Staniel Cay, Bahamas - Almost Time!

Well over a year ago I promised my dad a guys beach vacation to the Bahamas; just him and I. Next week I get to make good on that promise. Next Thursday we head for Staniel Cay, Bahamas located in the Exumas. Our whole family fell in love with the Bahamas during our Spring Break trip to Treasure Cay last year, so my daughter Abby was not too happy to find out she was not going. I promised her that as soon as the State Department sends us her baby sister's first passport, we'll look to go back as a family. That's a promise I have every intention of keeping!

The Flight Plan:

We are looking to depart Craig Field, Jacksonville (KCRG) by 8:00am and fly to North Eleuthera (MYEH). I am planning to submit an IACO IFR flight plan with a route basically from Jacksonville direct to Melbourne, then out over the Atlantic Ocean direct to Freeport, then direct to North Eleuthera. I plan to fly this route at 7000 feet. At MYEH we will clear Bahamian Customs and Immigration as well as fuel up. MYEH has an FBO on the field, White Crown Aviation, that is reported to reliably have 100LL AvGas.



As I dreamed about this trip, I had originally planned to clear into the Bahamas in North Andros, but it looks like from all reports that the airports on Andros currently do not have AvGas. No worries. This new route may only be a few minutes longer, but it promises to be a more scenic one. Flight time to North Eleuthera should be just over 3 hours.

After we clear Customs and get fuel, we will continue our flight on to Staniel Cay (MYES). This last leg is only 80 miles and should only take about 40 minutes. I may choose to fly lower and slower to enjoy the views from above, but either way it will be great and I look forward to sharing the pictures!

Accommodations:

Once we arrive at MYES, we’ll be staying at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. I've had this place happily stored in my Internet favorites ever since we got the plane and started looking at traveling to the Bahamas. We will be staying in the Orange Cottage. We are choosing to do the "all inclusive" plan. You get 3 bar meals a day, which I understand are quite good, as well as the use of a few recreational toys like bikes, kayaks, snorkel gear, and more. The highlight of the package deal is the daily use of a 13' Boston Whaler boat with gas to explore all the area has to offer.

We're headed to the Bahamas baby so stay tuned for a full report!

Baby Mary's First Flight

At the ripe old age of 3 months, we took Mary on her first flight. It turned out to be a beautiful Sunday afternoon so we loaded up and headed for the airport.

My biggest concern for Mary has always been what to do about hearing protection. I scoured the web for help and not long after she was born I bought a pair of Peltor Pink Child Earmuffs. We tested them out last week at Abby's cheerleading awards night with marginal success. Mary seemed to tolerate wearing them, but you could see they were still just a little too big; the ear cups wouldn't seal around the top of her ears.

Since I don't feel comfortable sticking ear plugs IN her ear, we chose to use cotton balls placed over her ears that were held in place by a head band. It actually seemed to work pretty well.

The plan was to pre-flight, load the plane, and taxi out for the run-up. If Mary tolerated that, we'd take to the skies. Needles to say, we were airborne without delay or fussing! Mary actually settled in to falling asleep so southward we went for another visit to Flagler County Airport. Abby and I have been there quite a few times, but somehow we never brought Mom! We're fixing that today.

As we flew down, I took another step to look after Mary's hearing. Since we are lucky enough to have a constant speed propeller, I chose to fly at 65% power set with a lower RPM, but higher manifold pressure as per the plane's power setting tables. It made for a much quieter flight and only added a whopping 2 minutes to the flight as compared to running at 75% power and 2400 RPM. As an added bonus, the fuel flow was 1 GPH less too! Every little bit helps!


Lunch at High Jackers, as always, was good. Abby played on the playground while Kristi, Mary, and I enjoyedthe views from our table in the shade. As soon as lunch was over, we loaded up, took of for the skies again, and headed home. Again, Mary slept a little and I even caught Abby enjoying the views outside the plane more instead of playing her DSi!

With that successful flight, it is time to plan a trip. Who knows, weather and work permitting, maybe we'll get away very soon.

So Mary, what did you think of your first flight?????

Burger Run to Palm Coast - KXFL

Even though it seems this cold weather will never end here in NE Florida, Feb 20th finally gave us a little reminder of the way the weather should be. With temps back high enough for shorts and clear skies above, Abby and I found ourselves heading to Flagler County Airport (KXFL), in Palm Coast, Florida for some lunch.

Flagler County is a perfect destination for those $100 Burger Runs. The restaurant, High Jackers, is located right on the field in front of the transient parking ramp. Besides having awesome burgers and other wonderful menu items, you can sit outside and enjoy the views of ramp and field while the kids entertain themselves on the playground.

It was nice to see how busy the airport and restaurant were. The ramp was full of planes and the kind folks from the airport gave us a ride to the gate in their golf cart. KXFL routinely has some of the cheaper fuel prices around, but on this day we got a bonus. They were having a weekend special of 25cents off at the self serve pump. Gotta love that.

The flights down and back were uneventful. It was nice to just go somewhere again. It has been a while since the latest edition to our family, Mary, was born just before Christmas. Hopefully you'll see more activity on this blog soon. We are hoping to take Mary for her first flight very soon and maybe even a family weekend trip shortly thereafter.

Of special note, since the last time I had flown there, KXFL now has a control tower in operation. It was very busy, but I think the controllers did a great job.

Matanzas Inlet and St Augustine

Approaching Craig Field from the South

On Final for Runway 14