Flying the Caribbean (Part 8) - to Exuma, Bahamas -- When Words Fail

wayneda40

wayneda40

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When words fail... beauty speaks. Today we overfly the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, make a fuel stop in the Dominican Republic, and spend the night in the Exumas chain of the Bahamas.

Thoughts, questions, and suggestions? I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for your insight and enjoy the video!
Wayne, the GeezerGeek Pilot
 
Great videos! Curious as to how easy (?) filing and flying IFR was for your Caribbean legs. Any "Gotcha's" so far?
 
Arrow76R said:
Great videos! Curious as to how easy (?) filing and flying IFR was for your Caribbean legs. Any "Gotcha's" so far?
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Jim, thanks for watching! We filed for each leg straight from ForeFlight (and didn't have any problems with the appropriate ATC getting the filing)... and then got the clearance from Clx/Ground/Tower or in the air. Tried filing direct-ish a couple times, but most always got an airway routing... likely because we were often out of radar service and they want you on airways. I'd say no gotchas at all on filing/flying IFR.

Now the "manifest/gendec/eapis" side of things was less automated... except for US to/from Bahamas where we used FlashPass and it worked perfectly. For the other countries, we did submit to Caricom online but it's not clear at all if local customs/immigration ever got anything (we got no email confirmation). So pretty much the manifest stuff was done via paper General Declarations (mostly prepared by us in advance)

Again, thanks for the interest... flying the Bahamas is super simple, and the Caribbean also quite straightforward even though not as automated.
Wayne
 
Thanks for the update!!! Certainly on my bucket list and the more first-hand data I can get, the better! Your pre-trip Excel spreadsheet is an excellent reference for all the detailed planning required to ensure a safe and enjoyable trip.
 
Care to elaborate what was slow/unfriendly about Puerto plata? I personally find the fee structure of Provo the real offense in the whole Caribbean sector flying. Well worth stopping in the DR in order to avoid T/C on either side of the round trip. You can't beat Puerto Plata for fees on a technical stop, based on your video. It literally buys you two nights hotel stay. I'd say the ideal would be non-stop from Exuma to BQN or SIG, but most of us don't have large enough tanks for that leg with headwinds (eastbound).

Btw, nice touch using native musical genres as you progressed through the video portions of PR and the DR. I know it's easily dismissed as "same-sounding" to anglos, but for those of us native to the Caribbean, the inflection is noted and appreciated.

All in all, pretty decent job with the videos!
 
hindsight2020 said:
Care to elaborate what was slow/unfriendly about Puerto plata? I personally find the fee structure of Provo the real offense in the whole Caribbean sector flying. Well worth stopping in the DR in order to avoid T/C on either side of the round trip. You can't beat Puerto Plata for fees on a technical stop, based on your video. It literally buys you two nights hotel stay. I'd say the ideal would be non-stop from Exuma to BQN or SIG, but most of us don't have large enough tanks for that leg with headwinds (eastbound).

Btw, nice touch using native musical genres as you progressed through the video portions of PR and the DR. I know it's easily dismissed as "same-sounding" to anglos, but for those of us native to the Caribbean, the inflection is noted and appreciated.

All in all, pretty decent job with the videos!
Click to expand...

Thanks for watching! The Puerto Plata fuel stop (at approx 1h30m) was more than twice as long as a similar fuel stop at Exuma ten days earlier when we were southeast bound for the Caribbean. We had had such good luck "rolling our own" rather than using an FBO in the Caribbean that we thought we'd try it at MDPP... but somehow that seemed to make the customs and immigration people process us rather slowly. Fueling was also a tiny hassle as one of us had to stay with the aircraft during fueling. Despite these gripes, MDPP as you note is WAY better than Provo! Also, I agree that Exuma to BQN would be ideal... we have the range (barely, with IFR reserves and headwinds) but try to keep the legs shorter for our non-pilot passenger.

Thanks for noting the musical genres :).
 
Good video! I agree that MDPP can be a little slow for GA, especially if you arrive when the airlines are landing. I have always had friendly communication with the people there, although sometimes the customs staff do not seem to know what to do with a GA flight crew. Exuma is a great stop!
 
Computerjim said:
Good video! I agree that MDPP can be a little slow for GA, especially if you arrive when the airlines are landing. I have always had friendly communication with the people there, although sometimes the customs staff do not seem to know what to do with a GA flight crew. Exuma is a great stop!
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Jim, I'm guessing we're pretty much in agreement... from my limited experience, Exuma is great!, Provo is horrible (super expensive and slow), and Puerto Plata is somewhere in between. How is TJBQ?
 
Now that's a beautiful beach! Name of the island/beach? Thanks!
Wayne
 
I found the same issue with Puerto plata when I brought my bonanza down in January. Exhuma was great, in and out quick. We actually just sat around relaxing for a bit. We got to MDPP later than we wanted and were hoping for a quick turn. It didn’t happen and they didn’t let us depart VFR because it was getting late. We ended up filing IFR (my buddy is a CFII) and cancelling when we got to Domestic airspace.
 
Wrench978 said:
I found the same issue with Puerto plata when I brought my bonanza down in January. Exhuma was great, in and out quick. We actually just sat around relaxing for a bit. We got to MDPP later than we wanted and were hoping for a quick turn. It didn’t happen and they didn’t let us depart VFR because it was getting late. We ended up filing IFR (my buddy is a CFII) and cancelling when we got to Domestic airspace.
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Agreed that one shouldn't expect a quick turnaround, even for a tech stop, at MDPP.
Best regards,
Wayne
 
Sad to hear about your time consuming experience in Puerto Plata, Id has become better than it use to be but there stilll a lot to do.
Hope next time you have a better experience. Im passing this to the Tourist Minister and the Civil aviation authorities , hoping that in the future will get better.

Can you tell me about your stop at Nevis, im planning to visit Nevis in the near future.
Thanks.
 
Wpons said:
Sad to hear about your time consuming experience in Puerto Plata, Id has become better than it use to be but there stilll a lot to do.
Hope next time you have a better experience. Im passing this to the Tourist Minister and the Civil aviation authorities , hoping that in the future will get better.

Can you tell me about your stop at Nevis, im planning to visit Nevis in the near future.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Waldo, thanks for watching the video and for being so responsive to the Puerto Plata short delay we had.
Nevis was very pleasant (although our favorite was Dominica)... there's also a video on our Nevis stay.
Happy to answer questions you might have.
Very best regards,
Wayne
 
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