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Rosie & Tuppergal's Caribbean Trip 2017

And it looks like Scott and Tanya's APRS tracker is working splendidly. It's showing them just off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and ahead of Rosie, so I'm thinking Rosie spent a couple of hours back at Homestead this morning while some of the other flights departed. Hmmm....inquiring minds are anxious to hear the first day's report. ;)
P.S. My crude distance measuring estimate gives me about 210 nm distance between Rosie and the Cards. Rosie and Tuppergal are just south of the Turks and Caicos Islands and are headed toward the Dominican Republic, while Scott and Tanya are about 210 miles ahead and heading eastward, off the northern shore of the Dominican Republic. They have just changed their heading (slight left turn from 105 to 073). I'd say they are avoiding some weather. Now they are turning back to the right (heading 125).
 
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They have just changed their heading (slight left turn from 105 to 073). I'd say they are avoiding some weather. Now they are turning back to the right (heading 125).


It looks like some convective wx there.


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Bravo flight made it all the way. As did alpha flight minus Rosie. Not plannin on doing that again. Headed for a stiff drink on st kitts!
 
Headed for a stiff drink on st kitts!

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Yes, worst weather we've ever been through on these trips.

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It started off beautiful.
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(Sorry if the pictures are upside down..the iPad fixes it, and I can't tell.)
 
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Bravo flight made it all the way. As did alpha flight minus Rosie. Not plannin on doing that again. Headed for a stiff drink on st kitts!

Man that was too far from the shore even for my comfort. Whew 70 something nautical miles? I do some crazy runs but not that far. Was weather that bad?
 
No Rosie

And theses trips move forward without Rosie.

After an evening with friends that have gone through the same trials that the 6 airplanes sitting on the ramp at TKPK made it through today, we are treated to the below picture as we call it a day.

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Have you ever heard of the concept of mama duck?

Today, everyone quacked in sequence to make the impossible happen!! I'm not kidding, ask any RV on the field tonight at st kitts. The other rock star is sharkbait that safely landed alpha flight. Andrew is da man! <drop mic>
 
Over water distances....

Man that was too far from the shore even for my comfort. Whew 70 something nautical miles? I do some crazy runs but not that far. Was weather that bad?

Here are some over water distances these pilots have flown during previous RV Caribbean trips. Many pilots going this year also flew these earlier trips too.

Key West to Cuba: 95 n.m.
Turks to Dominica Republic: 120 n.m.
Cuba to Grand Caymans: 175 n.m.
Dominica Republic to Cuaraco: 365 n.m.!
Cuaraco to Grenada: 390 n.m. (Some small islands with no airports along route, and 90 miles to coast of South America).

So, being seventy miles off shore today was just something they worked through, just like past ocean passages they've made.

It's all relative, someone once said,
jimmyB
 
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Here are some previous over water distances from previous trips. Half the distance to get to soil.

Key West to Cuba: 95 n.m.
Turks to Dominica Republic: 120 n.m.
Cuba to Grand Caymans: 175 n.m.
Dominica Republic to Cuaraco: 365 n.m.!
Cuaraco to Grenada: 390 n.m. (Some small islands with no airports along route)

So, being seventy miles off shore is nothing compared to some of the previous trips!

It's all relative someone said,
jimmyB

Wow, JB, I feel a certain lack of respect. A nice, congrats for making it would have been better. We would have welcomed your guidance today.

Edit: No worries Jimmy B. We all hugged it out last night over rum punch. There was a little Top Gun, a little wile e coyote, and a whole bunch of steely eyed aviating that happened yesterday.
 
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Scott, NO LACK OF RESPECT INTENDED!

Wow, JB, I feel a certain lack of respect. A nice, congrats for making it would have been better. We would have welcomed your guidance today.

