Epilogue

Well, that's the end of the Excellent Adventure.  I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

I must admit, I have thoroughly enjoyed re-editing and posting these stories as they brought back many happy memories.

Flights in DKX have continued to the present day with lots more stories that could be told.  A number were documented in Notes in Facebook.  One of these days, I'll pull them out and post some more stuff.

Blue skies and safe flying!!

Day 20--The Final Push--Hickory, NC to Charleston, WV to Chatham

This was it! The final day of the Excellent Adventure. I was a short 400 nm from Chatham and was looking forward to the final push home in a big way.

I woke up quite early and checked the weather. Things were pretty much the same as the forecast from the previous night. Shouldn't be a problem, I thought. However, as I was poking around the ADDS website I had a look at the winds aloft. This information is actually a graphical display which showed the same winds as yesterday, however I had the temperatures turned off. I clicked on the temperature box and just about freaked out! The freezing level was 5000 feet over the mountains!!  The MEA (minimum enroute altitude) along my proposed route of flight was 7000!! 

Since it was the end of April, I had not been concerned about the freezing level at the altitudes I would be flying. However, the cold front that I had flown through had obviously lowered the temperatures aloft big time. With clouds forecast over the mountains, I would be flying in visible moisture. And visible moisture at temperatures below freezing means...ICE!! Lots of ICE!! And yes, when I checked the AIRMET's they were warning of moderate ice from 5000 up to 12000 throughout the area. I was, apparently, stuck in North Carolina... Stay tuned...more to come

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Thus ends the narrative from that flight in April, 2007.  And now, looking back, I can't for the life of me remember how I got home!!

I must have gone VFR under the clouds, which I have done before.  The mountains are not very high and it's possible to fly at 4500 ft ASL and miss all the peaks.  Although you need good visibility to do so.

Like many trip documentary efforts, once I got home I got busy and never finished the final installment.

Day 19--Ft. Lauderdale to Brunswick to Hickory, NC--Bumps and Boomers

At precisely 8:00 am the next morning, I strapped myself into DKX and prepared to do battle with the sky...a lone warrior against the gods of the atmosphere, particularly Thor (who showed up later in the day!).

Kath and I had driven to the airport together and we loaded the plane (for the upteenth time). We said good-bye and she prepared to head to the international airport for her Northwest flight to Detroit. She watched me depart from runway 08, cleared IFR to Brunswick, Georgia via radar vectors, Melbourne VOR, Victor 3, Brunswick VOR, direct.  I climbed through a scattered layer of cumulus and was on top at 6000.

DKX on the ramp in Ft. Lauderdale...or is it Provo...or maybe Brunswick... After a while the airports all look the same, but what a great looking airplane!!

Groundspeed was about 110 knots which made me quite happy. After all the headwinds we had been facing, anything in the triple digits was a good thing. The forecast for Florida was good--basically scattered to broken cloud all the way up the peninsula. 

However, there was a large low in the New York area with a cold front draping in a curve all the way back to Gulf of Mexico. The front was forecast to move eastward through the area throughout the day. Scattered rainshowers were in the forecast for early afternoon and a couple of stations to the east had a 30% chance of thunderstorms.

I have learned that while thunderstorms may not be forecasted, the strong sun in the afternoon, coupled with the frontal lifting can often kick off some boomers. Flying into one can ruin your whole day.

By the time I was approaching Jacksonville, I could see the build-ups ahead. That had to be the cold front. Brunswick was still reporting broken cloud at 3500 and no precip so with only 25 miles or so to go, I felt pretty good about getting in without any issues. I would then check out the weather on the ground based radar and make a plan from there.

Things worked out as planned and the weather was ok when I landed at SSI. During the descent I flew through some very bumpy clouds with lots of moisture running up the windshield. The sky had a very congested look with cumulus build-ups all around. Once on the ground, there were numerous sunny breaks between the clouds, but the atmosphere had that warm, sultry feel that often preceeds a storm.

A quick look at the radar showed several large thunderstorm cells to the west that were moving towards the airport. Clearly, my decision to land and wait things out was a good one. There was no need to hurry, so I borrowed a crew car and drove to St. Symons Island for lunch.

Brunswick, Georgia is right on the coast and is lovely area. It is becoming popular with the upscale crowd as a vacation destination (viz., several biz jets on the ramp when I landed). There are lots of large homes on the golf courses and the beach is very nice. It's like Florida in some ways but not as commercial or quite as tropical. Things feel a bit more "stately". It's definately the south though, with lots of plantation style homes and large trees with spanish moss hanging from them.

I stopped for a burger at Dairy Queen and read a local newspaper. Then it was back to the airport for some flight planning. By the time I got back to the field, the CB's had passed north of the field and were moving out over the ocean. The radar showed a couple of light rainshowers to the west but nothing significant.

The buildups were a concern though in terms of which altitude to file for. I knew that at 8000 I would be right in the clouds and that would mean a bumpy, possibly wet ride which did not appeal to me, particularly as I would be hand flying the airplane. I decided to file for 4000 which would put me below the most of the bases. I things improved, then I could request higher.

Winds were forecast to be out of the west at 30 knots all the way up to 9000, so I would have a slight headwind at any altitude. There are a number of MOA's (Military Operating Areas) to the south west of Savanna as well as some Restricted Areas. Rather than trying to thread the needle VFR around these, it is far easier to go IFR and let ATC worry about what area was hot and what was not. So I filed direct to SAV and then direct Hickory, NC.

The plan worked out quite well. I flew visually around some rain showers (with the controllers ok) as I flew north towards Savanna. Once Jacksonville Centre handed me off to Savanna Approach they wanted me at 5000 to stay above the SAV Class C airspace. No problem as the bases were slowing going highter the further north I got.  By the time I was handed off to Columbia Approach the clouds had pretty much scattered out.

It seems that everytime I fly over South and/or North Carolina in the afternoon, it's always bumpy--very bumpy. The turbulence was moderate with the occassional slam that bordered on severe, but nothing that I had not experienced before. I was really glad that Kath was not with me as she would have had a hard time.

I don't really mind all the banging around but it's kind of tough on the airplane, particularly the aileron control system. You're almost lock to lock at times on the yoke trying to keep the wings reasonably level. I'm sure the cables get stretched a bit as a result. 

As the afternoon wore on, the turbulence abated a bit and after almost 3 hours of flying, it was time to start down into Hickory. I've overnighted here several times in the past as it's just before the mountains. There is a Quality Inn a short distance from the field that offers good rates and a hot breakfast.

