I have nothing set in stone, but I’ve been talking to a few other people here about doing a big POA Bahama’s trip sometime next year, probably to the Exumas or Eleuthera. The idea is to rent a big house for a week as a “home base”, and maybe fly out to a few different islands over the week. Anyone interested? Here's a spreadsheet to get a rough count going. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/158WMfBP9ReRYhoynJyF3W0-N3YgHaTGEphpDsFVDgHc/edit?usp=sharing
I'd even swing by and pick @eman1200 up, since you know if he thinks Oshkosh or Gaston's is too far, Bahamas is right out.
I probably wouldn't join, but having done that trip (from Chicago), I can recommend it. Some of the most beautiful flying you could ever hope to do. And tons of it is over water so shallow that if you have an engine out you just belly in, grab a lawn chair out of the back and chill out in knee deep water having a beer waiting for help to arrive.
@kaiser @eman1200 what month/dates work best? I think @RDUPilot and his wife, and @N4984R are in, too
I’m not sure what months in general are good/bad due to weather/hurricanes/etc. I think @k9medic could prob steer us away from certain time frames. Also April is prob bad due to rough river. Other than that I simply don’t know lol.
Also, if @German guy and @Skywalker ever grace us with their presence again, they’d probably have some good input, although it’d be in german so it might not make any sense to us.
I’m not saying it can’t be done or is illegal or anything, I’m just saying you typically start losing people when trips are scheduled close to each other. Not always but often.
Wife and I are most likely in!! [mention]ktup-flyer [/mention] is correct, my daughter and I flew over to the Bahamas mid-april. We came home the weekend prior to Rough River. Flew through Ft Pierce on both outbound and inbound legs Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I always figured a Bahamas trip would be a late-winter/spring trip. That's right around the time I'm tired of being cold and want warm weather. As far as specific months, January is typically bad for me; March & April are ok but doable.
The Admiral and I would be in depending on the dates.. like @eman1200 says dont step on Rough River.. January to early April is good. May is malo for me. @ktup-flyer location: Eleuthra or Exuma is fine with me..
This sounds like a lot of fun. I doubt it would take much convincing to get my wife on board, if you guys are willing to put up with a forum “lurker”. We would be coming from the other direction. Puerto Rico.
Added a spreadsheet to the original post to try to get a good headcount. We'll probably have to get 2 houses if we're going to have this many people.
Here’s the Bahamas VFR flight planning chart. Maybe look through it and see if we can find a spot that works for everyone? https://www.banyanpilotshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/BMOT_VFR-Chart-2018.pdf
I’m interested. Long time goal to go and a group trip sounds better. Treasure Cay or Marsh Harbor sound great too (same island). Bluntly, would anyone be bringing kids? I have a 13 year old son that I doubt we’d leave back.
I’m 26, so I won’t be. I’m assuming most of the others won’t either, but do pilots ever really grow up?
We tried to do this a decade ago, at the end of the day I was the only one who went, though after getting there another PoAer happened to be there too. It was a good trip! We stayed in Freeport for a few days to do the touristy stuff, then went to Cape Santa Maria to chill on an amazing beach for a few days. The resort is still there, but the airstrip is not - you'd have to land at Stella Maris. FWIW, KFPR made a GREAT hop-off point. Reasonably priced raft rentals, Bahamas Gateway FBO (APP Jet Center) to help you with paperwork, and Customs was insanely fast. Unfortunately, next spring is probably not going to be a good time for me. I'll go again next time we do this in another decade.