Scott,
You were on some of the previous trips mentioned! No disrespect intended. You have all my respect for today, but just as much or more for your previous overwater trips that were further offshore than today! You play your best game with the cards you hold. You don't need anyone's guidance, let alone mine. You are doing great! I do wish I could be along though. Have a great time! Like you mentioned earlier, no matter how hard you plan these trips, there are always stories that slip into the script you didn't plan for, or wish to happen! Today was an example..... Vlad has his stories too!!
;))
jimmyB
 
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MYEF-TKPK is 830 nm. Much of it over open water.:confused:

Just curious, why not refuel at Provo? Not criticizing but wondering. You couldn't have had much left in the tanks. I've made the trip to Beef Island in the BVI from Ft Lauderdale..Provo was about 1/2 way
 
Just curious, why not refuel at Provo?

Fort Lauderdale to Provo to Beef Island looks quite doable. The longest leg is 504.

We considered Provo to St. Kitts. That leg is 603 nm. Our final leg yesterday was 471 and we landed with 10 gallons due mainly to weather but other factors as well. There would have been zero margin for things to not go perfectly if we chose the longer leg and didn't want to do that over water where the outs are very few. And diverting into a foreign country you haven't planned for isn't going to be similar to dropping in to a different airport at home.

We refueled in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic after the fuel stop in the Bahamas.
 
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SO SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY HERE....LONG DAY YESTERDAY...

I have bad news and good news... The bad news is that my camera broke, my computer broke and the plane broke (alternator...again) so had to turn back and fix it... the good news is that we are here in the Dominican Republic at the FBO leaving for St. Kitts shortly to join the rest of the group :D

With that said, it will be very difficult to write my trip report as we go soooooo........ I will have to write it when I get back home... and this will be good because I won´t have to stay up late each night and I can have a vacation :)

Scoot wrote some sort of script that will upload something like 100 pictures in 2 seconds so he will keep you in the loop on the group´s travels...THANK YOU SCOOT!!!! ;)

Thanks for following along and...Keep poundin´them rivets because it´s all worth it! Rosie & Tuppergal
 
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Wow I was only kidding with that crack about changing out the alternator.:eek:
Glad everything turned out OK. Must have been a high anxiety day for everyone.
These bi annual trips that Rosie makes are some of my best motivation. Following it closely. Be safe.:)
 
Don't worry, Rosie is NOT off the hook and he WILL be up until 2am working on this thread while I'm either drinking or sleeping. I have a camera to hand him and if he has local admin creds on his laptop, I'll give it a proper beat down when they get here. If that doesn't work, I'm prepping my work laptop to be able to hand to him...

I have lots of pictures that I'm slowly working on assembling that I think you'll enjoy, and more details of how things "might" have worked :). But I'm only working on this a few minutes at a time.

We're off to go see a fort and stomp around town. Weather is much better here today for the next group. I hope they all got fuel, because the dirty little secret yesterday was that there was only a total of 300gal of avgas avail at Puerta Plata yesterday. Opie, that is why Tanya's comment to you about not taking any more than you needed (none).

As we woke up this morning, I commented to Tanya that "Well, I think we proved what most of us knew already. This is Not possible." (except if absolutely everything were to go as you would wish).
 
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Tracks and Weather

It was fun watching both the Spot satellite track (Rosie) and the APRS track (the Cards), but I must admit I got a little uneasy when I looked at the Caribbean weather radar yesterday afternoon. Scoot and Cookie's APRS tracks stopped about 75 miles before they reached TKPK.* It was good to read that everyone found a safe runway for last night.

I see Rosie has departed Puerto Plata this morning and is on the move toward St. Kitts. A separate post indicates Rosie has both a bum camera and computer but he does have his alternator fixed. :eek:

Enjoy the vacation!:)

*P.S. to Scoot and Cookie...Not many hams with APRS ports down there I guess. Hoping some packets are received as you travel to other places.
 
It was fun watching both the Spot satellite track (Rosie) and the APRS track (the Cards), but I must admit I got a little uneasy when I looked at the Caribbean weather radar yesterday afternoon. Scoot and Cookie's APRS tracks stopped about 75 miles before they reached TKPK.* It was good to read that everyone found a safe runway for last night.