Once on the ground, I checked the forecast for the morning and had a bit of a start. Rainshowers were forecast for all of Ohio and West Virginia with IFR ceilings and mountain obscuration all along the Appalatians.  A trough had developed in the lee of the cold front which would affect the weather on Saturday morning.

Fortunately it was forecast to move out of the area later in the day and the outlook for Saturday night and Sunday was good. I thought briefly about continuing northbound in order to get over the mountains in the current good weather, but I was awfully tired and figured that I could easily tackle them IFR in the morning.

That turned out to be a lousy decision, but in the end everything turned out ok. So we'll see you tomorrow when we tackle the mountains!!

Day 17-18--Heading Home--Grand Turk to Provo to Ft. Lauderdale

After a couple of great days in Grand Turk, it was time to get ready to really head home. This time, the vacation was almost over.

We were up relatively early recognizing that Customs doesn't open until 8:00 am. Not wanting to pay Her Majesty any o/t costs, we didn't arrive at the airport until just before 8. I needed to file a flight plan and since my Blackberry phone didn't work at all , I needed to climb up to the tower each time to file.

Since we were initially going to Provo for fuel VFR I didn't need a flight plan (you just announce on the ground you're VFR to Provo. The tower wants to know SOB and fuel just in case you don't arrive at your destination).  We flew uneventfully to Provo and landed on runway 10 again. It was surprisingly quiet. Clearly we were now into low season. Our main objective was to avoid being ripped off by the FBO like had happened on our way in. 

Feeling somewhat experienced with the whole process of customs, immigration, GenDec's, etc, (as well as some advice from another pilot who flew into Provo regularly), I elected to go directly to the terminal building instead of the FBO.  Customs in Grand Turk had cleared us out of the T&C to the Bahamas which turned out to be a good thing because we could AVOID Customs in Provo. I simply paid our $10 landing fee at the tower, called a fuel truck over and we were ready to go!

Paying our landing fees at the tower in Provo.

Cost to arrive in Provo: $98. Cost to leave Provo: $10!!! It just shows how important it is to know the ropes when you travel in the Caribbean.

Lesson Learned: if you arrive in an aircraft to a Caribbean island, it is expected that you have already arranged for, or will be needing, ground handling services. Since the majority of aircraft are either commercial or corporate jets, this makes sense. But the small, private pilot is perfectly capable of doing his own "ground handling"--just pretend like you know what you're doing and take lots of Gen Decs!!

We got our clearance out of Provo which was essentially as filed (direct MICAS, A555 to Stella Maris and then direct to Great Exuma) and took off towards the Bahamas. As on the way down, once your leave the Turks you are non-radar all the way to the Exumas. You are still talking to Miami Centre (which is a good feeling--they are way better than the guys at Santo Domingo "Control" in the DR.) They ask you for your estimate to the next intersection, which in this case was INDEE on A555. The GPS is a huge help here as it gives a running ETA to all the waypoints in the route.

We landed at Great Exuma and a fuel truck pulled up before we had even shut down. Customs was a non-event. What a contrast to the Eastern Caribbean! It was the annual sailboat regatta in the Exumas and the airport was a-buzz with lots of little planes. We walked across the ramp and through the terminal building to a restaurant across the street.

Kath waited while the lady made up a couple of sandwhiches for us while I walked over to the tower to file a flight plan. Exuma Int'l is un-controlled and the single girl in the "tower" seemed a bit out of it. I gave her the flight plan and was told she would fax it to Miami Centre. Somehow I doubted it but there was little I could do otherwise.

We took off and as expected, when I called Miami Centre they had nothing on file for me. The controller was very laid back and said it happened all the time. He asked where we were going (Ft. Lauderdale Executive) what altitude I wanted (8000 feet) and whether we were RNAV equipped. I said yes (a white lie because my handheld GPS, while totally functional, is not certified for IFR) but since it was severe clear it was not an issue.

RNAV would allow me to fly point to point which would be faster. We were cleared direct to DEKAL intersection, just past Bimini and the DEKAL1 arrival. I had no idea what the DEKAL1 arrival was. There was no reference to it in the Florida approach plate book. However knowing how busy it was going into Ft. Lauderdale I assumed that it would probably be radar vectors to the approach. I was right.

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day. We were at 8000 which was above the scattered cloud and the water around the Exumas has got to be the most beautiful of anywhere we had flown. The centre frequency was abnormally quiet.

As I sat there droning along, I realized that I was, at least for this brief moment, truly living my dream. Here I was, sitting at the controls of my own plane, with my dear wife dozing in the sun beside me, flying over some of the most wonderful tropical scenery in the world, with quiet Christian music from the Ipod playing in my headphones. It was perfect. I had my own little worship service with the Lord sitting there in the left seat. The more I thanked God for the wonderful privilege of just being here, the more choked up I became. I actually started crying with the joy of it all. It was just so overwhelmingly wonderful. I was glad Kath was asleep beside me because I would have looked a bit silly flying along with tears running down my face!

The water from the air is gorgeous.

Miami Centre woke me up from my reverie telling me to start down to 4000 feet by the time I got to DEKAL, pilot's discretion. From there it was radar vectors to the airport and a visual approach to runway 13 at Ft. Lauderdale Executive.

We overnighted at the same hotel as on the way down, La Quinta, and in the morning Kath got packed to head home on a Northwest flight to Detroit. It was my suggestion that she sked home as I knew the the flight back up the US was probably going to be bumpy (it was). Kath had already done superhuman duty hanging in as long as she had and I wanted her to enjoy the final flight back home--with no need for barf bags.

I would fight the final battle up the eastern US in DKX alone--alone, alone, all all alone, alone in a wide, wide sky (with apologies to Coleridge).

Day 16--Heading North--St. Kitts to Puerto Rico to Grand Turk

Yes, all good things must come to an end. It was time to punch out and start our return journey to Canada. However, it's not over yet as we still have a week to go and plan to spend some time back in the T&C's.

I checked weather before we left and the only issue was a small trough lying just east of Puerto Rico. There had been thunderstorms in the area during the night, but they were forecasted to clear out by early morning. Since we were arriving by noon, I figured they wouldn't be a factor.

Wrong.

I filed 8000 direct GABAR (the intersection at the "boundary" where San Juan Centre picks you up), G633 to TUUNA intersection (on the southeast corner of PR) and then Route 4 across the island to TBQN. The flight across the water to St Croix and then on to Puerto Rico was smooth and uneventful.

