Explore St Maarten

[Vlakvark]

Thanks for all the info. Good advice that we will sure follow. 

[blaine beaven]

Looks like a great trip - I’m up in CYXE and just threw that into ForeFlight. In my slow J it would take 18hrs!!

I’ve never flown over the ocean, but I’ve done enough float flying and submersion escape training to tell you that you DON’T want to wear a life jacket that is always bouyant or auto inflates. Get one that you have to pull a tab to inflate and wear it, so you can decide when to be floaty. Otherwise, you could end up pinned to the floor of an inverted airplane.

Safe travels!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ibra]

Heading down the same route as well in the next two week, I never flew there so getting stressed now in the middle of planning at home: airport opening times, customs notification, airspace/aircraft limitations, different countries and rule to comply with..

I was told to avoid landing on weekends (in Turks & Co that is 500$) and always get someone on the phone to check the fuel pumps on the day (one friend found it INOP) and always check not to assume

But I am sure all that stress goes away once the key is turned ON, so will be only left to deal with no engine noise over water and tropical weather

Does Fore Flight has the most accurate source of info there? or I should nag some of my airline friends to use their pro Jepp?

Edited January 7, 2020 by Ibra

[Ibra]

Gas prices, I was told around 6$/gal in the Bahamas, going far St.Thomas is a great stop for refueling: 4$/gallon is an awesome price (landing fees around 100$). I was told to simply to avoid St.Maarten for fueling since the price was almost 13$/gallon but handling fees were acceptable (120$ for 2 days).

Any recent $-pireps?

Going south from SXM it’s even harder I think for fuel, way too high prices, except making it to Venezuela, but you are not going back 

Being short of time & experience & money, I decided to stop Bahamas & Turks and Caico for now and leave more fun for later !

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Ibra

[TahoeLight]

Since I don't have a Mooney (yet) I figured I could participate in this conversation.for entertainment purposes. This photo was taken on one of my favorite trips in a GA plane where the journey was the destination. We enjoyed a few weeks flying through the Bahamas, Turk's & Caicos, DR, Puerto Rico and beyond. This photo was taken as we were in transit over Middle Turk. Flying the AN-2 always turned heads and we have some funny stories that I will never forget. Many had to do with Customs, Law enforcement, Airport security and the adventures of finding fuel when we needed it. We had to fly all the way across the DR on fumes because Puerto Plata was out of fuel with no timeline to get more.

Your range in a Mooney probably gives you more options than we had. However, I think it's always a grand adventure. Have fun.

Edited January 19, 2020 by TahoeLight

[MinneMooney]

How many gallons per mile does an AN-2 get?

[TahoeLight]

Just under a gallon....... Usually measured per minute. And then there is the oil....

But damn they are fun. 

 

[tmo]

But the sound and sight of them starting up is da bomb...  Three at our field, two work horses (meatbombing) and a museum piece that flies to shows.

[Vlakvark]

Ok. So we are back from our trip, but that was an intense expensive one. We left Canada and 4 hours later got in trouble with freezing rain, 2 miles on the approach. Landed safely in Belle Plain Iowa and Bruce was a champ. We had a heated hangar with a place to sleep in the hangar. Dirt cheap. Next day we had to dodge TS and lightning and we kept it low over Kansas and Atlanta under lightning. Landed for fuel an headed over to Fort Pierce for the life raft and some gas. Left the next morning for Turks and thats where it started to get interesting. Lost a vacuum pump on the way there. We decided to continue on and land in Turks. What a hidden fee we had to pay. Handling fee  of $260US. They found us a place for $300US per person. We said no and found a local place for a $100US. 
 

We decided the next day to continue on to Puerto Rico to get the vacuum pump replaced. There we were met with a guy in black pants and shinny shoes(Ching Ching, money).

Went through Customs and they took our beef jerky from Canada( we cleared customs twice with it). Got the vacuum pump replaced and received a nasty bill from the FBO for international garbage disposal  ($260US). My blood is boiling. This after I payed the $460US handling fee and no gas yet. 
 

I lost the argument and had to pay jerky bill. On the way to St Maarten we got a quote for the handling fees. ( At this point Im pissed and not in a mood to continue)

 

We landed safely and after a couple hundred, we were in a hotel. The view was great and we made it safely back in Saskatchewan. 
 

All I can say is, be aware of the hidden costs and a quote from the islands.
 

JT      

 

 

[0TreeLemur]

6 hours ago, Vlakvark said:

Ok. So we are back from our trip, but that was an intense expensive one. We left Canada and 4 hours later got in trouble with freezing rain, 2 miles on the approach. Landed safely in Belle Plain Iowa and Bruce was a champ. We had a heated hangar with a place to sleep in the hangar. Dirt cheap. Next day we had to dodge TS and lightning and we kept it low over Kansas and Atlanta under lightning. Landed for fuel an headed over to Fort Pierce for the life raft and some gas. Left the next morning for Turks and thats where it started to get interesting. Lost a vacuum pump on the way there. We decided to continue on and land in Turks. What a hidden fee we had to pay. Handling fee  of $260US. They found us a place for $300US per person. We said no and found a local place for a $100US. 
 

