv1sRgCPzN-ZmztaDGBg&feat=directlink

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SAH WEET!!!!! It makes it more interesting to watch this trip since we got to see you guys at Watumpka. I wanna go down there sometime. :p
 
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Robin and I can almost smell the salt air. We can't wait to get down there!

Let me know if you guys need me to ferry anything over. Like an alternator. We'll be departing NC on Friday (if the weather allows).

Greg
 
Wednesday

Somehow it seems that my update from last night disappeared after posting, so I'll try again.
I can't post all the pictures inline, so go see the album of about 40 images from Wed. if you care to: https://picasaweb.google.com/100499...&authkey=Gv1sRgCIS728eVrLedGg&feat=directlink

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Wednesday on the island is almost in the books. We woke up with the sun around 6:45am after a good night’s sleep. Any intermittent waking moments are greeted by the sound of the waves crashing against the shore about thirty-five feet away. Tanya ran over to a little store one block away for some eggs and made eggs and toast for breakfast. Ooh, it even came with my favorite, Coke. Mmmmm.

Island time has really slowed things down. Work is quiet. Yes, they can still get a hold of me. Plenty of sitting on the beach listening to the waves and enjoying the soft island breeze. Around 9am I caught some pictures from the beach of the morning dive group going out. The dive site was within distant sight of the hotel at a couple of miles up the shore and about one mile offshore. The site is where the shelf drops off into the deep blue. Pretty cool stuff.

Lunch was leftovers warmed up in the microwave from last night’s dinner. Lobster mac-n-cheese and curry beef. Both very good. We sauntered the 50 paces over to the dive shop to get setup with some fins and wet suits for out scuba dive at 1pm. This is a massive difference in dive shop experience compared to Exuma a couple of years ago. It is full service here at Blue Water Diving. Mitch looked at Tanya and I and instantly handed each of us fins and a wet suit. “Hi how are you guys doing today.” Great! “Here, try these on.” Perfect fit. “Excellent, we’ll put those in this bag and they’ll be ready. You’re BC, tanks, and regulators will be assembled and on the boat when you get there.” Wow. Sure enough, the dive boat pulled up on the beach right outside our room, we loaded up and off we went for the five minute boat ride to the dive site. Of course, talking RVs with the dive masters all the way.

Our dive today was perfect for us (me). We had not been diving since Exuma two years ago. Tanya instantly lost her snorkel upon entry, but it was only about 35’ deep there with perfect visibility, so it was easily retrieved. The dive master picked it up and used the right orange top as a pointer for the dive. The super cool thing that we saw was a maybe teeny-tiny ghost pipefish. At least that is what we think it was. Tanya and I were consistently tracking with the same air usage during the first half of the dive. Then she got the shivers (with a full wet suit) and started blowing through air. Amazingly she came up with 500 and I 1k psi. All fun. Sorry, I’m still not a diving junkie like the guy sitting across the table from me right now (Rosie).

Back on shore, we were dropped off back at the same spot, spitting distance to our room. Still amazing ☺. We got a quick snack that we brought with us, triscuits and peanut butter. Yum, as most anything would be after a dive. So, what is the next plan. Beer! Four minute walk to the local store for a case of beer and coke. Major success in less than ten minutes. Can you tell how island time has affected the concept of time, space, and accomplishment?

The usual din was emanating from the pool area, so we made our way to the party with a cold beverage in hand. We told our dive lies and listened to the land-lubbers stories of the day. Then it was time for the mandatory group photo. We lined up on the beach and hoodwinked a newlywed couple into taking the picture for us. They did great. Scott realized the scene behind them and had them pose for what is sure to be a superb photo for their album.
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The night dive crew left about 7pm, and the rest of us cruised to the hotel restaurant for a tasty dinner off of a Weber grill and live music from the owner of our dive shop. Well, you know, it IS a small island. After downing another gallon of water among a few of us, apparently the ‘hard stuff’ was too much as a glass of water flowed across the table.

Back to the patio for some more visiting and to confirm that Rosie was all set with his picture uploads.