Up ahead I could see a bank of clouds, but the tops didn't look that high. As we flew on, the scattered layer below us thickened to an undercast and the overcast started coming down. We were soon into the clag at 8000 feet, no issues, a little bit more bumpy but no rain initially. The forecast had included the standard "VCSH" which means rain showers in the vicinity so I expected to fly in and out of some light precip. which we started to do. The inside of the clouds was fairly bright so I wasn't concerned. Borinquen was reporting 2000 scattered, 5000 broken so I knew it would improve further on.

As we droned along in the clouds the rain began to get a bit heavier. San Juan Approach then called me and said his radar was painting heavy to extreme precipitation in the centre of the island (obviously a thunderstorm) and that my route would take me into it. Oh boy!! It sure would have been nice to have onboard weather radar! Unfortunately, the XM Weather on the GPS only worked in the US!! 

When I inquired, the controller suggested a turn to the north would take us around it, so I requested a 30 degree deviation to the right. My thinking was to get the coast and if we were still in it at 8000, I could descend once over the water and fly under the clouds as we were only 25 miles from Borinquen. The plan worked and we requested direct Borinquen once we were further to the north.

Again, I appreciated having the Garmin 396 GPS as it showed our exact position over the island. If I had to descend, I knew we would be over the water. Fortunately, that wasn't necessary. The weather improved as we approach Borinquen, but there were lots of build ups around. Clearly the air was still unstable from the effect of that trough. Looking to the northwest--the direction to Grand Turk--it was clear as bell. Good. We landed and taxied to US Customs.

We cleared customs, fueled up and took off for Grand Turk.  The flight was smooth and uneventful.  Within 4 hours, we  were back at the Manta House, our little B&B on the island in the Turks and Caicos.  It seemed like only yesterday that we had started our junket south from here to the Leeward Islands.

Back in Grand Turk, T&C

Soon it would be time to head home in earnest.

Day 15--Landing at St. Barts!!

Let's begin with the tale of the bad battery... 

After chatting with Dad and then making a call to Frank, my aircraft mechanic in Chatham, I decided that flying all the way to Ft. Lauderdale with a bad battery was not a great idea. 

So not knowing anyone else, I gave Nicholas the French flight instructor a call and told him my problem. He gave me the name of a French aircraft mechanic in St. Barths (!), Maxime Desroches, who might be able to help me.

I called Maxime at 10:30 on Friday on his cell. Yes, he thought he had a battery and yes, he could meet me at the airport tomorrow!! PTL! Can you believe it? Kathy and I were hoping to see St. Barths (that's why I did the check-out) but had cancelled our plans because I didn't want to do any more flying than I needed to with a bad battery. This was perfect!!

So early Saturday morning, we hitched to the airport (sans bicycles as St. Barths is very mountainous), hand propped DKX (fired right up) and blasted off for St. Barths, a short 20 minute flight to the north.

As I wrote previously, I never did get officially checked out to land at St. Barths, but I felt pretty confident about landing there after spending the time with Nicholas. Still, in the back of mind there was this little thought that said: if you screw up and either conflict with other traffic or worse, end upside down on the beach, then you may be in deep weeds. These weeds could include a confiscated aircraft, fines, jail (ever been in a Caribbean prison, Billy?) and other very bad things.

So with that cheerful thought, we pointed the plane at St. Barths, sat quietly in the cockpit and watched as the miles clicked down on the GPS. I called Juliana approach as soon as I had St. Barths in sight. I wanted to get over to St. Barths frequency as soon as possible so I could listen for traffic and determine which runway they were using. Winds were 210 degrees at 10 knots and they were active on 28--good news, as that was what I practiced with Nicholas.

Turning base after passing Fregate Island.

I elected to fly the right hand published visual approach. First, Fourchue Island and 10 degrees of flaps, then to Fregate Island, 20 degrees of flaps then a long right hand descending turn to parallel the cliffs on the left, runway still out of sight behind the hill to the north, full flaps, 55 knots, keep the turn going to line up with the runway that has just come into view and starts right at the waters edge, straighten up, bathers on beach looking up and waving, left wing down a bit for the crosswind, over the threshold, power off, back on the elevator and...we're down. Piece of cake. Bring on the carrier landings!!

 Short final.

We taxied to the general aviation parking area to the northwest which was full of little planes and parked. As we got out the noise from the departing Islanders and Twin Otters was terrific. They line up on the threshold of runway 10 (about 50 feet from where we parked), stand on the brakes, apply full throttle, then release the brakes and scream off downhill towards the beach. Once airborne they all do a tight climbing left turn towards the north. The sight of the planes climbing out against the water and mountains is a fantastic sight.

We were not scheduled to meet Maxime until 2 pm and since it was only 10:30 am Kath and I decided to rent a small car and tour the island. More on the tourist stuff a bit later, but let me fill you in on an interesting incident that happened just after we arrived (yes, more flying stuff... if that leaves you cold, just skip ahead...).

Shortly after we had landed I sort of watched out of the corner of my eye a Piper PA28 Warrior (small low wing 4 seater, like my Cessna), take off. No big deal. But about 5 minutes later, as we were chatting to a group of pilots on the ramp, the same Warrior appeared on short final, landed and taxied at high speed to the GA parking area. As the plane cleared the runway, the pilot cut the power and coasted the last 75 feet or so downhill to the tie down. Once stopped, he and his passenger jumped out. The pilot pulled the cowling cover up on both sides of the plane and they both stood there starring intently into the engine compartment.

I walked over to talk to the fellow and noticed that he was pretty excercised about something and visibly shaking. When I looked into the engine compartment, I could see what had spoiled his day of flying. 

Apparently at startup he had heard a small backfire which he had ignored and took off. It turned out that the backfire had blown the exhaust downpipe for the number 2 cylinder out of the muffler and it was just hanging there in the engine compartment. The hot exhaust gases had played on the battery contactor and the wiring harness where it entered the firewall. It was all a charred mess. The guy was very, very lucky it hadn't started a full blown engine fire.

In looking elsewhere under the cowl, I wouldn't say the standard of maintenance on the aircraft was particularly high. Perhaps this incident will help him to raise those standards!

And now back to the tour of St. Barths...

We rented a little Hyundai jeep for 30 euros and took a quick tour of the island. The place is very mountainous (high hills actually) with breathtaking views of the ocean and beaches. The roads are very narrow and full of potholes so I was glad it was a rental that I was pounding the snot out of as we drove around.

Our car rental. 

We crossed the island and had a swim at Salinas Beach which was very isolated and pretty, located between two large mountains. We had a quick drive through Gusavia the capital which is full of upscale, trendy shops selling all sorts of designer clothes, watches, etc. and all totally out of our league!