We decided the next day to continue on to Puerto Rico to get the vacuum pump replaced. There we were met with a guy in black pants and shinny shoes(Ching Ching, money).

Went through Customs and they took our beef jerky from Canada( we cleared customs twice with it). Got the vacuum pump replaced and received a nasty bill from the FBO for international garbage disposal  ($260US). My blood is boiling. This after I payed the $460US handling fee and no gas yet. 
 

I lost the argument and had to pay jerky bill. On the way to St Maarten we got a quote for the handling fees. ( At this point Im pissed and not in a mood to continue)

 

We landed safely and after a couple hundred, we were in a hotel. The view was great and we made it safely back in Saskatchewan. 
 

All I can say is, be aware of the hidden costs and a quote from the islands.
 

JT      

 

 

Thanks for the pirep.   Wish it had gone smoother for you.

[MIm20c]

I think this trip is a good one for LR tanks where you can safely land in PR direct. What were the extra landing fees in PR?  I have to say many of the Caribbean destinations are less stressful (expensive) burning air miles vs LL. 

[pwnel]

12 hours ago, Vlakvark said:

I lost the argument and had to pay jerky bill. On the way to St Maarten we got a quote for the handling fees. ( At this point Im pissed and not in a mood to continue)

Sorry about your misfortunes.  Allow me to grin a bit too though - the only other folks who constantly get into trouble about crossing international borders with their biltong (jerkey) are us South Africans.  In fact, given your nickname Vlakvark - that's not perhaps where you're from? 

Did my first Bahamas trip in November and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Folks are set up for general aviation with none of the typical rip-off charges.  Will happily just keep exploring there in future.

[Vlakvark]

You know it. Born and raised in Bloemies. We had home made chili-bites. We did the Bahamas 4 years ago and Belize 2 years back. I might try the Dominican next time or may just go up north to the Arctic circle. 

[Vlakvark]

4 hours ago, MIm20c said:

I think this trip is a good one for LR tanks where you can safely land in PR direct. What were the extra landing fees in PR?  I have to say many of the Caribbean destinations are less stressful (expensive) burning air miles vs LL. 

They said it was handling fees but we did not use them as handlers. We did our own Eapis and customs( I cross the US border quite regularly. So I know the eapis/custom stuff). I just think PR is not GA friendly or our plane with the Maple leave on it was screaming..... please charge us a lot of money!!!!! I was still ok with the high fuel price but the extra fees......Yaaiks. Oh, and we git charged for the courtesy vehicle too!!!

[pwnel]

20 minutes ago, Vlakvark said:

You know it. Born and raised in Bloemies. We had home made chili-bites. We did the Bahamas 4 years ago and Belize 2 years back. I might try the Dominican next time or may just go up north to the Arctic circle. 

 thought as much - had a good laugh now.  Cape Townian living in Manhattan here - specifically asked my partner if she had biltong before the Bahamas trip (which she did) and had her leave it behind.  (Very interested to do some Arctic circle trips myself in the near future)

[Ibra]

On 1/19/2020 at 6:59 AM, TahoeLight said:

Since I don't have a Mooney (yet) I figured I could participate in this conversation.for entertainment purposes. This photo was taken on one of my favorite trips in a GA plane where the journey was the destination. We enjoyed a few weeks flying through the Bahamas, Turk's & Caicos, DR, Puerto Rico and beyond. This photo was taken as we were in transit over Middle Turk. Flying the AN-2 always turned heads and we have some funny stories that I will never forget. Many had to do with Customs, Law enforcement, Airport security and the adventures of finding fuel when we needed it. We had to fly all the way across the DR on fumes because Puerto Plata was out of fuel with no timeline to get more.

Your range in a Mooney probably gives you more options than we had. However, I think it's always a grand adventure. Have fun.

Wow @TahoeLight, that would have been a hell of a trip !!!

Flying vintage internationally does give more options than one thinks: if you have the patience and temperament to wait for slow 2h flight to cover 100nm, then you can cope with logistics of lack of fuel, slow paperwork/customs and long discussions about random handling fees breakdown...

I did a vintage rallye (max 3h endurance or 200nm), it did not come cheap at the end: big weather diversion, last minute order of fuel barrel, replace a broken propeller and paying a "local C172" to fly with us for 400nm (compliance with local regulations), but for sure we skipped load of random expensive handling fees: we looked like broke guys with plenty of time to chill under the sun and everybody had incentives to just kick us out 

I would not do it again unless I have 1000nm range of fuel and enough food/water to survive on a tarmac for 7 days 

In an AN2 certainly NO, unless there are two of them where one get cannibalised for the other to fly