The Bahamas Trip

Since I built my first Velocity in the 90's, I had dreamed of flying my Velocity to the Bahamas and visiting remote Out Islands. Andy Millin and his wife Theresa were also interested in going, so we rented a house on Eleuthera for the third week in April. This is a gorgeous, remote island with tremendous beaches and almost no development, especially on the south end where we would stay. It is 110 miles long, but only 2 miles wide, and has a single road down the middle.

I spent weeks researching, obtaining a customs sticker, EAPIS account, and checking U.S. Customs procedures. We packed carefully, and ended up with 90 pounds of bags, full fuel, and 4 passengers, which put us just short of max gross weight. I packed the plane the day before our departure and we were ready to go. Here is a quick look at some of the highlights of the trip.
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It is still cold up here, so we dress in warm layers for the start of the trip on Friday morning for our departure from Pennsylvania.







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Taxiing for takeoff. Katie and Sean are ready to go.

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Two hours later on final approach for our fuel stop in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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It's amazing - nice and warm, with palm trees. We take off the layers and walk to a local shop for a quick lunch.

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Departure starts with a  climbing turn to the South on our heading for Sebastian and a visit to Velocity.

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We climb to 9,500 to stay above the clouds and cruise south on autopilot at 200 knots true.
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Our weather starts to get dicey as we cross into Florida. We descend through a hole in the clouds and are gradually forced lower and lower into the haze. As we approach Daytona Beach International, I radio Daytona Approach with a request to transit their airspace at 2,000 feet along the beach. He can't give me that, but offers 1,500 feet along I-95 just West of the airport where, unfortunately, the ceiling is even lower.

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That's Daytona Beach International and Daytona Speedway from 1,500 feet and 1mile. This is getting a little too exciting.

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Five more minutes and we are in rain. I decide that this exceeds my personal minimums and we do a 180 to put down at the nearest airport. We call New Smyrna Beach approach and line up for final.

 We make a nice landing, tie up and get a cab to a local Holiday Inn to spend the night and wait out the weather. I'm frustrated. We are 88 miles/ half an hour from Sebastian.

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Not too bad. We end up with a great deal on an ocean view suite at a beachfront hotel. The kids immediately change and go swimming in the ocean. After that, we go out for dinner and get to bed early.
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Saturday morning brings a 300 foot ceiling and haze that even these guys won't fly in. Weather brief says it will come up in a couple hours. It is marginal VFR to the South . We head over to the airport and start South.
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At last, final for Runway 22, Sebastian, home of Velocity.

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We taxi up to the Velocity hangar and find Andy waiting. I show him the plane and we get the obligatory Eagle One shot.

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We visit with Duane and Bonnie Swing and they graciously offer to let us hangar the plane overnight before we leave for Palm Beach. Time for hotel check in and dinner with Andy.

lunch at Woody's Barbeque

A visit to Vero Beach

Dinner at Captain Hiram's

I got a lot of grief from the family for not letting them bring this home. Weight! Airplane!

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Sunday morning. There is a stalled front between us and the Bahamas. We decide to join Andy and Theresa for the night in Palm Beach, then leave from there Monday morning. Andy drives down to pick up his wife from her flight into Palm Beach. We meet some guys on the ramp who are flying a 152 50 miles West to Okeechobee to a good breakfast place. We decide to try it. ( We passed them about half way there)

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Palm Beach International is by far the biggest, busiest airport I have ever flown into. I honestly think we were the only piston aircraft on the ramp. We pulled up to Galaxy Aviation and paid almost $8 per gallon for a fill up. On the plus side, we got free cookies, a ride to the Marriott and a half price room rate.

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We are only a short walk from City Center in Palm Beach, a beautiful pedestrian mall. We check out the stores and have a great dinner. I'm still worried about the day delay getting to the Bahamas but glad we got to see this place.

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Monday morning at 7:00. The forecast is good and it's finally time to head for the islands. It is 275 miles over the Atlantic. Since I'm going to drop off my family, then come back for Andy and Theresa, that means 4.5 hours in the air and nearly 1000 miles over the ocean for me. Oh boy.

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Progressive taxi among the jets

I should be able to get off in 10,000 feet

Out over the ocean and climb through a hole in the clouds

Shots of the departure from Palm Beach.

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Lots and lots of ocean.

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Finally, we start passing over islands and the colors are spectacular. The pictures don't do them justice, but click on them to get an idea.

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There it is! Eleuthera!