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Headed out for a night dive.
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First half of Friday

Friday picture album so far: https://picasaweb.google.com/100499...&authkey=Gv1sRgCKHwmYiThq_oZQ&feat=directlink

Friday is progressing nicely since it is now nap time. This morning Rosie, Keys, 0p1e, Shark Bait, and Jailbird departed for the airport around 7:45am. They were wheels up over the beach around 10 something. I hear that Rosie was doing his usual yapping with the tower folk, taking pictures. Tanya and I were on the 9am dive at the time. After getting back, we noticed that internet data throughput was actually very good. One of them must have been the culprit of all of the pain we’ve been suffering. Ok, maybe it was another guest that left at the same time (doubtful, you guys should check your stuff on the rest of your trip since I already noticed that Rosie’s laptop was trying to pull updates and killed that for the duration.) Hmmm, we should whip up a script for a OS mode for ‘users’ called ‘minimum bandwidth’ that kills all the silly network usage while on the road… Sigh, back to vacation.

We had a nice dive with the boat picking us up right out the back door on "our" beach. Tanya wore two wetsuits this time since she got so cold last time. It helped. I used some more weight this time, which also helped. As you might know my general w/b is all out of whack ☺.

After the dive and a quick recovery it was time to lounge on the beach a little before noon. First order of business, since Rosie is no longer here to … ok, I’ll say it, tell us what to do ☺, (We love you man!) was to figure out what the dinner plan was. Check. After Tanya noticed the opportunity, we found our victims for THE bottle of champagne. Quick quiz, how to you kill an old cheap bottle of champagne in the afternoon.. mimosas of course. This party is in full swing now on the beach. There is meaning here to be discovered at a distant date. I took the pleasure of making sure the bottom of the bottle had been appropriately emptied. Hey, somebody has to. All the while watching the next cruise ship come in for the day. It sounds like we have one cruise ship inbound each day until Sunday. Luckily they dock on the other end of the island. We don’t really feel the impact of those darn tourists ( ☺.) here, except for the tour busses passing by into town.

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Chilling in a chair watching the waves wash ashore on my second screwdriver ready to go find, or as I’ve learned from Rosie, generate some excitement. Oh, yeah, bikinis are GOOD!

The party continues on Grand Turk.
 
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OMG you guys are kill'n me........ "VAF Envy".... ;-)

Saddle up big boy :). I know of a few flight leads that are around to guide you. It is ok to just follow, that is what I do. Heck, I'm just here because I wanted to watch the machine I built in the garage operate. It seems that no place is too far for an RV.

As usual, a table for at least 10 in a couple of hours for dinner. Tomorrow, Dave and Randy are going to burn some precious fuel to fly some locals around the island.

It looks like Rosie and group made it to BVI via the Dominican Republic.
 
This is really great, enjoying every update. We are going to plan on going in April 2015. The kids will be 11 and 9 and much better swimmers. If you guys go again, then count us in. Unless Canucks are banned, Lol. It looks very relaxing. My wife has this as high on our bucket list as places to fly to.
 
Friday

As we close down Friday on Grand Turk, many of us are starting to realize that we?re either half way done, or half way there. We?ve assimilated three more unknown non-airplane people that arrived at the hotel today. Ralph is from Germany and working on his advanced open water cert, the same as Rosie just completed. We dove with him today. Also, diving buddies from Salt Lake city, sorry, names escape me at this time. After lunch we spent a few hours chilling around the pool, telling stories, mowing on the five gallon bucket of Nuts that Rosie left behind that I was put in charge of. The Nuts have been passed on to Taco for care and distribution. Wow, he, Randy, and Gene are planning on flying 7 locals tomorrow, including ALL of the dive masters at the dive shop!! Amazing if they can pull all that off.

Just before the 6:30pm cab ride to the north end of the island for dinner, I perfectly executed an 18 minute power nap. It was a thing of beauty since dinner took almost four hours and required my other buddy Ben and his friends. Dinner was very good. Our new friends joined us to fill out the table without missing the departing crew at all. All of the animals run pretty much wild on this island. Horses, donkeys, cows, dogs, and cats are all over the place. Some are owned but many are simply wild. Each pack of dogs has their territory which they do seem to protect as expected. Within their territory, they are very domesticated. I?ve yet to see an animal that made me think twice about its state or intentions, although they are clearly not taken care of like Watson.

Here are a few from this afternoon/evening. Go see the rest of the album for more.