Of all the islands in the Eastern Caribbean, with the exception of Mustique in the Grenadines (where Mick Jagger et al hangout), this one is probably closest to "Lifesyles of the Rich and Famous". The place is full of the beautiful people all dressed to the nines and trying to look wealthy and influencial (probably because they are!!).

The prices here are outrageous. A cup of coffee is 3 euros (about $4US). A bottle of water and a single piece of quiche for lunch (shared) was $10US. The place is not for the budget minded travellers like us. However it was still nice to visit the place.

Salinas Beach

I was anxious to get back to the airport to meet Maxime which we did by 1 pm. The Piper pilot was still hanging around and we offered to drive him to get a bite to eat (the quiche mentioned above). It turned out he was a young New York Jew named Ariel Weiss. He was the sole proprieter of an air training and charter service based in Juliana (the airport in St. Maarten) with his single Piper Cherokee.

His problematic trip that morning was to fly a revenue pax from St. Barths to Juliana. (The pax ended up flying sched. home!). He explained that in the peak season, December thru March, a charter from Juliana to St. Barths and back, a 15 minute flight each way, is worth 300 euros. That's about $400US a pop. He said that the in the really peak times like Christmas, people "throw money at you--five, six hundred and more, just to get them to and from their homes on the island."

When I asked him what kind of Operating Certificate he had (like he would be required to have in Canada), he said none and that the industry is totally unregulated. He "keeps a low profile" and the scheduled carriers just ignore him.

H-m-m-m, that got me thinking...maybe he needs some competition...some Cessna 172 competition...something that doesn't catch fire...let's see...take a leave of absence from work from Christmas through Feb or so...fly down here and fly my brains out for a few months...make a pantful and come home...

Or better yet, let's make this a family thing...Andrew could set up Coconut Mail... the Europeans would love it...Jonnie and Mary Beth could help him run that AND help out with Millardair...Kath would spend her time trying to find the St. Barths equivalent of Value Village and Costco in order allow us to survive down here. It would be great!! Any takers????

Meanwhile, back to our other story... At about 2, Maxime showed up with the new battery which worked perfectly. I just happened to mention to Ariel that we were going to Anguilla (a 15 minute flight north) for fuel (there is no fuel on St. Barths) before heading back to St. Kitts. He told that us that Anguilla was currently out of fuel (there are no NOTAM's in this place!!) but there was fuel in Juliana, and by the way, would we mind giving him a lift back there? I said sure (after I verified with another pilot that there was not, in fact, fuel at Anguilla. Ariel could have been shooting us a line knowing he was stuck on St. Barths.!)

I went to file a flight plan from St. Barths to Juliana and learned from the tower guy that Juliana was CLOSED TO PRIVATE AIRCRAFT for the next several hours due to traffic saturation. Great!! The next closest fuel was Antigua (about 75 miles away) so that's what we had to do. Ariel never got the lift he wanted, but we parted quite amicably and vowed to keep in touch.

Kath and I arrived back in St. Kitts at 6 pm. We hitched a ride home and were so tired that we skipped dinner and fell into bed at 9 pm. It was quite a day.

Day 14--St. Kitts and the Bad Battery

Can you believe it? Two weeks ago today we lifted off from Chatham to begin Kathy and Peter's Excellent Caribbean Adventure and it's been all that and more.

So to cut to the chase...the battery on the airplane is pooched. I spoke to Dad this morning about the problem and he reminded me to "do the easy stuff first". Good advice. So before I got fussing with the starter motor and/or alternator, he recommended we make sure the battery was ok first.

DKX grounded on the ramp at St. Kitts.

I hitched to the airport this morning after calling Ken's buddy Elroy Lewis, aka Scout, who runs the ground handling outfit at Bradshaw (and handles Ken's Challenger). He was great and a couple of his guys found some jumper cables and we connected the plane's battery to a truck battery. With the mixture at ICO, I hit the starter and zoom, the prop spun like a top. Clearly the battery was the issue.

I pulled it out of the plane and we put it on charge at the maintenance shed and I said I'd come back after lunch. I hitched home and had swim, lunch and a snooze. At about 2 pm, I hitched back to the airport (the guys at the taxi stand by the hotel all give me dirty looks) and went to see the guy at the maintenance shed. It was locked up tight as a drum, with my battery inside! The guys had clearly quit early for the week-end.

I walked back across the ramp, in the blazing heat, and asked the guys in the AIS office if they knew the maintenance guy. Yes, they called the shed, no answer. Another guy thought he knew his cell phone and called him. Yes, he would come back to the airport. 20 min. later he pulls up, dressed in a t-shirt and bathing suit! It's island time mon! How anything ever gets done around here amazes me.

I put the battery back in the plane, hit the starter and....the prop groaned, moved 10 degrees and stopped. I tried the flap motor--worked fine, landing light--worked fine. It appeared that the battery has enough juice to run everything but the high draw item--the starter. So it's hand propping from now on. I'm so thankful that I once had a mechanic show me how to do it. Most pilots haven't a clue but in the Caribbean mon, you need to be resourceful.

When I got back to the hotel, I ordered a new battery from Aircraft Spruce and had it shipped to Fort Lauderdale Exec. airport. We need to stop there on our way back to return the raft and the PLB. Since the battery contains hazardous materials--acid--it has to be shipped via ground so I couldn't have it sent to the island. Once the engine is running, the alternator takes the load, so we shouldn't have any problems in flight.

So it looks like our trip to St. Barts is back on for tomorrow. It looks like the wind is still from the south which means runway 28 which is the one I practiced with Nicholas. The key is remembering all the reporting points and approach altitudes to fly. Piece of cake. Just like Jim Cole's strip (only this one has mountains on 3 sides and water at the end of the runway!)

If Kath has her eyes open, I'll have her try and film the landing!!

Day 12 & 13--St. Kitts to St. Martin Twice and St. Barts Once

Kath and I spent the day today in St. Martin. 

Actually, I flew there yesterday as well to try and connect with an French instructor for a check-out to land at St. Barths. Unfortunately, the winds were out of the west (and not the usual easterlies) which meant we couldn't land on runway 10--the famous approach over the hill that you see in pictures. So I came back empty handed, i.e., no endorsement.

Kath said that she would like to see St. Martin, so she came with me and we flew back over today (about a 40 minute flight north). I would love to fill you in on the details as I got to shoot a bunch of landings at St. Barths--the place is unbelievable--but unfortunately I'm pretty tired as it was long day and ended on a poor note as the engine starter failed just as we were leaving St. Martin to fly home. So I had to hand prop the engine and we flew home.  I was really glad a mechanic showed me how to do it several years ago.