--- snip ---

Use link to the Card's SPOT tracker to know their actual location.
 
Heading out to visit the fort and see what is entertaining downtown. Not a bad place to gather the troops.

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And a few more...
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JimmyB, This sort of reminds me of out first trip to Pittstown Point. 1000' AWL and raining.


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Pittstown Point Trip

JimmyB, This sort of reminds me of out first trip to Pittstown Point. 1000' AWL and raining.


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Yes, I looked at the old pictures. The scene out the window was the same, but the color of the cowl was different.... There are stories on every one of these adventures! They all did an admirable job yesterday!

:)
jimmyB
 
Great trip so far.

Moody Blue here. I was lead on Charlie Flight. Opie and Gail were # 2 and Jailbird and Indira were #3. We launched about 1/2 hour after Alpha and Bravo flights from Homestead. We flew direct MYEN and then followed the island chain 75 miles to MYEF(Exuma). Flew at 7500 to the MYEN turn then Jailbird and Opie flew cover at 2500 and Bun and I went down to 1000 ft to check out the greatest scenery of the trip. A million shades of blue, waves crashing on the rocks and beaches. Flew over at least 6 uncharted landing strips. Exuma has an advisory tower. In the past we have done formation approaches but this time we just landed single ship. Our flight was somewhat miss-matched for speed because we were staying at Puerto Plata. Since all three of us were experienced, we chose to break it off about 30 miles out. Opie and Jailbird would quit loafing along with us and contact approach singlely. This spread us out to a 5-10 mile interval before landing. The controllers in the islands like this. Formation arrivals are frowned on in the Caribbean. We flew at 9500 ft from MYEF (Exuma,Bahamas) to MDPP (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic). It was a smooth all the way. We had to pick our way thru some layers and rain the last 50 miles in. We had flight following all but 40 minutes and my ADS-B traffic worked for all the Adsb equipped aircraft all the way. So even when Jailbird and Opie were out of sight, I could still see them. Sweet.
The approach controller spoke English but was hard to understand and with the weather conditions, she was a little overwhelmed. There were at least 8 aircraft arriving about the same time. I never did get a hand off to tower. So when I was within 10 miles I switched to tower anyway and the controller was gracious and expecting us. There were rain showers off and on upon arriving and Alpha and Bravo flight were still there trying to get fuel before launching to St Kits.
We headed to the all inclusive resort because I could hear a rum-punch calling my name.
About an hour later, we were relieved when Rosie and Victoria showed up. I'll let Rosie tell you about his adventure. We had a great time at dinner and a very good rest.
Next morning, the weather was better. Still had clouds in layers but with more and bigger holes. Rosie commandeered Charlie flight. Jailbird and Indira stayed behind as they were going to join Jim Parker (Caribbean Adventures)in Santa Domingo and head home to Florida next Saturday. It was really great to have them along even for a short time. We flew together to the Caymans in 2009 and to Exuma in 2011 and I think to Grand Turk in 2013 also. See you guys later.
So it was Rosie, Moody Blue and Opie off to St Kits. It was cloudy over Dom Rep and Puerto Rico but mostly clear over the water. We went up to 9500 ft and was on flight following all but the last 50 miles into TKPK (St Kits). ADS-B traffic and weather worked when we were in Puerto Rico airspace because it is US territory.
So now the gangs all safe in St Kitts. Had a good dinner and reunion with A and B flights.

Looks like about 10 of us are scuba diving in the morning, while the rest will check out the sights on the island. Charlie Flight...Out.
 
Sharks!!!!!

