Caribbean 2009

gprellwitz

gprellwitz

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Grant Prellwitz
We're planning to head down to the Caribbean again this year in November. We went to Hawk's Nest on Cat Island in the Bahamas a few years back, so we thought we'd try something different this year, and I'm looking for suggestions. I know that there are a bunch of threads already out there about flying to the Bahamas, and Ted's thread about the canceled Grenada trip, so we'll be reviewing those of course, as well as talking to Jim at Caribbean Flying Adventures and getting an updated copy of the Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot's Guide.

What I'm currently thinking of is leaving FL (Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Pierce, or West Palm Beach) with a first stop at Chub Cay. Overnight there, then head on down to Crooked Island for a couple nights. Then on over to Grand Turk.

I thought about extending on down to St. Barts and getting checked out there, but it would add about 10 hours, between the flight there and back and the checkout to fly in there, which includes 3 hours of instruction and a half hour of solo. A 2100' strip, with a 150' hill right at the approach end and a 3* down slope does demand some respect!

We're not looking for glitz and shopping, but rather relaxing places with good bars and food, with a beach in a short walking distance. (That's one of the reasons we probably won't be doing Stella Maris; the beach is about a 15 minute walk, although there's apparently a bar along the way!)

Has anyone tried Norman's Cay now that Macduff's has reopened with new owners? I note that they've changed their name from "Norman's Cay Beach Club" to "Norman's Cay Beach Club at Macduff's."

Another possibility would be to hit Cayman Brac on the way back. It would also involve flying over Cuba, which might be neat:)!
 
Have a great trip Grant. We always go to Green Turtle Club--short ferry ride from Treasure Cay. It's a get-away without a lot of activities except snorkeling, beach combing, etc. You can dive at a shop on property. They are offing some discounts now.

Best,

Dave
 
Very cool! Hope you guys enjoy yourselves!
Have fun!
 
This sounds like a great trip. I hope you and your wife have a good time.
 
Let us know how it goes. It's always fun to learn of new places to go.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Have a great trip Grant. We always go to Green Turtle Club--short ferry ride from Treasure Cay. It's a get-away without a lot of activities except snorkeling, beach combing, etc. You can dive at a shop on property. They are offing some discounts now.

Best,

Dave
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I'll second that!! Nice relaxing place to visit. You can also do some good fishing.
 
Hey Grant, Would love to hear a PIREP after the trip. Looking to do something similar in February. Safe travels!
 
Well, we're midway through the trip. We did the first night at Ft. Pierce, then jumped across to New Bight on Cat Island to clear customs. We were joioned at the last moment by a Piper Cherokee, so there are 5 planes. The helicopter was delaying because the student was going for his checkride this past weekend. Supposedly they left out on Sunday, but since everyone else is already heading back, I don't think that's going to work out too well for them. Plus the weather hasn't been the best so far. We were IFR into New Bight, and didn't break out until 3000', the minimum vectoring altitude for Miami out there.

Anyway, after we left New Bight, four of the five planes made the short jump over to Hawk's Nest, where we had a good time despite the dreary weather. One of the planes had the wrong identifier for Hawk's Nest and ended up in Staniel Cay instead. That was okay, though, since that was the intended destination after New Bight in any case.

Hawk's Nest was a nice stop, and we had it almost to ourselves. They opened for the season only two days before we arrived. A nice, quiet place that doesn't even lock the room doors. We watched them feed the sharks by the marina, and had some wonderful freshly caught Wahoo.

Unfortunately, there was no fuel to be had on Cat Island, despite the fact that som were counting on its availability. We actually siphoned from one plane to another in order to make sure that everyone had enough fuel. Because of that, we did a diversion after leaving Hawk's Nest, stopping at Exuma Int'l, where they had fuel, though it was cash only. Everyone filled up there, even those who didn't need fuel rght away.

From Exuma Int'l we did the short hop over to Staniel Cay, where the fifth plane was awaiting us. The winds there were challenging, being a direct crosswind at about 25G30 on a 3000' runway, coming in over the hills, so we had the mechanical turbulence to deal with, too. Someone who had just taken off from there said over the advisory freq that we had better have brought our 'A' games!

I admit that I did a go-around on my first attempt. I had a plane waiting for me on the end of the runway, and I didn't want to chance getting anywhere near him.

Staniel Cay was nice. That is where the cave used in the James Bond movie Thunderball is located, and a bunch of us got in the boat with one of the locals for the short ride over to it for some snorkeling. While there, they also brought up more than a dozen conch, and we had freshly made conch salad as a small lunch or a snack.

Staniel Cay was much more active than the section of Cat Island we were on. We all had a good time there, and the bar bills served as proof!

We left Staniel Cay this morning bring and early, to try to beat the winds. It was still about 70* across the runway, but only at about 15-20G25, so it seemed like a piece of cake. And coming into Fresh Creek (Andros Town) was easy because it was right down the runway.

Leslie and I are the only ones who are still down in the Bahamas from our group; the others all having headed back now to take advantage of favorable winds from Ida and a HP that's sitting to the East. We're still planning to head back on Friday. Hopefully we won't have all the problems with the bloody eAPIS that the others have had. I'll probably do another posting about that!:mad2:
 
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Well, Andros Lighthouse is a little too quiet for our liking, so we're off to Treasure Cay this afternoon.
 