However, I need to figure this out before we start on our trip home!!! So I'm kind of preoccupied trying to figure out if it's the alternator, battery, starter or a combination. I'm going to get up early tomorrow and head down to the airport and start the diagnosis (it was almost dark when we landed this evening)

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Ok, the problem is solved (sort of--read the next post) so let me fill you in on St. Martin and St. Barts.

Loading up DKX for the flight to St. Martin and St. Barths.

St. Martin is about 50 miles north of St. Kitts. That's the French side, the south side of the island is St. Maarten and is Dutch. The airport is called Grand Case and is a really neat place. The runway is in a valley between 2 large (1200') hills and in the circuit you are basically level with the tops of the hills. We landed on runway 30, winds were south westerly, and shut down on the ramp.

Customs, for a change, was a non-issue. There was no one there. You put 2 Gen Decs in the box and then pay the landing fee ($13US) and you're good to go.

My appointment with Nicholas Cadet, the French flight instructor was at 1 pm and it was 10 am, so Kath and I peddled into Grand Case to check it out. We found a quaint cafe right on the beach and hung out. I would say St. Martin is somewhat more sophisticated than St.Kitts (particularly the restaurants--the French love their food), but the French are a bit less friendly.

The little cafe on the beach in Grand Case where we hung out and had a swim.

I left Kath at the cafe, which was good with her as she wanted to work on her book, and peddled back to the airport. Nicholas showed up on time and we did a briefing on the approaches into St. Barths. It's a very busy place and the visual approaches are quite complicated. I can see why you need a special endorsement to land there. 

There is only one runway 10-28 built at 90 degrees to the beach and it slopes down at 3%. There are large hills in 3 quadrants. All take-offs are on runway 10, toward the beach as a take-off on 28 would put you into a mountain.

Grand Case airport. Getting ready for the check-out for St. Barths.

Both approaches are challenging. For runway 28, you fly a curving final approach towards the beach. At 200 ft ASL you have to make a go/no decision on landing because beyond that point, a go-round is impossible. As Nicholas said: "Either you land, or you die". O-k-a-y. We ended up doing 3 landings on 28 (all to a full stop obviously, and I managed to pull each off pretty well.

Runway 10 is the toughest as I have mentioned before. You have to clear a 150' hill and then descend rapidly to the downsloping runway and stop before you are off the pavement and onto the beach. Since the winds were southwesterly, we couldn't actually land on 10 so I did the approach (with a slight cross tail wind--whew--and then overshot at about 50 feet. It wasn't that tough, very similar to stuffing it into Jim Cole's strip in the spring when there is standing water half way down the runway. I'm glad I've got a 172 with 40 degrees of flaps as you really need them here.

After our 4'th landing, we parked the plane and walked to the terminal building for a cold drink. What a place! The traffic volume is nuts. Only Islanders and Twin Otters (both STOL) can get in and out of this place and they are landing and taking off constantly. The take-offs are all short field technique--full brakes, full power then blast off down the runway to the beach. Once airborne it's an immediate climbing left turn in order to get out of the way of the landing traffic that's coming at you head on!! 

What I saw of the terminal building and the people was really interesting. The place is very funky and very upscale at the same time. As I mentioned earlier, Ken called it the "St. Tropez of the Caribbean" and it does seem that way. It's clearly full of the "beautiful people" and while it's basically the antithesis of what Kath and I like, it is certainly worth seeing. So we hope to come back tomorrow. Kath for the scenery, me for the landing!!

So I ended up getting some good experience at St. Barths, but because they wouldn't let us land on rwy 10, Nicholas couldn't give me the endorsement. So that raises a sticky issue. I would like to come back with Kath tomorrow, but theoretically, I'm not legal. I asked Nicholas about it and he said that he was not aware of anyone ever being asked to show their endorsement but it could happen. He felt that as long as you didn't screw up or become a conflict for other traffic, you should be ok. So, what to do?!!

Day 12--St. Kitts to Antigua for Fuel

We landed in St. Kitts last Wednesday with about 2 hours of fuel remaining in the tanks (max. endurance in the plane is just under 5 hours). It was planned that way, but unfortunately St. Kitts (and many of the Caribbean islands) don't sell avgas. 

St. Kitts carries jet fuel for the kerosene crowd, but nothing for the piston bangers. As a result, piston aircraft travelling the Eastern Caribbean have to plan their fuel stops carefully. The closest source of avgas is Antigua, 54 nm to the southeast or St. Maarten, 56 nm to the northeast. I knew I would need to travel to one of these airports to fuel up.

DKX on the ramp in St. Kitts.  Extinct volcano in the background

My buddy Ken kind of freaked me out when he told me how busy Juliana airport on St. Maarten can be at times. It's the hub for all the European flights coming into the Caribbean and according to Ken, the frequency can be rapid fire ATC instructions to all the 747's, Airbus 340's and other heavy iron lined up on final as far as the eye can see.

As an aside, short final to runway 09 at Juliana goes right over the main downtown beach. There is a classic shot, which you may have seen, of a KLM 747 with wheels almost touching the sand and all the startled bathers looking on.

I elected to fly to Antigua today for gas. I'll need to go into Juliana tomorrow anyway as I'm booked to fly with a French flight instructor tomorrow morning for my endorsement to land at St. Barths. I'll be picking him up at Grand Case airport on St. Martin (on the French side) and we apparently will need about 2 hours to fly to St. Barts (20 nm or so) shoot a bunch of landings and return to Grand Case.

At that point, I'll need to refuel (for the flight to St. Barths with Kath on Thursday), so I'll go to Juliana at that time. If I end up getting centre punched by a Lear on short final, you'll be able to read about it in the papers.

St. Kitts Aeropuerta straight ahead!!

So-o-o...where were we? Oh yeah, I loaded up all the gear in my backpack (including the new gyro which arrived via Fedex yesterday) and peddled to the airport. It's quite a hike, up and down Bird Rock hill and I was perspiring heavily when I arrived. I chained up the bike and began the Caribbean customs ritual dance.

First you go to the lady at the Departure desk and pay your landing and departure tax fees--$21US. You then take this receipt to Immigration along with 3 completed "Gen Decs" or general declarations. The Gen Decs are essentially the legal currency of the whole process. Immigration keeps one outbound, stamps one outbound for Customs and stamps another inbound for presentation at Antigua.