Yeah, Sharks. Ten of us just got back from diving. Did a shallow dive down to about 45 ft to a sunken wreck (boat) and a WWII era bulldozer. I was hoping the dozer would have a seat that I could sit in so Rosie could get a pic. No luck. It was in pretty bad shape.
The 2nd dive 2 miles off shore on a wall. Went down to about 80 ft. Austin and Terry, our master divers guides killed a Lion fish and here come the reef sharks. Initially, 3 seven footers showed up looking for a free meal. A little later, about 4 smaller (about 3-4 ft) sharks came along. Sharkbait found a Loinfish and pointed it out to Austin who speared it quickly. He then handed the spear to Rosie who fed it to one of the 7 footers. Rosie had the camera or we'd have it on film.
It was great first day of diving. Thanks Rosie for setting it up on short notice. We are hoping for even better diving in Grenada.
Rosie has pics, so hope he can post some later. Out...for now.
 
Monday - Homestead to St. Kitts

Lots of words have been typed about Monday, but here are some more pictures.

Gorgeous sunrise as we departed the Florida coast. Up through the clouds to 7500.

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The water started turning its amazing colors while we were happy above with in-flight food service.

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Best use ever of an ICAO flight plan

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Bravo flight's newbie for his first over water crossing and Bahama's landing. Nicely done Roy!

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If you've got the fuel, cruising low over the water on departure from Exuma is always fun.

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Monday - Homestead to St. Kitts (2)

Bunch of RVs on the ground at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

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We passed DRINK waypoint and knew we would abide by the instructions later.

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Roy and Sandy in not such great weather as we had to go beneath the clouds before our approach into St. Kitts.

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The most beautiful set of runway lights that I've seen in a while. WELCOME TO SAINT KITTS!
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We landed a half hour before sunset, but the clouds were so thick for miles around that it was getting pretty dark as we prepared the airplanes to sit for a few days.

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The happy crew at Timothy Beach Resort.

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Tuesday - St. Kitts

Tuesday morning arrived with many of us sleeping in after a difficult day of flying on Monday. Some were so wiped out they didn't work their way to breakfast until well after 10m. Breakfast was simple, eggs, bacon, omelets, but the banana pancakes were fantastic.

We assembled a crew to go to Brimstone Hill Fortress. The Thoma's got the sale's pitch from the tour operator hanging out at the hotel, and it was so over the top they couldn't even let him finish his spiel. So, we gave our taxi driver from the night before, Percy, a call, and he was more than happy to come earn some more dollars from our group. If you like the taxi driver that takes you from the airport to the hotel - get their number! For $20/per person, we got a ride to Brimstone Hill Fortress and a little bit of an island tour on the way.

We cruised throught the narrow island roads, most prefering to NOT look at the road ahead. Our shotgun passenger decided to pass on that coveted location on the return trip.

We had to drive by the airport, and the driver slowed down to let us take some shots of our little airplanes sitting on the ramp.
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Mountain obscuration of the highest point on the island Mount Liamuiga with some RV tails and canopies just visible.

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The egrets only nest at one location on the island because that is where a special type of tree grows that the mongooses can't climb and eat their egss.

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This was the settlement established by the first freed slaves on the island.

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We paid our entry fee to enter the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park and proceeded to explore.

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Tuesday - St. Kitts (2)

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That is one steep incline. Check out the angle on the ankle to stay upright.

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The monkies and humans both number about 30-35K on the island. We found one on the way up to the fort.

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We had to wait for a traffic jam to get around a baby sheep taking in a snack.
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Back into town for lunch at Lemongrass. A few wandered to the dive shop to set up for the next day, which was closed, and the rest returned to the hotel.

Thanks for the ride Percy!

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Hi to Percy's son Joshyaun. Your dad had the coolest ride on the island. Study hard and do great things. Who knows, some day maybe you will be the one crossing the sea to visit exotic lands.

Upon arrival to the hotel we discover Charlie flight with Rosie in tow, OK maybe he was in front.

