Spring Break 2014

Last month was our 5th annual visit to Treasure Cay, Bahamas.  We had a fabulous time and stayed
at the Bahama Beach Club in John Cash's unit named "Bahama Breeze".  We have stayed there once before on our Memorial Day Weekend 2010 visit.  All the places we have stayed have been great and Bahamas Breeze has one of the best views that allow you to enjoy the beauty of Treasure Cay Beach even while inside!  I think only Pam's condo (Sandollar Dreams) tops this feature so far!

I had an itch before our trip to change up our route to the Bahamas.  The default route is to proceed down the coast of Florida until you get to Melbourne, then turn out over the water and head to Freeport, then direct into Treasure Cay (MYAT).  I have noticed over the years that a lot of aircraft seem to be arriving into MYAT from the northwest.  The problem with that route is that if you turn out early to make it happen, ATC needs you to be at 13,000 feet or above to provide radar services.  I really wanted to come in over the very northern part of the Abacos to see how much better the views below might be before landing.  So I took a chance and filed IFR for a route that would take me to Melbourne and then direct to Treasure Cay; basically cutting out Freeport.

I filed for 8000 feet and got cleared as filed!  Unfortunately it didn't stay that way, but it all worked out in the end.  I wasn't worried about the over-the-water time because it was almost the same by the time you reach Walker's Cay.  Just before we reached Daytona Beach, ATC offered us direct to Treasure Cay so I said yes!  As soon as we were handed off to Orlando Approach, we were diverted back south to stay out of some active restricted areas.  Once we were allowed to head for our destination again, I was told I either needed to climb to 13,000 feet or proceed further south towards Grand Bahama Island to maintain radar services.  I didn't want to do either.  So after thinking about it for a minute, I asked ATC if I could cancel IFR and just proceed VFR with flight following and stay with them for as long as I could at 7500 feet.  This may not sound like a big deal, but I wasn't sure how this would be handled since I was still smack in the middle of the ADIZ and didn't want to cause any problems.  ATC, and now I was talking to Miami Center, said no problem!  So we continued on and surprisingly we were able to stay in radar service with them quite a bit further than they had informed.

The flight over the ocean was peaceful and soon we could see Walker's Cay.  We cancelled flight following and descended to about 2000 feet as we cruised along the North Abaco cays until we reached the Treasure Cay airport.  This change to the routine was definitely worth it!  The views were amazing.  Abby and I took turns pointing out the sights and taking pictures.  Unfortunately Kristi missed the whole thing since she pretty much slept the whole flight until just before we landed.  Oh well, she liked the pictures though!

Our favorite taxi driver, Sydney Hart, was at the airport when we arrived.  Clearing Immigration & Customs was the usual painless experience except since our last visit we now have to pay a $50 landing fee to Customs.  Personally, I'm still not happy about the new fees like a lot of other pilots are, but the Bahamian Government wins this one because it's still such an amazing place to enjoy.  There are still now tie-down fees at MYAT so that's good.

We got to the Bahama Beach Club around 1 pm and were very happy to find the condo and our golf cart ready and waiting!  We made a quick trip to the grocery store for some essentials and then hit the beach!  We spent most mornings on the playing on the beach and then after lunch we would hang out at the pool.  There seemed to be a lot of folks around, but not as many as last year.  Unlike last year's chilly stay, we enjoyed almost perfect weather all week!

This year we ended up making most of our meals at the condo.  We enjoyed a few lunches and treats, like conch fritters, at the pool grill, but it was just easier to do things for ourselves and mainly on our schedule!  A few times a week the Bahama Beach Club has themed dinner nights.  If you do go, the Friday Steak Night is the best!  Pay for the upgrade and get the Filet & Lobster Tail.  You will not be disappointed.  We didn't end up attending any of these dinners this time, but the girls enjoyed the after dinner bonfires that are usually done.

I did get to dive two days, but most mornings for me started off with a nice long walk on the gorgeous Treasure Cay Beach.  I had different walking partners each morning and what a pair of posers they are!

We all went one morning towards the west end of the area to a place called Carleton Point.  Carleton Point is the area where loyalist refugees from New Your City settled in 1783.  The winds had picked up earlier in the week for a little bit and the girls were able to find some very cool treasures that had washed up.

By most afternoons, we were all pretty worn out from the days' activities.  It didn't bother me to just chill out in the condo with some rum punch and enjoy the view while the girls got some down time.  Towards the last half of the week the low tide cycle had shifted to the late afternoon which meant it was prime time for beach walking and shell finding again!

As it always does, time just flew by.  After 7 nights it was time to go home.  As I made the rounds in the morning to return the golf cart and pay our tab, I overheard conversations among folks that the phones were not working on the island including cell phones.  I really didn't pay it much attention until we got to the airport and were ready to leave.  I had already filed our eApis manifest and flight plan online the day before so all I had to do was make the required phone call to US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) prior to departure.  Most all the airports of entry in the Bahamas have blue phones available to pilots for free.  All the speed dial numbers are posted and you can easily call Flight Service to file flight plans and get weather briefings as well as phone any of the US Customs locations..............when the phones are working!!!!!!!  Uh oh. 

