Day 7 Kingston...checked off my Bucket List

Bucket List....

I'm not dying but I have come to consider this trip a "Bucket List" trip. I have always wanted to fly myself and land my plane in the "land of my forefathers".

I was really looking forward to seeing Jamaica with my own eyes, flying my own plane...
Sigh.... I was on top or in IMC (in the cloud) the whole time I was over Jamaica.

I finally broke through the clouds just before landing in Kingston and got a great shot of the sunset behind me.

Left downwind for Norman Manley (Kingston International) airport...


Finally... holy bureaucracy batman... after finally sorting out the paperwork here is GKNT on the ramp in Kingston.

Day 7 Miami-Key West-Grand Cayman

Tyler and I left Miami early and stopped in Key West to refuel and rent a life raft. They had the drug dogs out and searched our plane just in case we decided to bring marijuana from the US to the Caymans. Great use of taxes.... no wonder the US government has such a large deficit.

Turning final in Key W


We then overflew Cuba where the air traffic controllers were very good...



Next on to Grand Cayman where you can basically see the entire island on final approach.



We cleared customs, had a quick lunch refueled and left Tyler behind and left for Kingston. I had very little time as I really wanted to land in Kingston before sunset. Leaving it took me almost 10 minutes to get the engine started and I thought that I was going to drain the battery. I thought that it was me as I rarely fly the Mooney at sea level (Alberta is 3,000 ft about sea level) and 25 C. More on this later....mechanical problems always seem to come up when you are a loooong way from home.

Day 8-10 Haiti

Hi all,

Just to let you know, I have safely returned to Jamaica after spending 3 days helping out moving doctors, nurses and supplies from the Dominican into Haiti.

Briefly...it was extremely challenging and frustrating due to the weather, terrain, bureaucracy and mechanical problem (yes it tends happens when I am a looooong way from home). I was able to make 3 trips into Jacmel, a small strip about 25 miles south of Port-au-Prince. I was hoping to do more trips but everything there runs on "Island time" and after wading through the bureaucracy, that's was about as much as I could do.

I will try to post some more details in the upcoming days but Anne and the kids are here with me in Montego Bay and I an trying to get some rest and spend time with them.

Glenn

Day 3-4 - Mardi Gras

Sorry these posts are out of sequence but I am just trying to get caught up.

Mardi Gras was quite a party. Not quite my scene but a lot of fun anyway. Fortunately, we had our friend Lance who has been to Mardi Gras the last 20 continuous years as a guide.

Tyler has already put up some "nice" pictures so I will limit those that I post. Most of these picture speak for themselves.

There were all kinds in New Orleans. They were many "religious" types telling us that we were going to burn in hell. My theory is that they are just using this as an excuse to see women show their breasts while they were there...


They were many parades. We got to see Harry Connick Jr.

We got to see everything from Jesus himself to a Teletubby smoking and drinking a beer.



Here's our group on the levee



Here's a nice picture of my new friends Kelly and Cheryl


BTW, that's Kelly husband on her left.


The problem now, of course, is that every time I pick up my camera I expect somebody to show me their breasts.

Day 8

The trip to the Cayman's was uneventful. We left Miami Friday morning for Key West. At Key West we go fuel and rented a life raft. Also at Key West we were greeted bu some visitor. The US Customs was there to meet us. How nice of them. They even had a dog! We were asked to unload our luggage on the tarmac so the dog could check our bags for drugs. Go thing we left the BC bud back home!!

Once we got to Cayman I had a friend pick us up at the airport. We went for lunch and then took Glenn back to the airport. While in Miami Glenn saw on the AOPA website that they were looking for aircraft to fly some missions in Haiti. Glenn wanted to help out so he volunteered his services and aircraft. So I said goodbye to Glenn as he left for Jamaica then off to the Domicican. I will meet back up with Glenn on Monday. I will take a commercial flight from Cayman to Jaimaca on Monday on Cayman Airlines. Hope the sun will be out in Jamaica as it does not really want to make its presence known in Cayman.

Day 6

Mardi Gras was fun and interesting. Lots of people, lots of costumes and of course lots of boobies! It is amazing what people will do for beads.

The flight to Miami was uneventful. We went from New Orleans to Tallahassee, FL where we got fuel and some lunch. Next stop was Miami where we landed at the Kendall Taimiami Airort. Unloads our gear, got a rental car and found our hotel.

Today was a lazy day. Slept in til 10:00 AM (Eastern time, so 7 AM for all you Alberta people) We jumped into the car and went to Ft Lauderdale to do some shopping at the big outlet mall. Was also my first time driving down highways with toll booths. I think we went through 2 toll boths there and 2 back, each one costing a buck. There are also the odd ones that cost $0.25.

Tomorrows agenda is to go to Key West, get some fuel, rent a life raft and make our way to Grand Cayman Island!

Day 3

Departed Goodland at 7:00AM. There may have been no snow but damn was it cold. The winds were blowing but at least it was sunny and clear. We got our clearance and were on our way. Our flight plan would take us to Texas.

The tail winds we were getting were awesome. We had a 40 knot push that was giving us grounds speeds up to 190 kts! With these speeds we could go further. We contacted centre and extended our destination to Shreveport, LA. 3.5 hour later and 600 nm we were just one leg closer to New Orleans!

After some much needed lunch we jumped back into the airplane for destination 1 of our trip, New Orleans. Again we had some nice tail winds to give us a good push to New Orleans. It was only an 1.5 hour flight.

We landed at the Louis Armstrong Internation Airport in New Orleans. We taxied the plane to Atlantic Air Services where a nice fellow marshalled us in to park us.


Never did get the name of the guy who parked us but he asked us if this was our first time to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. After answering "Yes!" it was quickly followed by his response "You boys are gonna see some shit you have never seen before"

We got a cab and made our way into the city to check into the hotel. After that was done, it was off to the French Quarters and Bourbon Street!