Rosie already making diving plans.
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Then it was off to clean up from the day and start telling stories over drinks and dinner at the Shiggidy Shack. Andrew and Roy were ready to go.
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Thanks Tanya for great pics

I guess Rosie was serious about waiting until he gets home to write the MOACWU (Mother of all Caribbean Write Ups). Meantime, all nine aircraft are venturing on to Grenada this morning. Tanya will lead Alpha flight, Opie will lead Bravo flight and Rosie will stay lead for Charlie Flight. This will put planes with similar speed together with the most experienced leaders.
The whole crew is planning on taking the tour of Grenada Island on Friday. Diving will resume on Saturday. A night dive might even happen Saturday night.
Meantime, I (we) will still try to get Rosie to post some of his great pics.
 
On the move again

Going to Granada today. Scoot, you and Cookie are laying good tracks on both APRS and SPOT. I prefer to watch APRS because for many points it shows speed, heading and altitude in addition to time although SPOT is definitely more reliable.
UPDATE at 13:35 CDT...Looks like Alpha flight just landed while Charlie Flight is near Martinique. Weather radar looks better than it did Monday for your location.
 
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All safe in Grenada

Flew to Nevis for gas. (None in St Kitts). Then flew to Grenada. Along the way we flew around Mount Serout that experienced a volcanic eruption (I think in 2001) that virtually made the island uninhabitable. We could smell the sulphur that still emanates from the volcano. We flew past Dominica where we stayed in 2015, Martinique, St Lucia, then landed at Grenada. Tomorrow, many of us will take the guided tour of the island and start scuba diving on Saturday.
I am trying figure out how to upload pics from my iPad but no joy yet. Later
 
...AND Rosie had more alternator issues today... I think Gene meant "Montserrat".

The pictures are piling up, but the motivation is declining, as we are deep into island time mon'! We'll see what TC comes up with in the next 24hrs, if any.
 
Island Time

Ah I remember island time. Hope you all have a great time. Diane and I will be joining you guys on the next one. Scot do you think we should get a go fund me account for Rosie so he can get a real alternator.
 
4/19 - Day two in St. Kitts

The banana pancakes weren't nearly as good because they gave me COCONUT pancakes since that is what Scott ordered. Grrrr. Nine RVers were off to check out the diving. We sat for a while watching a very entertaining side show on the small pier by the resort. There were several shore excursions launching from the pier by the hotel and watching the comedy show of trying to herd those unfamiliar with moving from a solid object to a moving one proved to be worthy of a lazy day in the islands.

We did some reseach and decided to go to Ottley's for lunch and walk their trail through the rainforest. We checked the website and CLOSED for renovations. Well, that plan hit a brick wall. We weren't the only ones. Victoria had been wanting to ride the island train, which is sometimes closed on Monday and sometimes Wednesday. Guess which day it was closed this week. Oh well, welcome to the way planning can go in the islands.

Plan B - grab a cab, stop at the Timothy Hill overlook, and then on to the the other side of the hill for lunch.

Atlantic on the west and Caribbean on the right. Nevis is the big hill in the back. We'll make a stop there for fuel before making our way to Grenda.

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Atlantic side

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Tunnel through Timothy Hill

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A rocky view with Nevis in the back again.

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We made our way to Shipwreck Beach bar which had some good recommendations. I can see it being a good place for a drink as the sun sets, but stay away from the food. Definitely bottom of the barrel so far on this trip.

At the other end of the bay, we were sure the busy beach must have been a decent sized resort. There were people swarming like ants in and out of the water. When we got there we realized there were no rooms to be seen. It was a mass of cruise ship passengers invading the beach. It was definitely time to return to the quiet beach that was almost all ours just on the other side of the hill.

Resort dive location for those that came off the cruise ship. I'm pretty sure Rosie would say, 'why bother?'

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Umbrellas in a perfect row covering a good swath of the sand.

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More people, water sports, and trash on the beach.

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Back to the room for a change of clothes and time to visit the water. Scott and I floated for about an hour in the water - one of our favorite things to do in the buoyant salt water.

Then off to the room to clean up and start packing for the morning. It's time to make our way to Grenada. We gathered again to share stories from the day in the bright sun and stiff breeze.