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Actually, Four Words

Mookie Pookie Pizza Palace was delivered at 7:05 to a hungry group of aviators. The party was assembled by the new flight lead, which started the brief promptly at 6:30 and finished the debrief at 11:30. The Vougas are in, and Greg helped carry the party to its close. I call that five hours of pure fun around the pool.

Pictures to come tomorrow - I can't keep up with Rosie's 0130 bedtime.

Thank you for continuing the 'Mookie Pookie Pizza' Tradition Tanya! We missed you all the day we left! Rosie & Gang
 
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Saturday

We began another relaxing day listening to the waves lap on the beach and the wind blow through the palm trees. The rustle of the leaves always makes me think it is raining outside, but the sky is clear blue with just a few dotted white puffs.

We took a stroll along the beach toward the airport. About half way there, Dave flew overhead with a passenger on board. We waved, he gave us a wing wag back, and then rolled as he went by. There is now a new reason to not paint your airplane. The turquoise waters reflected perfectly off of the aluminum underside and lit up the wings.

As we approached the airport, the elusive Vougas finally arrived. We watched them cross the coastline and gave them a wave as well, but Greg was a little to busy on short final to give a wing wag back. Rounding a point on the beach, we climbed up a small dune and had a clear view of the airport, including our herd of RVs parked on the grass. With that trip accomplished, it was time to stroll back to the hotel.

The Vougas have arrived!
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The morning divers returned from their blue water adventures as we returned as well as Greg and Robin. Since lunch was calling, we mosied over to the hotel’s restaurant with a few of the crew and proceeded to laugh around the table. The appropriate purchase was made, and ice cream was consumed. Remember one of the ‘Rosie Rules’, the trip or vacation isn’t worth having if there isn’t ice cream.

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Dave, Gene, and Randy headed back to the airport with a few of our divemasters to give them rides. Several of us were waiting for them as they cruised down the beach for a couple formation passes. They had quite an audience as they passed over, including several of the folks that keep meeting all of our requests at the hotel.

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There are a few vets from Canada that are down here to provide a free spay and neuter clinic. One of them was on the beach with a couple of ‘potcake’ puppies. Potcake is the name given to the dogs on the island. It was a must do to stop and give them a few pats on the head. The puppies were of course rambunctious in the sand, but I expect they will grow up to be pretty mellow like all the other dogs we’ve encountered on the island. Apparently, there is a program in which folks flying back to the states take the dogs with them to help get them adopted. Either a rescue has agreed to take them or folks that have said they will adopt one. We talked a little about the logistics of getting the dogs from the main commercial airports to their final destinations. Can anyone say Pilots N Paws? They were certainly interested to hear about that resource. Maybe some day a VAFer will fly a potcake to their final home.
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Mookie Pookie Pizza Palace was on the agenda for dinner. We chatted with the front desk about the process to get some delivered and were asked when we were planning on eating – this was at 3pm. We answered about 6:30 and they hurried us into the office to place the order. Seems we need to give them a little warning.

With some more of the afternoon to enjoy, we grabbed our snorkel gear and plopped in the ocean for another swim. There is some coral and seagrass out from the hotel that provides some pretty good snorkeling for being so close to shore. We floated along, gotta love the buoyancy of salt water, and enjoyed some colorful fish and a sea snake. Ah, let’s not hang around here too long.

After a shower, it was time to start the pizza party at the pool. The usual story telling and laugher ensued, including a party trick by Greg gone bad, until 11:30 when it was finally time to call it a night.

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The full picture album here.

For Sunday, we're renting a golf cart to cruise the whole island for the day.
 
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Sunday...

Sunday seems to have exceeded our capability to get a post up today. Party still going around the pool at 1am with the continuous wave crashing sounds only 15 feet away. Cards, Buonos, 1 Vouga, and Ralph left with plenty of alcohol remnants on the table. Pictures are uploaded but the text has only been outlined so far. Maybe in the morning. Twas as tremendous day that covered the whole island. We'll surely cover it tomorrow which is a down day prior to departure.
 
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Boy, does it all look like a ton of fun! Thanks for sending a little island time back to us all (same to Rosie!!)

Toss Deuce the bottle of sunscreen, eh! :D

And say hi to Taco...been too long since Reno!

Glad you guys are having so much fun...and ice cream too! :D

Cheers,
Bob
 
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

Another day dawned as the sun came up at 6am. With the internet access poor to non-existent in the room and the post text ready the night before, a quick early morning trip to sit by the pool and use the connection there got the news up for the previous day.