You then march back outside and into Customs where they keep 1 one, and stamp 2. THEN, you walk back to Immigration (passing the Loo where you take a leak and splash some water on your sweaty face) present the stamped Customs Gen Dec to Immigration (AGAIN), go through the x-ray machine and then try and convince someone to let you onto the airside because "I am the pilot and I OWN THE AIRPLANE". Usually this takes a couple of conversations with security personnel before you are finally set free onto the ramp.

As I was walking to the plane, I had a brief nano second of absolute terror thinking that I had forgotten something and would have to go back and go through the whole process again. But thankfully it was a false alarm.

DKX was still sitting on the ramp, appearing to be in good condition after baking in the sun for the last 5 days. I pulled out the tool box and after carefully switching the AN vacuum fittings from the old gyro to the new, I installed the new unit by lying on my back on the floor under the instrument panel, my head jammed against the rudder pedals and my feet drapped over the pilot seat.

It's not a particularly tough job (I've done it twice before) but it's awkward and the sweat kept running into my eyes causing them to lose focus. Memo to file: scrap all the "extended length" open ended wrenches that I got on sale at Crazy Tire and only bring "stubby" wrenches. There are just too many cramped places in an airplane for regular length wrenches.

Once installed, I did a quick walk around and fired up. The new gyro worked! I called clearance/ground/tower/approach/centre--it's all one guy in the tower and blasted off VFR eastbound to Antigua.

Once airborne the panoramic view of the island is spectacular. It was nice as I could see the route that Kath and I had taken the day before on the scooter. I struck out over the water with the large central mountain of Nevis off my right wing tip. The weather was good with scattered cumulus based at 2500 with tops that looked way up there. I decided to stay low.

There were a few towering CU around with some rain showers underneath which I flew around. You can see clearly the area where the rain is hitting the ocean beneath the cloud. Very cool.

 Nevis Island.

 Nevis and St. Kitts are part of the same federation. Nevis is to the south of St. Kitts, separated by about 2 miles of water.

St. Kitts approach told me to call 15 miles out (which corresponds with "the boundary" of their airspace). I did that and was told to contact VC Bird approach on 119.1. VC Bird is the airport on Antigua and their approach facility controls the whole area.

Antigua hove into view after about 20 minutes over water and I was cleared to land on runway 07. The island is larger than St. Kitts but not as mountainous. There appeared to be a lot of white sand beaches a different points around the island.

 Antigua from 2500 feet approaching from the northwest. 

The landing was uneventful and ground told me to park in a distant corner of the main ramp which was huge. On the way in I noticed there was a large thunderstorm that looked about 10 miles north east of the field. I couldn't tell what direction it was moving, but elected to lock the controls just in case it came through while I was there.

After a long walk across the ramp, I walked into Immigration and...the dance began again. I won't bore you to tears again, but believe me it is painful. The only redeeming thing is the people are uniformly pleasant and easy to talk to. The key is to take a deep breath, double or triple the time expectations you have set for yourself and enjoy the experience.

The highlight of the trip was actually the fuel guy from Texaco. After a phone call from the AIS office (where I had to go to file a flight plan back to St. Kitts. Flight plans are mandatory, even VFR, which seeing you are crossing a lot of water, makes imminent sense), he showed up at the airplane.

As he pumped in 27.1 USG of avgas (at $5.18US a gallon) I started up a conversation with him. His name was Cyrus Nicodemus Samuel (no kidding) and he was a sweetheart. I commented that his parents obviously liked Biblical names and we had a laugh about how he was called Nicodemus as a kid which he hated. I knew he was a born again Christian when he told me how Nicodemus had come to Jesus by night, but that he, Cyrus, had come during the day. It blessed my heart when he told me that.

We were having a nice chat about his church when I paid him for the gas, but learned that they don't carry any cash in the truck. Go figure, no credit cards allowed, but no change in the truck. We climbed into the truck and he drove back to the depot (meanwhile my ETD on the flight plan was ticking by) to find his boss who I guess kept the all the cash. He wasn't there, so we drove over to the terminal building where he got out and left me in the truck (which was a good thing because I didn't want to go back in) and he went to the bank to get change. After a 15 min or so wait he was back and everything was straightened away. 

The CB to the east hadn't moved and I was going west, so I fired up, took off on runway 07 and steered towards St. Kitts. On the way back I had to fly around a small thunderstorm but it wasn't a big deal.

Approaching the island I got permission to descend down to 500 feet and overflew the resort. Kath happened to be sitting outside in the restaurant working on her Nugget book, and saw me fly over. Oh yah-h-h!!! 

The St. Kitts Marriott and Royal Beach Casino Resort (whew!) from 500'. Kath and I are in the red roof villa complex on the far right.

I circled the south of the island at 500, well below the hills and took a few pictures. I then climbed to 1000 feet and entered the downwind for runway 25 (opposite winds to Antigua). I landed and taxied to the same spot on the ramp.

After clearing customs (not quite as bad this time), I climbed back on the bike and peddled the 1/2 hour ride back to the Marriott. Once there, I stripped off my soaked clothes and fell into the pool.

Another great day. It was good to be back in the air. Tomorrow, Lord willing, I get checked out for the exciting landing in St. Barths!!

Day 11--St. Kitts on a Scooter

Today Kath and I rented a scooter and toured the island. That means that I will need to write a travel log of our days adventures, which is ok, but I'd rather write about flying. And since I will be flying to Antigua tomorrow, I think I'll plan the trip tonight and write about that tomorrow. More to come on the island tour later....

Day 10--Off to Church in St. Kitts

It's Sunday April 15 and Kathy and I went to church this morning.

As I've noted previously, a large percentage of the Caribbean people are born again Christians. It's so cool when you hear recorded Christian music being played down here in the least places you would expect it. I think I mentioned earlier when I had to climb up to the tower in Great Exuma to file my flight plan. When I got up there, there were three ATC staff, two guys working the radios and a lady handling the flight plans. Christian music was filling the whole tower cab and clearly they were all enjoying it as they talked to the various airplanes.

In St. Kitts, we had a flat tire on one of the bikes and I went to the resort's maintenance shop looking for a tire repair kit. It was a typical Caribbean garage--very run down, old wrecked cars lying around, a flea bitten dog lying in the sun chained to a rusty oil drum--but when I went inside to look for the mechanic, lovely Christian music was playing. He was happy to help me fix my tire and we both sang to the music as he worked. I was blessed just being there.

Yesterday, Kath started up a conversation with one of the native girls who supervised the towel check out booth by the pool. She turned out to be a Christian and when Kath asked about church she offered to pick us up and take us to her church. Kath came back all excited but when I asked what kind of church she said she forgot to ask but that the girl seemed to be very pleasant and excited about us coming with her.