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4/19 - Day two in St. Kitts (2)

Red Snapper steamed in banana leaves with veggies and rice

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Cleo - thanks for taking care of us the last few nights!

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Our home to explore the island of St. Kitts

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A picture can't do this sunset justice.

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Thank you for write up Tanya. I know it's not easy to find time and good connection while in resting mode. Much easier while traveling. Looking forward to more stories. :)
 
4/20 - Off to Grenada

The troops gathered for breakfast, while fending off a very aggressive bird looking for eggs. We saw some bacon and pancakes on the ground, but no, that wasn't what it wanted. As soon as Opie left his seat, the bird hopped over for some eggs with hot sauce! I wonder if it got a tummy ache.

The side show on the pier was beginning again, but we didn't get to sit and watch this time. It was time to catch the bus to the airport at 30 minute intervals. Alpha flight missed their time hack by 20 minutes, so we were all pushed back as we had to wait for the taxi to come back because there weren't any others in the area big enough to accommodate our flights.

Ready to go
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It took the usual hour plus to go to pay fees, then to immigration, customs, and back to pass through immigration to security. We were surprised we had to do the immigration and customs dance since St. Kitts and Nevis are techically one country. I was expecting flight plans, which we didn't need. Once again, never quite as planned, but all good. Back for the hike down the ramp to the row of RVs sitting there waiting to take us on the next step of our adventure.

Crew waiting for pilots to get all the paperwork done.
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We did a quick sight-seeing trip on the Atlantic side of the island. Turn northbound out of St. Kitts after an eastbound departure, U-turn at the north end of the island, call approach and let them know we've made the turn, a run southbound, call approach and let them know we're about to be abeam of the runway (they don't have radar out here), and then off to Nevis for a quick turn and fuel.

St. Kitts ramp. No place to tie-down, just chocks for stabilization.
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Rosie making the long walk across the ramp.
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Bravo flight is all geared up and ready to go.
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Bye St. Kitts. Thanks for having us.
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Sightseeing northbound on the Atlatic coast.
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4/20 - Off to Grenada (2)

Time to turn around.
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And back the other way.
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Time to cross over the island at a low point.
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Just a 2 mile open water trip to Nevis.
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After a whopping 15 minutes on the hobbs to the fuel stop.
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Thanks Omel for getting us in and out so fast. If you're in the area, she will take great care of you.
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4/20 - Off to Grenada (3)

Fuel up, load 'em up, and head out. Charlie flight pulled up to the pumps just as Bravo vacated.
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South coast of Nevis.
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Bravo 2 doing a great job.

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After Nevis we started ticking off the islands as we headed southbound in an arc to stay a little closer to land. Most of the controllers wanted reports of either abeam the airport or calls for abeam the north and south coasts of their island. It isn't a difficult request, but sometimes the speed of speech with the thick accents makes it tough. It often takes Scott and I listening intently to understanding it a all. By the way Rosie, the french controllers were nice! Going through their airspace is actually easier than most because they speak mostly in french, so I don't even have to try and comprehend the radio calls.

The flight was easy with just one significant deviation around some heavy rain as we approached Grenada - standard island flying, make a turn and go around. Sorry Jimmy, we tried for what we are calling Umbrella Island, but it was covered up by the rain. We'll have to see about outbound but are a bit more fuel limited. Our three ship was given a 5 mile left base entry and cleared to land about 10 miles out.

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Welcome to Maurice Bishop International.
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Onto the ramp to be greeted by airport operations and FBO personnel. They would have preferred we arranged ahead for ramp space for our 9 airplanes, but we chatted a bit and found a solution. After we demonstrated we could pack the planes in like sardines, they headed back to work with island smiles. The fuel truck came around to top off the tanks, and they showed up johhny on the spot for Charlie flight after we told them they'd want fuel when they landed.

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Cab to the hotel, check in, find food, and work away the rest of the day telling stories at the pool with the waves crashing behind us.