Failure to make this call and just "showing up" can supposedly result in a $5000 fine.  Yup, a little panic set in.  The Bahamian Customs Officer tried her personal cell phone for me multiple times with no luck.  I even turned my phone on knowing if I got through it would be an expensive phone call, but at least not as much as the fine!  No luck either.  I resolved to just take off, see if ATC could help at all once I opened my flight plan, and just plead forgiveness from the CBP Officers in Ft Pierce until I thought of one more thing.  I remembered a sign in the Customs and Immigration building that said "BTC WiFi Hotspot"  So after loading the plane and finishing my preflight, I headed back to the building to give it a try.  I turned on the the iPad, and quickly found the Customs wireless router listed.  It let me connect with no password!  Ok, let's see if the internet works..........yes!!!!!!!  Quickly over to Facebook and I made this quick post:

"All land lines and cell phones are down in Treasure Cay. Could someone please call Ft Pierce US Customs for us and make a notice of arrival for us? Phone number is 772-461-1733. Choose the prompt to make a notice of arrival. Please tell the officer that answers it is for aircraft tail number N424RM arriving FT Pierce airport at 1330. Please post here if you are successful so they don't get a lot of calls. Thank you. We are taking off now."

Then I prayed someone would help, loaded up the family, and took off right on time.  Climbing through 6000 feet we checked in with Miami Center and picked up our IFR clearance into Ft Pierce.  Halfway across Grand Bahama Island we started to cut through a few cloud layers.  Just before arriving, we had to make a few diversions for weather.  We were IMC off and on and picked up a bit of the rain.  It was maybe moderate rain at most and I didn't mind at that point because I saw it as a free and easy rinse for the plane after she sat  all week in the salt air.

Since you aren't allowed to use cell phones in the Customs Building until you are cleared and back outside, I turned my phone on just be fore we shutdown on the CBP ramp and was so relived to see that my sister-in-law was successfully able to make the call for us!  So we cleared Customs with ease and no fine!

After a partial fill of AVGAS and a to-go order of food, we were back in the air for the last leg home.  It was uneventful as usual, which is a good thing, and as much as we were all happy to be home, we were wishing we were still in Treasure Cay!

I did take the GoPro camera this trip and have been very happy with the results.  I'm still working on the clips and hope to have a short movie about this trip to share soon so stay tuned.............

Spring Break Was Awesome !!!!!

We all had a great time.  This was our longest stay yet and was still entirely way too short!  I'm so glad we were able to share Treasure Cay with some of our family.  They were so impressed that when they got home they started trying to figure out how soon we all could go back!  Here is what really made positive impressions on them:  the beach, the people, the great food at the Bahama Beach Club, the beach, the grocery store, the amazing blue water, the beach, the ease of travel to get there, the weather, the condos, and of course the beach!

The weather was really nice for our whole stay.  The winds had picked up later in the week, but Treasure Cay beach is normally situated quite pleasantly in the lee.  A front came through on Thursday which brought a little rain and some cool temperatures, but by mid-day Friday, it was clear and sunny.  The only issue the wind really caused was for one of my dive trips to be cancelled.  I got to go a least one day, so I was happy.

The Sanddollar Dreams condo is still perfect.  This has now been our second stay there and we still feel it is truly the best place to be in Treasure Cay.  Not that you would find any crowds there, but it is just far enough away from the "center" of town to give you more privacy and you are just a quick cart ride away from any place you want to go.

If you pick up the local paper, The Abaconian, you will find the local tide tables.  We spent part of every day around low tide out at Sandy Point.  Abby and I enjoyed snorkeling again, my dad looked for shells, and some just sat in the shallows soaking it all in!  It's has something for everyone.

Abby was so excited to get her hair braided Island Style!  If you go down to the bike shop, you can find a really nice lady to do your hair.  Abby managed to keep it for over a week and it really made for telling stories when she got back to school.  I also went in to the hardware store for the first time this trip.  I was surprised to find a nice selection of gift/tourist items that are at quite a discount compared to some of the other shops.  There aren't a lot of choices on where to shop in Treasure Cay, but I'll save money when I can!

Every once in a while we would just take the golf carts and cruise around to check out the area and some of the beachfront homes.  I found this "little" gem, Camelot, not far from our condo.  It is only $4.9 million; anyone want to float me a loan?  I'll let you stay in the guest house.....

We all left for our homes on Saturday.  We took off around 11:00 am for Fort Pierce, FL (KFPR) and our family caught the 4:00 pm American Eagle flight to Miami.  We really lucked out with the flying weather for this trip.  During our stay is when Florida was ravaged by storms for a few days that included the tornado that hit Sun' n Fun.  Luckily we never saw any of that severe weather.