I was a tad concerned as to where might end up. In addition to many legitimate evangelical churches down here, there are some pretty weird sects as well. You can see the posters on the bill boards at the local supermarket: "Pastor Queen Xaifour, master of Pedagogy (or some weird title) invites you to a healing rally at the Caribbean Deliverence Centre on Tuesday night!!! Kind of stange stuff.. Kath had already agreed to be picked up at the front entrance of the hotel at 10:30 so we were committed.

At 10:45 Debbie drove up (actually her husband drove up in a relatively new Toyota van with Debbie, her 10 year old son, 9 month old baby, her sister's 15 year old son (holding another baby) and an elderly lady in the back seat. It was quite a crowd, but we climbed in anyway. Everyone in the car was dressed to the nine's. Erickson, her husband was in a dark suit and tie, the boys were in white shirts and dark pants, the baby was in an adorable little white dress with braded hair and tiny earings and a necklace (a bit over the top for our tastes, but typical for the Caribbean) and the ladies were in lovely summer dresses and had obviously spent a long time on their hair. In short, everyone was in their Sunday best. It was cool. (Now I know this sounds a bit weird coming from a guy, but hey I think it's time I showed my sensitive, touchy-feely side. I can cry with the best of them...)

We drove towards Basseterre for a few miles and then turned into a dirt road that looked like we were entering a wreckers yard. We went past a couple of delapitated buildings, several rusted out old cars and parked in front of what appeared to be a white washed, half finished block building. Before we could open the doors, we could hear the singing. This must be the church. 

The Church

When we got inside, it was actually decorated quite tastefully, in sharp contrast to the outside property. There were about 75 people (all black of course) of all ages sitting in fold-up chairs on the concrete floor. There was a small pulpit at the front and a small band comprised of of organ, drums and guitar. I won't bore you with all the details of the service, but let's just say it was enthusiastic worship. Kath and I thorough enjoyed it. These people obviously love the Lord, they love to sing and they do it with all their hearts. But at the same time, nothing is in excess. There is a strong sense of order to the service and the Pastor's sermon was practical and solidly Biblical.

Part way through the service, a young girl went to the front with the task to intoduce the guests. She spoke quite eloquently and asked both Kath and I, plus a lady visiting from Bird Rock to stand while the church applauded. It was nicely done and we felt very welcomed. Finally after 2 hours, things wound down and the service concluded. We stood around while people came up to chat with us and then were driven back to the resort.

After thanking our host, we said goodbye and walked back into the palacial lobby of the Marriott. As we walked back to our room, Kath remarked how Debbie's family and we were returning to two completely different lives. Yet despite the obvious social, economic and cultural differences, we felt right at home with these precious believers and I sense they felt the same way about us. It was a great morning and a great day to be in church. We felt very blessed indeed.

Day 8 & 9--Exploring St. Kitts by Bike

It's been several days since I've been in the airplane and I'm going through a bit of withdrawal. Kath on the other hand is rejoicing being on the ground.

I ordered an overhauled gyro from a firm in Wichita who rebuilt my attitude indicator last year. It's been shipped Fedex and I've been tracking it's progress on the Internet. Currently it's in Puerto Rico (Borinquen actually!) and I hope it will arrive tomorrow afternoon. I'll need to scrounge some teflon tape from the hotel maintenance shop so I can swap the vacuum hose fittings on the old one. I'll then peddle down to the airport and install it.

The plan is to fly to Guadaloupe on Monday to get fuel as well as get checked out by a French flight instructor for a special endorsement to land at St. Barths. St. Barths is a tiny French island 36 miles north west of St. Kitts. It's called the "St. Tropez of the Caribbean" and is reported to be a very neat place to visit. Kath is totally pumped to see it. The part I'm most looking forward to is the approach and landing at the St. Barths airport.

Here's what the Bahamas and Caribbean Pilot Guide says: "The usual approach is Rwy 10, with a 10 degree glide slope and a 150' hill right at the start of the runway. You must enter high enough to see over the 150' hill, 1500' just clearing, and sink rapidly. The runway is 3% downhill, ending at the topless beach." 'Nuff said...

Meanwile back at the resort... Yesterday we biked into Basseterre the capital of St.Kitts. Very quaint old place. The biggest challenge was St. Johns hill which was a long, tough climb in the heat. We're learning that the bikes are great in reasonably flat terrain, but these mountainous islands are quite a challenge, particularly in the heat of the day

Not learning our lesson, we attempted to ride to South Friars beach which included climbing another very large hill/mini-mountain. We ended walking the bikes up hill which took almost 45 minutes leaving us totally pooped at the top. The ride down the other side was a high velocity screamer with the brakes on fire. Thrilling but very tough on the bikes.

We ended up at South Friars at a very funky restaurant/bar right on the beach called Ship Wreck run by a wasted local called Ken. What was particularly cool was a small group of monkeys that come down to the beach and eat the sugar cane that Ken feeds them. There is great snorkling right off the beach so we doned our gear and paddled around a bit. It was perfect for Kath as the water was only 4-5 feet deep so she could touch bottom easily. As I mentioned earlier, we were pretty pooped from the peddle in, so Ken kindly offered to give us a ride back to the Marriott in his pick-up.

All in all, a great day exploring St. Kitts.

The view from the top of St. Johns Hill after our triathalon climb with the bikes.



Look carefully...you can see little monkeys..



On the lee side of the hill looking towards Basseterre and the airport (neither of which can be seen from this angle which kind negates the need for this caption...so it's essentially filler)




Ship Wreck bar and restaurant on South Friars beach--very funky place




Frigate Bay from the back of Ken's pick-up on the ride back to the hotel.

Day 7--St. Kitts and the Crazy Over the Top Digs

We are finally in St. Kitts and it's wonderful.

As some of you may know, we are staying at the St. Kitts Marriott and Royal Casino Resort on Frigate Bay. It's a 5 star resort and the only reason we are here is because my good buddy Ken King who flies the resort CEO was able to get us a room at a fantasic rate. However, we did have a bit of an issue with the room...

It turned out to be a beautifully appointed villa, right on the ocean. In fact it was almost too good to be true. Not only was it beautifully appointed with all modern appliances, but the freezer was full of food--very high end food--cornish game hens, swordfish filets ($40US each--the price was right on it) and a fully stocked bar. The place was obviously owned by someone (and being rented out with their permission we thought), but it was kind of over the top.