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Rosie & Tuppergal?s Caribbean Trip

Looked at 2013 and 2015 and could not find answer, and was wondering if ALL are flying VFR or IFR or a combination?

Just curious
thanks
 
Looked at 2013 and 2015 and could not find answer, and was wondering if ALL are flying VFR or IFR or a combination?

Just curious
thanks

ALL VFR always. "Technically" speaking. I sure am enjoying having a flight where every wingman has an instrument ticket though.
 
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Looked at 2013 and 2015 and could not find answer, and was wondering if ALL are flying VFR or IFR or a combination?

Just curious
thanks

On all the trips I have been on we have all flown VFR except for the Cayman Islands where a IFR flight was required over Cuba.
 
Jack - pt1

So, there I was on the island of Grenada with a monkey on my back. His name was Jack? (No, Jack?s first name wasn?t Capt., it was Jack dummy! Nor was his last name Daniels.)

I?m sorry, I?m getting ahead of myself. Friday was to be a day for a grand tour of Grenada via ground transport. Sharkbait did the organization under the cover of darkness the evening that we arrived on this Great island while many of us sat around the pool telling stories and marveling at the 125? sailing yacht anchored just off shore in front of our resort. It?s two masts illuminated all of its grandeur in the ink well of darkness.

Andrew had contacted the taxi driver that provided service from the airport who assured Andrew (Sharkbait) that he would acquire a properly sized ?bus? for our touring crew of 14 sweaty travelers. We were set for a 9am departure with the intention of a 3pm return so that those going on the night dive could make their 5:45 hack for diving. With a much needed nights sleep, the bus arrived right on time. Even Rosie commented very quietly, ?Uh, are we all going to fit in that??

Sure enough, it was a bit like loading the Ark, except there would be no two-by-two this time. Just one sardine at a time. Noah must have said, ?Get on the bus dammit, for there is a grand adventure ahead and you don?t want to be left behind.? And so they did. Our LITTLE Ark pulled out of dock right on time and Rosie wasted no time telling our Captain ?Jeff?, ?Jeff, I gotta? go pottie??, shortly followed by the expected question from the back of the bus ?Are we having FUN!?? To which all of the travelers aboard proclaimed in unison ?YES!?. And we were on our way in this little rickety 10 person van with 14 people stuffed in it. Oh, I mean bus / Ark, ?. Oh, what ever.

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Our general path of travel was a clockwise traversal of about ? of the circumference of the approx. 130 square miles of the island. All of the roads are full of potholes and are very narrow. The pedestrians are just as fearless as the drivers squeezing by each other at speed, 20mph most of the time, with barely a wing skin worth of thickness between them. The first 15min of the trip was a real trust builder that our driver wasn?t going to flatten one of the many pedestrians that we would pass during the day or scrape half of the bus off on a passing vehicle going the other way during the rest of our eight hour adventure. I?ll pause for you to do a little quick math?

This is a pretty rugged island with some steep elevation changes on narrow roads that provide some pretty amazing landscapes. Jeff seemed particularly proud of their land fill and pointed it out as we went buy. It is true that many of these islands simply don?t have an organized place or plan for refuse disposal.

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Our land Ark and its cargo bounced through the mountain roads with excitement around every sharp corner for about an hour before reaching its first intended destination. A nutmeg factory.

We pulled into the town of Gouyav with anticipation to experience one of the process that produces a spice product that this island is known for. The bus wasted no time unloading the uncomfortable and hot seats. We took a tour of the factory which I guess totaled about 3500 square feet in size. The only piece of automation was a quite primitive centrifugal nut cracker. The rest was manual labor for sorting and cleaning. This island isn?t the biggest producer of nutmeg, but prides itself on the best quality in the world. The education and tour took about twenty minutes with a stop in the gift shop to purchase some samples to take home, which we did.

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Back on the bus, one-by-one, the breath of life of our Ark was loaded once again. There is an evil twist to this transport. The cargo hold has but one exit handle on the Outside of the bus! The interior exit mechanism was? INOP.