Our golf cart date with the Buonos was scheduled for 10am, but it arrived on ‘island time’ instead. So, we took a few minutes to go across the street to see if we could convince our friends to take home a potcake. No commitments were made, but I think it will be discussed over the next few days. What cuties.

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We finally got the keys and were headed down the road about 11. We trundled through downtown and stopped near the government building. The Buonos have a tradition of taking pictures with Alina and cannons, so we stopped for a photo op. The golf cart quartet made its way through dirt roads, passed run down houses, around the curve to some gorgeous homes, burned out cars at the tip of north creek, more litter than expected, salt deposits along the inland waterway, and just general island sites. We took a peek at Corktree beach, the lighthouse, and the reef on the north side of the island that has taken out many a ship.

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Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed, or we would have climbed up to the top. Arriving about an hour before the cruise ship docked, we were there just a little too early.

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With our tummies grumbling, we motored down to the cruise ship center to grab some lunch. Again, still too early, so the restaurant wasn’t open yet. We plopped ourselves down on the fru-fru beach chairs all lined up on the beach and marveled at the giant ship gliding in to port. Kind of like not really believing a 777 can fly on what seems to be extremely undersized wings, it’s amazing that those ships that look so very top heavy don’t keel over into the sea.

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Lunch finally made its way into our bellies, and it was time to move on to the shops in downtown Cockburn Town. The locals seemed to like to tell fibs about if any of the items were locally made. When asked, one responded her brother made it. We asked his name, and she struggled to come up with it. Yeah, not really believing it was made locally, but Tanya bought a unique mug anyway.

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Shopping turned into a set of beers at the Bohio Club’s beach bar. Back to the hotel. The warm sand and sizzling sidewalks pushed us back into the water for another snorkel tour. Lady luck must have been in the water with us as we passed over an encrusted cannon in about 10 feet of water as we made our way out of the waves. We noted the spot on the beach where we came ashore just in case… Alina was sitting on the beach chatting with our newly adopted friend Ralph, and we informed her of our find. Immediately, she dashed to her room to get a mask and a waterproof camera. Back into the water the three of us went to find our bounty. Success! Another photo op completed.
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Our crew assembled for dinner and eventually moved to the pool to shut down Sunday evening and start Monday morning off with a bang. Ralph showed us his party trick to open beer bottles, but unlike Greg, there were no party fouls committed at his hands. We finally all dispersed at about 1am.
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One last morning to be lazy, and then it is time to start some serious flight planning this afternoon for the international flight home.

The day’s pictures here
 
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Monday and departure prep

Today was our last day on the island. We started with some breakfast in the room as we did every day. Yesterday we had finalized a plan for one of our top-secret primary objectives while on the island and this morning was execution time. That took an hour or so and we got the golf cart from yesterday returned just in the lick of time this morning. Late morning was spent around the pool chatting and doing picture stuff with others. By 11am six of us had hatched a plan to rent silly bicycles and bike the few minutes north to the Bohio resort for lunch and some beach time.

After lunch on the deck at Bohio, the Vougas and Bonos rented a paddleboard and a couple of sea kayaks to paddle around the local area. Tanya and I snorkeled. There were lots of fish and general sea life to see right off the beach. We all got a thrill tinkering with the paddleboard. We entertained ourselves for about three or four hours. I don?t know, I haven?t kept track of time for a week.

On the bike back, we split off with some stopping at the grocery store and others at the liquor store one last time. More beers and chatting around the pool late in the afternoon quickly morphed into the expected planning and preparation for the return trip tomorrow. While all the computers were humming and paperwork was flying, I explained to Ralph (our adopted German), who fit perfectly into our group, how on a long trip, once we past the halfway point of the day before, most RV pilots shift into a completely different mode of planning for the next objective. Weather, flight plans, general declarations, eapis, etc.

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Most of the group ate dinner at The Sand Bar overlooking the beach about 60 steps north of our location. It was pretty good, but the company was great. While walking over there, we met a couple that sailed their boat here from Italy and were looking for internet access. We stopped in the middle of the street and chatted for almost ten minutes.