Grant: We always go to Treasure Cay, but don't stay <g>
We've always taken the ferry over to Green Turtle Club. Let us know what you think about TC and where you stay.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave,
I did note that you usually go over to Green Turtle Cay, and we did look at it. But we thought that Treasure Cay Resort (http://www.treasurecay.com/) looked nice, and so far we haven't been disappointed. We have a 2-story suite with a king bed upstairs, a full kitchen, wired internet, cable TV, a pull-out queen futon, 2 washrooms, and a porch overlooking the marina for $112/night. A bottle of Bacardi at the liquor store a hundred yards away is $13. There is a nice beach across the street with a bar on it, just past the shops, which include a bakery, grocery store, post office, laundromat, etc.

So far, we really like the place!
 
Grant: That really sounds like a great deal! Thanks for letting me know about it.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Grant: That really sounds like a great deal! Thanks for letting me know about it.

Best,

Dave
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They have a fall special, which is a good deal, and private pilots get 25% off that!

Here's the route we've taken through the Bahamas.
 

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I look forward to your "after action" report. I've gone several times, but not gone to all the places you have. One is sentimental, but it's always fun to go to new places with good reviews.
One issue with my nieces is they don't want to pack and unpack each day, so, we tend to only go to a couple places on a trip.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
I look forward to your "after action" report. I've gone several times, but not gone to all the places you have. One is sentimental, but it's always fun to go to new places with good reviews.
One issue with my nieces is they don't want to pack and unpack each day, so, we tend to only go to a couple places on a trip.

Best,

Dave
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Well, Leslie is like that too, but we really haven't found that we've been doing too much packing/unpacking. I think we'd have dropped Andros from the itinerary. And Exuma Int'l was only for fuel. We didn't need it at that point, but others in our group did (there was siphoning involved at intermediate stops)! There really are times when it's helpful to have 5 - 7 hours of fuel aboard, even if you have no intention of doing legs that long! (I'd rather have that fuel and be a little over gross, than not having the fuel and hoping to find someone to siphon from!)
 
Some images to think on....

Calm seas ahead, with powder white sand.

Pina Coladas or Daquiri's loaded 2" above the rim.

Pink sunset on the deck watcing the boats moored at anchor.

Darn, I really like the Bahamas! :)
 
Okay, we're back in Fort Pierce. The crossing was unbelievably easy. I had filed eAPIS from Treasure Cay, and was within about a half hour early for my planned departure time, but we'd be fighting 40Kt headwinds, so our timing actually was about spot on.

I waited until 10AM to call Ft. Pierce from the free phone in customs, and after I gave them the tail number they said "we see you on the eAPIS, you're all set." Landed at KFPR, taxied to customs, and a line guy from Volo helped us take the baggage into customs. A little paperwork later, and we were out of there. We didn't even have to explain why we didn't have the sticker with us. (It was paid for, but never made it to the plane.)

One of the other pilots who was with us, who needed to make modifications to the arrival date, was nowhere near as enamored with the process.
 
gprellwitz said:
The crossing was unbelievably easy. \
I waited until 10AM to call Ft. Pierce from the free phone in customs, and after I gave them the tail number they said "we see you on the eAPIS, you're all set." Landed at KFPR, taxied to customs, and a line guy from Volo helped us take the baggage into customs. A little paperwork later, and we were out of there. .
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Nice! I had my doubts about eAPIS but sounds like it worked! Sounds like
the trip went very smooth.
 
CT Arrow said:
Nice! I had my doubts about eAPIS but sounds like it worked! Sounds like
the trip went very smooth.
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It does when your plans don't change, or you have internet available when they do.

The other side of the story is when something changes. A different time of the day is apparently no problem; just call the port of entry (which you need to do anyways, because they still don't trust the system themselves). However, if the changes are more extensive, like you want to come back a day earlier or later, or from a different port, it's not as easy. And, of course, it's not at all unusual, and easily forced by something like weather or fuel concerns. In this situation, you need to do the changes online, so you need Internet capability. And if you go looking for a way to change your filing, you're out of luck. You need to do an entirely new one, which includes re-entering any passengers' information. Of course, that isn't explained anywhere on the site that I can find, not even in the FAQ. And most of the airports around there don't have internet capability, so if your hotel doesn't have it available, you're SOL.

One of the planes in my party was in that situation, and they needed to take a $12 cab ride to the hotel with us in order to use the internet there, adding about 90 minutes to their departure regimen. Plus, we found that, contrary to the printed instructions, 1-800-WXBrief didn't work in the Bahamas, at least none of the times we tried it, so you had to make a local call to the Bahamas-specific number. And an AT&T phone or a land line appeared to be the only ways to do that, too.
 
Ok, who's in for the Carribbean 2010 trip? The wife and I are definitely interested!
 
I don't think we'll be repeating in 2010 (99's Int'l Conference is in Hawaii), but we'll probably look to do it again in 2011. I'm (slowly) getting the writeup on the trip done and will post a link to it here when done.
 
Grant: I'm looking forward to reading it. Don't know if we'll try to go again this year or next, but I appreciate your insight.

Dave
 
gprellwitz said:
The current (12/09) AOPA Pilot magazine has a cover article on flying to the Bahamas.
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Yea, I read that last night. Still like hearing about your trip and what you thought of the places you went. AOPA seemed to miss some important stuff: didn't even mention what kind of beer they had where they landed.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Yea, I read that last night. Still like hearing about your trip and what you thought of the places you went. AOPA seemed to miss some important stuff: didn't even mention what kind of beer they had where they landed.

Best,

Dave
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The only beer I had in the Bahamas was Kalik. Wait, that's not true. I had a couple of nice stouts on Abaco: a Royal Extra and Strong Back.
 
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