The view from the balcony of our condo and no, that's not an alcoholic drink I'm holding, but it did come with a fully stocked bar!

In the cupboard we found a package addressed to "Andrea Bonciani" and a copy of an Italian newspaper from Toronto. Ah ha...it looked like maybe someone connected with Vic De Zen, the CEO. We called the front desk and they said yes everything was fine and to enjoy our stay. However, just to be safe, I sent a quick email to Ken telling him about the room. I kind of joked about the identity of the mysterious Andrea wondering if she may have been a kept woman or something like that.

Thirty seconds after I hit the send button on the computer, the phone rang. It was Ken. He wasn't laughing. Apparently, the room WAS a private villa owned by the Bonciani family of Woodbridge. Mr. Bonciani apparently was a shipping magnate who managed all the international shipping for Vic's various business interests. The room was definitely NOT to be rented out. The hotel had obviously messed up big time. Ken went ahead and called Rona, Vic's personal assistant that night in an attempt to straighten things out. The hotel manager called us at about 10 that night apologizing for the mistake and telling us we would be moved the next day…

That was two days ago and no one has called us! The only person we have seen is the maid who showed up to clean the room and asked if we wanted the towels changed each day! So in the interim, Kath and I are enjoying all this lovely stuff and waiting to move. However, I’m learning that this kind of mess up is very typical at St Kitts’ (and other Caribbean) hotels. Who knows, we may stay here the whole time!

Day 6--Grand Turk to St. Kitts--The Big Over Water Jump

Knowing Kath's penchant for puking (ya gotta love alliteration...), we elected to depart as early as possible knowing the day called for a lot of flying. Accordingly we were packed, flight plan filed and bikes folded ready for pick-up at 6 am. We arrived at the airport and proceeded to sit and wait for the customs guy to show up. I had gone down the afternoon before to ready the plane and file a flight plan (you climb up to the tower cab and hand the form to the tower staff) and I told the customs guy we would need him at 6:15. True to form, he was on "island time" and wandered in at 7:15. I could have killed him. 15 minutes longer and Miami Centre would have let our flight plan expire. We packed the plane and blasted off for the "big jump"--100 nm over water to the DR (Dominican Republic).

It was a beautiful day. I flight planned for 9000 feet again hoping to say above the bumps. It turned out it was not necessary as it was smooth as butter all the way up and stayed that way all day long. We left Grand Turk behind us and were soon significantly out over the water, a long way from land.


Airborne off Grand Turk on our way to the DR

One of thore many advantages of IFR even in clear weather is you are in constant radio communication with Center. So if something untoward happens at least someone will be listening to your panicked screams for help--or calm professional relaying of flight status and position--as you slowly spiral to the sea. Pick one.

The Turks are not in radar coverage at the lower altitudes we were flying, so we stayed on the airways and gave position reports until we were picked up by Santo Domingo Centre about 40 miles offshore of the DR. As Kath mentioned in her last email, these guys sound like "Jose Hemanas" on steroids. Most of the chatter is in Spanish with the odd American pilot breaking in in English which then draws an English reply. I shouldn't be too hard on these guys as they were generally very pleasant and helpful.

We made landfall at Puerto Plata and made the turn south east towards Punta Cana. I didn't realize just how mountainous the DR really is. The scenery out the right window was spectacular with a mix of brown peaks and lush, mottled green valleys appearing in the breaks between the clouds below us. It was really one of the highlights of the trip--Kath and I just droning along at 9000 ft, almost surrealistically, watching all this stuff float slowly by beneath us.

Our destination was Borenquen on the north west corner of Puerto Rico where we needed to stop for fuel. During the mid part of the flight I was recalculating the fuel requirements and gave myself a bit of a scare. This leg was to be our longest yet, some 380 nm and about 4 hours of flying with the light headwind we were experiencing. I have about 4 hours and 45 minutes to dry tanks so we would have a reasonable reserve on landing. I suddenly remembered that we had fueled in Provo and travelled onward to Grand Turk, about a 40 minute flight. I had forgotten to account for that time!! But then I quickly remembered that the 385 nm distance was from PROVO, so everything was ok. Sounds a bit anticlimatic I know, but believe me at 9000 ft over the water, a thought like that concentrates your mind wonderfully!

We landed at about 11:00 at Borenquen, cleared US customs (PR is a US protectorate and the customs stuff is the same as in the US) and topped up the tanks. Borenquen is a former US airforce base. Huge 11,000 foot runway and is FEDEX's Caribbean hub. The place was a bee-hive of activity, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. There were a number of FEDEX DC-10's from Memphis unloading on the ground and Merlin Metroliners were blasting off in all directions carrying their packages to the various islands in the Caribbean. Very cool place.


On the ramp in Borenquen, Puerto Rico

Flight plan filed, we were back in the air by 12:15 on the final push to St. Kitts. Our route was over the centre of PR (very similar to the DR, low mountains, valleys, rivers--very tropical) across the water to St. Croix (one of the US Virgin Islands) and then another long over water shot to St. Kitts.

After what seemed like an eternity droning along and listening San Juan Centre talk to all the civil airliners in the flight levels, St. Kitts gradually took shape on the horizon in front of us. We actually sighted it just after the guy at San Juan Center handed us off to Bradshaw (St. Kitts) Approach and called us "slow moving" in the process. I was hurt.


The island of Nevis, due south of St. Kitts


Never-the-less, the sight of St. Kitts growing in the windshield as we descended was spectacular. The island looks like something out of Jurasic Park. A large green mountain to the north, complete with rainforest and extinct volcanic crater in the center and smaller mountains to the south. As we descended, I asked for a visual approach and broke off the airway so we could parallel the coast as we descended. It was very beautiful and we tried to film it with the camcorder as we came down through the clouds. We made a descending left turn past the southern most hill and found ourselves lined up on final for runway 07.


After a reasonable landing we taxed past the new large terminal and a row of parked biz jets, and parked between two other biz jets at the east end of the ramp. After shutting down and getting out we found ourselves alone on this huge ramp, the only piston engine aircraft in sight.


I'll spare you the details with customs (which is always a prolonged experience in the Caribbean) as well as the Marriott (which we'll talk about tomorrow) and just note that after standing there for a couple of minutes it finally began to sink in that we had done it--flown 2253 nautical miles in 23.4 hours in a "slow moving" piston banger spam can--and had loved every minute of it. At least I had. Kathy says she loved about 42 seconds of every minute, which for someone who doesn't really like little planes, is a pretty good average when you think about it.


We'll see you tomorrow on Frigate Bay Beach!!