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Back from dinner by about 9pm to pack and do final prep for the cab ride to the airport in the morning. We?ll meet at the pool at 7:30am. We don?t really expect to be airborne until maybe 10am. ?Island time? is for real around here. Nothing happens fast. We?re launching a four ship, led by Cards, #2 Wooton, #3 Taco, #4 Vougas. Bravo flight will be led by Duce with #2 Larsons. We?re headed direct to MYEF (Great Exuma) to clear customs and fuel. The Vougas will be continuing their vacation in Nassau while the rest of us launch for Fort Pierce. Tanya got everything all packed up while I write this. Off we go?

Monday album.

Dave's spot tracker: http://www.tinyurl.com/spotn517ad
 
On the road again...

Wow, they are cookin'.

Here's the data from their APRS track just now:


N4822C · center · zoom · info
2013-04-16 09:27:28
180 MPH 295° alt 14123 ft

The time shown is 09:27:28 CDT I believe.

I haven't posted a lot, but like a lot of other people, I have hit this thread and Rosie's thread several times a day during the last two weeks.

Thanks again, for letting us share in the adventure. :)
 
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The Texas Cards are back in the USA!

Looks like Scott and Tanya arrived back "feet dry" at Fort Pierce around 3:30 PM EDT today and are presently flying up the east coast approaching St. Augustine!

Examination of their APRS tracks indicates they made a low pass at the SLF!
Way to go! That must have been a thrill. We must see the photos soon! :)

We are looking forward to your next post. Glad you've had a good trip!
 
Looks like Scott and Tanya arrived back "feet dry" at Fort Pierce around 3:30 PM EDT today and are presently flying up the east coast approaching St. Augustine!

Examination of their APRS tracks indicates they made a low pass at the SLF!
Way to go! That must have been a thrill. We must see the photos soon! :)

We are looking forward to your next post. Glad you've had a good trip!

Thanks Don. You wouldn't believe the hours we spent on just putting together this story during our vacation. It is very nice to see that someone is getting some value out of the hard work.
We did indeed do a formation low pass over the landing facility. It was a hoot! There ARE some really cool pictures I think, and not just your normal hang the camera out the window and snap a shot. Multiple aircraft involved here :).
150kts true all the way home (meaning feet dry in the good ol' USA!) from Grand Turk today. We're exhausted and falling into bed in St. Augustine FL now. We'll launch in the morning, maybe IFR, intending to get home to Texas tomorrow. Maybe there will be a little time to write and look at some pictures in the morning.

Good night.
 
a BIG thank you!

Scard and Tcard - thanks much for the wonderful posts and pictures every day. Makes "flying the desk" a little more fun!

After you guys get home and settled we'll have to meet up at Hard Eight for some much anticipated BBQ :D
 
Thanks!

Thanks for taking us on a trip to the islands!!! Nice adventure, and the price was right!!!:D I know it takes work to do the posting.....we really appreciate the effort!
 
A BIG thank you!

Scott & Tanya,

I haven't said much either, but believe me, I'm hanging on every word and looking at ALL the pictures. This is a huge item on our bucket list, when I get the project finished and flying. Perhaps we'll be ready for the next big adventure. Thanks for all the hard work. There are lots of us enjoying it! :)
 
just heard them cleared into SAT.
I wonder if this is a deviation or if its planned.
 
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Looks like Scott and Tanya have landed at KSAT. APRS tracks were good today all the way from St. Augustine. Looks like they may have picked up an IFR clearance and then landed at KSAT. Curious about the once around holding pattern on the approach. :confused:

Winds at KEDC were reported as 140 at 12 gusting to 19 knots at the time they landed, but at KSAT they were 130 at 12.

My guess is the winds and ceiling (lower at KEDC) had something to do with it, but maybe not. Maybe they are picking up their dogs in San Antonio! :)

Either way, I'm sure it's good to be home...or almost home. :)
 
+1 on loving the stories and photos! Especially after having had the honor of meeting the two of you at OSH last year.
 
Now they're in the air again going toward Austin. Ahhh...home at last. :)

9:00 pm CDT update...looks like they did make it home a little before sunset. They have really covered some ground in the last two days. What fine travelling machines RV's are!
 
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Now they're in the air again going toward Austin. Ahhh...home at last. :)
Yeah, now, finally after a week, I'm not jealous of them anymore. It must be really painful for them to be going home after their great week! Must be worse than my Sunday afternoons with work looming on Monday! :cool:
 
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