The publishers trip to the Bahamas, January 2012
by John & Betty Obradovich
We departed Southern California on December 28th with Ft. Lauderdale as our destination. Our first stop was in East Texas for fuel, then on to Bay Minette, Alabama for the night -- total flying time, 7 hours. The next morning was an easy 3.5 hour flight to Banyan Air Service at Ft. Lauderdale Executive.
We spent 3 nights in Boca Raton, then departed January 1 for Treasure Cay, Abaco. We filed our outgoing eAPIS electronic report from our room the day before, so that was out of the way. Right before our departure we used the Banyan flight room to call in our International Flight plan with Flight Service. All set, wheels up, and off we went on a beautifully clear day, with light winds.We presented our immigration cards to Immigration, and 4 completed Cruising permits to Customs. We returned one stamped copy to Immigration and kept 1 copy with us. All took less than 5 minutes, no problem! We're in the Bahamas now!
We had lunch at the Coco Beach Bar before checking in at the Treasure Cay Resort into a one-bedroom villa with a fabulous view of the marina and a wonderful sunset view! We visited the Bahama Beach Club to take some photos and ran into one of our customers from Thermal Airport -- it is a small world after all!
Monday we rented a 24-foot boat from JIC boat rentals right at Treasure Cay marina and it took us a little over an hour to boat over to Cracker P's on Lubber's Quarter.We had a great lunch, met some nice people, and got directions to find William Johnson, the map artist we have been trying to connect with for 17 years. We found him a short distance away and had an interesting visit with him.
Tuesday we drove from Treasure Cay south to Sandy Point. We had lunch at Nancy's and then headed back to Marsh Harbour and the Lofty Fig for a few nights.
Wednesday, we played golf at Treasure Cay Golf Course. It was a cold, cloudy day but just fine for golf. We will be departing Abaco tomorrow, stopping at North Eleuthera, Harbour Island for lunch, then on to Fernandez Bay for the night (John's birthday).
Thursday, rode bikes 5 miles to the highest point in the Bahamas . . . all of 206 feet! The views were great. Had lunch at the Blue Bird.
We flew to George Town, Exuma, to refuel and check out of the Bahamas. We filed our outgoing eAPIS from the hotel before we left, completed two outgoing General Declaration forms, and returned our copy of the Immigration cards and paid our $25 per person exit fee. Customs at FXE was efficient, and we made it to DeFuniak, FL, in the panhandle that evening. From there, we flew about 5.5 hours to Odessa/Midland, TX for fuel and a quick lunch, and 4 hours later (and with almost an hour at 25,000 to top showers and clouds), we arrived back at our home airport -- TRM.
It was a short trip -- but well worth it!
Trip Around the World...TWICE!
by Bob Gannon
Bob Gannon flew around the world twice in his Cessna 182 'Lucky Lady Too.' He flew to the Bahamas & Caribbean in December of 2009 to March of 2010. He spent a great amount of time in the Caribbean and visited every country/island except Haiti, Montserat, and Cuba. Gannon used the Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot's Guide and said "I used your reference book thru out my flying there. It served me very well. I wished I could have had such a source of information in all the other countries of the world I flew into." To find out more about Bob Gannon's trip, visit AOPA's article at http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2011/110121bob_gannon_around_the_world_twice.html?WT.mc_id=110128epilot&WT.mc_sect=tts or Bob Gannon's section of 'The EarthRounders' website at http://www.earthrounders.com/cgi/gannon_caraibes.php.