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Over the island - airport is tan area by bay

Circling the beach to tell them we're here for pick up

Final for MYER / Rock Sound

Shots of the approach and landing to Rock Sound Airport, Eleuthera. I clear customs with the family, put them in the rental van and jump back in the plane to head back for Andy and Theresa.

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I make it back to Palm Beach in less than 90 minutes, clear customs and load up Andy and Theresa.

Preflight checklist among the jets, then...

...  back we come on our way into the Bahamas.

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A quick video glimpse of the flight over.

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Here is the view from the deck of our house. Check it out on the web by searching "Point o'vue Eleuthera". It is unbelievable. This was totally worth it. There are only 5 houses on a 2 1/2 mile bay. We have the whole beach to ourselves.
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Our house from the beach.
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I got up before the others on Tuesday for a sunrise walk. Wow. The sand really is pink here. Everywhere I look is gorgeous. There isn't another soul in sight. There are no sounds other than the breeze and the waves. There are no human noises here at all. I never saw another light plane all week.
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Sean and Katie in Winding Bay

The water is crystal clear and bathtub warm. The kids head out into the bay to try kayaking.
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Barbie's Restaurant

Andy and Theresa

My cracked conch platter

For dinner, we go to Sammies in the "town" of Rock Sound. The next day we go to another little place called Barbies. Andy gets the seafood plate and I try cracked conch. This little place is typical of what we found in the town.

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The Queen's Highway Southbound

We decide to drive one hour to the very southern tip of the island, to Lighthouse Beach. This consistently makes the list of top ten beaches in the world. We've got to see that.

There is only one highway on Eleuthera. This gives you some idea of how deserted and undeveloped the place is. It is freaky driving on the left.

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 The guide book said that we should follow the track off the end of the highway. This is ridiculously rough and narrow, with the van bottoming out and bushes scraping both sides. Theresa laughed the whole way. I don't know what we would have done if another car came the other way.

The "Road" to Lighthouse Beach

 .....then we got to the end and it was all worth it. The left side is the Atlantic and the right side is the Caribbean. You can stand with one foot in each. There is a cliff with a lighthouse, crystal water and NO people on the Atlantic beach. We can see another island off in the distance. Amazing.

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More beach shots. I took hundreds.

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Lots of cool sea caves.
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The Riley clan with one foot in each ocean. Check the pink sand and the waves coming together from left and right.
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An osprey with his breakfast. This fish is nearly a foot long, to give you scale. Click to see it.

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We stop for some roadside grub on the way home. That's a fresh conch salad being prepared.

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Andy and I head out to the airport to commit some aviation. Ron Horton, the very cool airport manager takes us to the top of the tower, then we head out and circle the house.

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Time to head home on Saturday. Here is the base to final turn for 10R in Palm Beach. Galaxy Aviation and Customs are at the top right at the end.

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 We pull up to customs next to a Piaggio Avanti with the same paint colors. Nice.

The Piaggio crew and a Citation X crew both came over to check out the plane. It is a real show stopper in the new paint. I have to give credit again to expert painter Dave Wild at Lancaster Aero in Smoketown and to Eric, for his finish work.

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 Katie and Sean are great travelers.

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 We make great time, averaging 200knots or better, but the weather up north is terrible. We set down in Savannah, Georgia for lunch and a weather check. We climb to 9,500 and cruise over the clouds, then stop for a weather check in Myrtle Beach.

205 knots!

We are told that there is a huge level 5 cell approaching our destination. We decide to get as far north as we can, then check weather again. We pick our way along the coast dodging weather, then set down in Salisbury, Maryland with the huge cell in sight. Weather brief says there will be a gap along our route of flight at 7:00. We decide to give it a try. At worst, we'll do a 180 for one more night at a hotel in Salisbury.
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We launch and do 205 knots through the gap to cover the last 100 miles home. Not bad - 100 miles in 25 minutes.

Made it! On the ground 30 minutes later

The gang climbs out at the hangar.

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It was a great trip - a life long dream realized. I got a lot of experience and had a real adventure. It wasn't really relaxing for me due to the amount of flying, planning and generally expanding my skill envelope - more of an adventure vacation. This was exactly what I'd daydreamed about during those years in the hangar covered with dust or epoxy. You really can do it, and it really is great to have a long effort like this come to fruition.

Now I need to get my IFR rating, which would have made the trip much easier and faster. As planned, all the capabilities are already built into the plane and I can have fun growing into them.



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