To Barbados

In Punta Cana we had a nice dinner, nice rooms and nice breakfast, all included in room price. So, except for the long and expensive taxi ride, it was a good stay. The bellhops and desk people were wonderful at letting me practice my poor Spanish. They would correct my mistakes and teach me how to say things. It was fun and they truly seemed interested in helping me learn. The people at the resort were mainly Europeans. We heard lots of French and Spanish, some German and the signs were also in English and Russian.

Paperwork, customs and filing flight plans were normal, slow, lots of double checks but finally engine startup was approved by the tower. There was difficulty with the clearance, so I sat idling at the end of the runway for 20 minutes. Finally underway. It’s nice and cool up here at 7000 feet. Four and half hours to Barbados, maybe more depending on winds. I hear Wayne talking with Air Traffic Control behind me. He’ll be up to 9000 feet and overtake me pretty quickly.

I see the shore of Puerto Rico through the haze. There are clouds over the land, but fewer over the water and it’s smooth up here. There are mountains in the middle of the island with houses along the ridge lines. Some are in the valleys. It makes you wonder what they all do down there. Some of the cliffs are shear with no trees, they are so steep. I took some pics but they didn't turn out, I'll check and see what's wrong.

I’m off the other side now and headed out over water again. They’ve amended our route to go direct to an intersection, so no more islands underneath. There is a 13 knot headwind. It’s stronger, 31 knots out of the northeast, but our component is enough to slow my groundspeed to 131 knots. Wayne is above me at 155 knots. He’ll arrive ahead of me by quite a bit today.

I checked in on the ham radio net and both Wes and Rusty were there and waiting. Their signals were strong and we spoke for a while, confirming the next flight dates and communication time. I confirmed no internet connection last night, so no blog updates yet. Hopefully tonight. Will also email dates of proposed long flights when I’ll have time to talk on HF. After arrival in Brazilia, local flights in Brazil and Argentina will be too short, so HF connection will have to await my return . Guess I should have let Wes install the data transfer as I could have sent him the blog updates. There’s much more time available on this flight than the last world flight; oh well, next time.

Just checked in with Guadeloupe approach and now barometric pressure is in Hpa. I have my conversion table at hand. He talks with French planes in French, just as the Dominican Republic controllers spoke with locals in Spanish.

There’s a good size buildup ahead. Wayne thinks he’s high enough to pass over it or only need a slight deviation. He thinks I’ll be in it. I might go higher as I get closer. Well, these build-ups aren’t really “building up,” they are not getting any puffier and aren’t bumpy in them either. Had some rain but now clear again. I see Martinique ahead and to the left. I was thinking of stopping there on my return; I checked and they have avgas. We’ll see; I really need to stop in Spanish speaking islands, not French islands. Sure looks nice.

Wayne is setting up for his visual approach and I’m still 50 minutes behind. Suppose I’d better put my shoes back on for arrival. The clouds look grey and inhospitable, but they are really nothing. Still, after another five hour flight day, I’m ready for a day off. We’re going to look around Barbados a little.

OK, now in touch with Adams approach. They get us on radar, but still want confirmation of distance, radial and altitude. Although good English, I had trouble understanding what she was asking. Finally got it and all is well.

It was a busy arrival with several planes landing and trying to depart at the same time. I don't think they appreciated my slow little general aviation plane increasing the separation.

We were required to use handlers, even though we tried to avoid it. Finally we made it through and are now in the hotel right on the water. I'm looking forward to a great fish dinner and touring the island tomorrow.