The flight to Fort Pierce was perfect.  Since this was our first flight to the Bahamas in the Lance, one of my focal points was the fuel management/planning for this over-the-water trip.  We were lucky on our very first trip in the Arrow to get avgas in Treasure Cay, but it has not been available since  If you need fuel, Marsh Harbor is the closest airport with avgas.  We did that before, and even though it is only about a 10 minute flight, it will easily add an hour to your travelling day.  We loaded up the plane to max gross weight and departed Jacksonville with 85 usable gallons on board and landed with about 45 gallons remaining.  That left us with about 2 1/2 hours on board taking in to account another take off and full power climb to cruise altitude; more than enough fuel to legally and safely make the little over hour flight to Fort Pierce to clear customs.

We departed VFR out of Treasure Cay (MYAT) and set our heading for the Freeport VOR.  As we climbed through 6000 feet I was able to easily pick up our IFR clearance from Miami Center and we were quickly cleared as filed to KFPR at 8000 feet.  Departing MYAT, I file direct ZFP BR62V ANGEE direct and it works every time.  I know I could probably get direct ANGEE from Treasure Cay, but I still like flying over Grand Bahama Island before getting out over open water.  It also seems to be standard to get an initial decent clearance to be at 4000 feet, 20 miles southeast of ANGEE.  The VNAV function on the GNS 530 makes this a no brainer.  It wasn't long after passing West End that we could see the Florida coast line.  Visibility on this trip was great!

We cleared Customs without issue and then enjoyed a nice lunch at the Airport Tiki.  It looks like there is only one FBO left at Fort Pierce so without any competition, the gas prices were pretty steep.  The good part is, they do provide a good service.  They will tow your plane from the Customs ramp to their ramp and our plane was promptly fueled as requested so when we were done with lunch, we were off on the last leg home without delay.

A few items of note I learned from this trip:

1.  I'm still really glad we got the Lance for so many reasons.  She took good care of us.

2.  Don't bring liquor with you.  Buy it in the Bahamas.  It was even cheaper than the Duty Free store my dad used in Miami.  A "Costco" size bottle of Bacardi rum is $15.  Gotta love it!

3.  It is now $20 per person departure tax.  Used to be $15.  It is still free for kids under 6.

4.  Having our Bahamas Immigration Cards filled out prior to arrival sure made made things quick and easy.  We got a new stack of cards on our way out, all you have to do is ask!

5.  Get in touch with dive shop as soon as you can if you want to dive.  Their trips can fill up quick.   You can even email them before you arrive to set things up.  I'll do that next time.

6.  eAPIS was a little easier to use than last year since now you can save passenger information for future manifests.

Spring Break 2011 - Back to Treasure Cay, Bahamas

It's Abby's Spring Break this week and we decided many months ago we were coming back to stay at the Sanddollar Dreams condo in Treasure Cay, Bahamas. It is the first time flying the Lance to the Bahamas and she did great! I had removed the middle row of seats to gain some payload capability that we desperately needed to support our week in paradise. On Friday, as a test, I did all my eApis and international flight plan filing using the iPad. I worked great and since we have wireless here at the condo, I'll be able to get everything done for our departure just as easy.

We left the house yesterday morning around 8:00 am and we were loaded up and rolling down Runway 32 at Craig Field shortlly after 9:00 am. In no time we were cruising down the coast at 6000 feet enjoyoing the smooth morning air. We turned out at Melbourne and shortly after going "feet wet", we climbed to 7000 feet. About 45 minutes later we were over West End on Grand Bahama Island. I was surprised that with all the smoke and haze in Florida I was able to still just barely see the coastline of Florida when we first caught sight of the Bahamas.

After crossing Freeport, we made our final turn towards Treasure Cay. About thirty minutes later we were in the pattern overhead and had a decent landing on runway 14. My two worst landings ever have been at Treasure Cay. The winds are almost always a crosswind, and it swirls or gusts so much, experiencing a little bit of wind shear seems to be the norm. I kept my speed up this time knowing I had a long 7000 foot runway to use and still felt wind shear effects, but we settled down easy on the runway and taxied to the ramp. From startup to shutdown in paradise was 2.8 hours. Not bad at all!

The ramp was only about half full. There still is no avgas available at Treasure Cay, but we have more than enough to make it to Fort Pierce when we depart. We acquired extra immigration forms from our last visit and since we had everything pre-filled out, we made it through Immigration and Customs pretty quuick. Sidney was already there waiting for us, so as soon as Abby and I got the plane tied down and covered, we were all on our way to the condo.

My Dad, stepmom, and her mother are joining us on this trip. They all flew in commercially aNd we were able to find them another condo in our complex so we can be together. We were all finally together by dinner time and enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Bahama Beach Club. Saturday nights they have an all you can eat BBQ dinner served family style. We had pasta salad, potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, BBQ beans, garlic toast, ribs, chicken, pork chops, and cake. Yes we at it all and them some! Of course the rum punch made it all go down pretty easy.