Our first big aviation trip of 2010 was a lot of fun. The destination was the Bahamas! This was a first for us in a number of regards - first time flying over the Atlantic Ocean, first time flying international, the first time going to the Bahamas. While Airline Owners and Pilot Association ("AOPA") and the Bahamas government like to emphasize that flying into the Bahamas is "easy", it is work and requires advanced planning - especially if this is your first foray into international flying. Fortunately, on all these trips we divide up the workload, and Matt bared most of the burden for planning. Having said this, we all thought the vacation was well worth the effort. In my 11-years of flying, I have not seen such beautiful vistas from an airplane!! The waters were a turquoise blue, and even at 5,000 feet we could see the bottom of the ocean. While we departed from N.J., our best leg commenced in Boca Raton, FL. We headed south to Miami, and then a straight shot east to Eleuthera. I have to say, even in a twin engine airplane I did get butterflies heading out over the ocean. Miles and miles of turquoise blue. I could only imagine what Lindbergh felt with a single engine airplane, an unstable one at that, with no avionics to speak of.
In what seemed a matter of minutes off the coast of Florida, Matt spotted Bimini. There is a picture below, but I have it does it no justice. About a half an hour later we were over the Berry Islands, a smattering of small islands that were just 5,000 feet below us. Shortly after we saw Nassau to our south. And lastly, after about 90 minutes into the flight we were approaching North Eleuthera Airport. We had 5,000 feet of runway. On the approach, it was surprising how unpopulated it was. A town here, a few houses there, but overall a lush island with a breathtaking coastline on all sides.
We parked, unloaded the airplane and headed to customs. I was prepared for this phase of the trip - passport, customs forms, radio station license, weight & balance, customs decal, etc, etc. This phase of the trip was quite seamless. All we did was hand over our passports and customs forms and we were free to enter the country. Our final destination was Harbor Island, which is an 'out island' off of Eleuthera. We took a $10 cab ride to the dock, a $5 high speed boat ride to Harbor Island, picked up a golf cart, and we were on our way. All of this seemed to take less than 30 minutes.
Once on Harbor Island you get around on a golf cart. Its a great way to see the island. The people here are very friendly, from the business owners to the people walking on the streets. Everyone says hello as you ride your golf cart around the island. It certainly is different here.
There is a lot to see on this small island, but the greatest sight is never far away - the beach. On the ocean side the sands are pink, and in some spots you have the beach all to yourself (see below). On the bay side, the tide recedes early afternoon and you can walk a half mile onto the bay (in some spots). There is something called the Lone Tree (see above) which makes for great pictures. A reasonable food stop is Valentines, a great view at Romero Bay Restaurant. For me the best part of the trip was flying here in my own airplane, and secondly exploring the island via gold cart. As a photographer, there are endless picture opportunities - at the beach, in town, near the bay, even the cemeteries provide unique photo opportunities.
Whether you like to be busy, or just kick back and relax, the Bahamas has everything for everyone, especially if you are a pilot. If you want to discover another reason why it is great to be a pilot, take a trip to the Bahamas - it is well worth it!!
Life is good.
(I just don't understand why everyone here drives on the wrong side of the road). :-)
I am going to put together another post that outlines some of the things we had to do in order to fly to the Bahamas.