It was a relatively short drive through the mountain roads to the chocolate factory. I think everybody enjoyed this stop very much. Who doesn?t love chocolate!? Mmmm, I sense some cookies in my future. Er, screw it, gimme that chocolate bar!. We were greeted by our tour guide and general proprietor inside. She was great and took us straight out to a cocoa tree in the light drizzle of the rain forest. Under the cover of the tree, we all stood while she picked a fresh pod and cracked it open on a rock, handing out its sweet fruit for us to enjoy while she explained this great plant. That was a very neat experience, standing in the rain forest with a light rain falling, not getting wet, under a coca tree talking about this iconic plant.

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We got the full processing tour that included a visit to the biggest praying mantis that you?ve ever seen.
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Back in the guest center, Tanya and Chappy procured a chocolate smoothie which was amazing. A sip of that almost made my head pop off. Many of us bought pounds of this great chocolate which I am enjoying as I write this, listening to the waves crash onto the beach. I saw Sharkbait hauling off with a two pound block with a particular swagger of pride.

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Jack - pt2

How can you possibly top an island chocolate factory? By going to a Rrrummmm factory of course! "Arrrr, our caravan of pirates have turned the northern shore of the island matey and we are in search of Rrrrummmm to bolster our soul and sore butts!” We pulled into the Rum factory with high expectations and in search of food. We weren’t disappointed. While we toured the facility, the onsite restaurant prepared a simple buffet special for our group as we were the only ones there. This place has been here since the late 1700s and some of the original equipment was still in use, including the primary power for the process from a large 25’ water wheel brought over by the British. The amount of sugar cane they go through is amazing. Then it was time for a taste. This is 75% alcohol. I’m not an expert, but a thimble full tells me that this is nearly off the “proof” scale. If burned in a Lycoming, my taste buds say that you should be prepared to lose a cylinder on takeoff. I don’t think we had any souls brave enough for a second taste. We reminisced about the day so far over lunch overlooking the gardens around the cane fields. Simply beautiful.

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Back on the bus, we did a quick flyby of Grand Etang Lake which is the source of water for the island then onto the next major attraction, Annandale Falls. I told you it was a grand tour. It was starting to get a little late in the day, but we weren’t quite done yet. Our sea legs were fully developed by now and each step off of the bus took a little readjusting. Our ship bounced back down the mountain with its crew becoming a little more quiet than earlier in the day. We made landfall at the falls. As usual, I leapt from the front seat to release the captive crew. It is here that we were greeted by Jack. I don’t know what it was about Jack, but he was calm and kind to these weary travelers. I’m not much of one for monkeys on my back, but he whispered something sweet in my ear. Something to the effect of “I know you’ve been on a bus touring my great island all day, but don’t forget that you are on island time mon’.” The falls were … I was tired. That is all I remember after my refreshing conversation with Jack. He sent us direct back home which was another half hour on the bus.

Here is my buddy Jack and I posing for a selfie.

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We pulled back in at about 5pm. Just in time for those doing the night dive at 5:45pm to disembark and sprint to the dive shop. Crazy people they are! That is exactly what the locals have been calling all of us when we tell them the story about how we came from the USA in little airplanes that we built in our garage. Some truly don’t believe us until they make a trip to the airport to see the little airplanes on the ramp.
 
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The picture backlog continues to pile up but it is time to move on. Good night from Grenada! We all depart tomorrow (Monday) morning for St. Croix for the next leg of this adventure.
 
Wish I was there

Outstanding coverage of your adventure Scott. I would imagine a lot of RVer's are dreaming they were along on this one. Fly safe:)
 
All travelers landed safe. Rosie is on the ramp with the hood open again. Might want to start that gofundme. Internet is definitely more spotty here.

Never bad being greeted with rum punch.

It was a very easy (weather wise) flight for all. Quite welcome day. Time to go see what's what before Alpha flight gets to the resort.
 
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St. Croix.

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