Well, Sandy (the Franken-storm) defintely affected our travel back to the states. We ended up having to stay an extra day on St. Croix … we also spent an extra night in the Bahamas. The trip started out normal enough but ended up any thing but normal… "What could go wrong?"
Started our way back from St.Croix Airport (TSIX). I had to settle up with the Landing Port Authority at $10 per night, and a landing fee of $10. The price of Avgas has gotten a little on the pricey side at $7.38 per gallon and I needed 66 gallons… Yikes! Filed all the paper work to get my flight plan from St. Croix to Puerto Rico to Great Inagua to Grand Exuma and finally to Ft. Lauderdale. That was the plan.
Landed Puerto Rico after a nice flight over the Rain Forest where I used to live back in the 80's. Western Aviation was very accommodating however Customs claimed that I was not in their record even though I had called the day before to let them know that I was coming, filed a manifest with eApis and filed a flight plan… not sure what more I can do to let them know. It turns out that there are "Handlers" that work within the different FBOs that can facilitate you through the customs process and make your travel easier. It is nice to have someone on the other end who knows the airport! Took off and landed in Great Inagua Bahamas… the Bahamas are very General Aviation friendly (in other words they like pilots in small planes and understand the concept of island hopping). Cleared Customs and put some fuel into the plane to get to the next island (approximately 250 miles away).
Landed in Grand Exuma and was doing great, the weather was cooperating and Odyssey Aviation had a new building and WiFi. All fueled up and ready to make the next hop. Everyone was very professional and polite.
I was trying to refile my flight plan with the international briefer when she made the statement that you have to be IFR rated to fly after sunset and that while its light now… it will be dark before you get out of Bahama air space! Oh well it looks like we will be staying in the Bahamas for the night… LeRoy the taxi driver took us to a great hotel in Georgetown. Met some nice people there and found out that the local vet had passed away… it looks like they are in need of a veterinarian. I would be lying if I said that it did not cross my mind to move to the Bahamas… but alas I think that will have to wait for retirement! Took off the next morning for Ft. Lauderdale. Passed through the ADIZ (entry into the country) without getting shot down… again Customs did not get my flight plan or my eAPIS manifest or a conformation call from my wife (which she made)… but they did let me into the country after seeing my passport. Banyan aviation was great and took very good care of us and the plane.
Was able to fly up to Raleigh Durham and land in very marginal weather, rent a car and make my way back to Virginia. Landmark Aviation was wonderful and tied down my plane for a couple of days.
I can't say enough about all the people that made this happen. This was a concerted effort from many people... too many for me to mention here. To say that this was a success would be an understatement. It reminds me of the old story about a child that is walking down a beach where thousands of starfish were washed up. The child was throwing starfish back into the sea when a passerby told the child that efforts to throw starfish back would not make a difference since there were so many... the child just continued to throw them back one at a time and made the statement that it made a difference to the ones that got thrown back. The spay and neuter program did not finish the work needed but we made a difference to the ones that we worked on!
Thanks again for everyone that was involved... its back to work another cup of coffee... Bye for now, Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment