Story time

[bluethunder]

2 minutes ago, R0T0R said:

Only three hours? Sounds like he gave you the coles notes version...

Now that's funny..........it was me that had to go so we had to cut it short!

[DGP]

That is twice that this has happened...you guys lost some great stories and at my age don't think I will be able to remember what I wrote. Soooo.....we get up and head to the airport...breakfast will be served on route...grapes and gateraide...I am not impressed. We leave Dennis at the Nassau International and blast off out over the ocean...next stop Inagua Island...380 miles away!

[DGP]

We climb up to 3500 ft and after a half hour decide to get that fuel tank in the back seat up and running. We are down about 100 pounds of fuel and get the spare fuel system running. It had clear tubing going out the rear window and into the gas cap to our main tank.We can see that it is working and after an hour the fuel gauge still reads 700 lbs. Buddy says he wants to do some flying so I say fill your boots..I eat breakfast and try to stop looking at the engine oil pressure and caution lights...to be continued!!!!

[DGP]

This guy is new to me so I don't know what to expect! Well he can't maintain altitude...we are up and down like a yoyo. I give him some advice and finally he starts to get the hang of it...just what I wanted to do...flight training 100 miles from the nearest land. I zoom out the gps to see something other than blue...looks like we are nearing Cuba. The wind has been blowing us off course a bit...havent seen land now for 3 hrs. Slight turn to the left and we have 40 minutes to are destination and my bladder is about to burst!!!

[DGP]

We land at a very small airstrip which is used by US Coast Guard to do our customs work..this is the end of Caribbean airspace. Next stop will be Punta Cana Dominican Republic. Well buddy quickly jumped out when we landed to go do some washroom work and I got 2 minutes more to try not to wet my pants....engine off...i make a run for the bushes!!!

[DGP]

Ahhhhh....boy that felt good!.Buddy has taken my passort and pilots license into the little customs shack that is not far from the gas tanks while I handle refueling with the gas man...I ask him his name while he is filling the spare tank in the back seat. He says his name is Elliott. I have to ask him...that wouldn't be Ness by any chance. He looks confused...I guess he never saw the show! It is a balmy 35C on the ramp. I decide to give the guys in the hangar back home a call to make sure they are tracking our progress and I get Chris on the line and without much small talk he says...hey Pottsy...hows it going like I am calling him from down the street!

[DGP]

I ask if he has got us on the flight tracker and he says that they are taking turns watching our trip. he then asks...where the he## am I and I said well you know where Cuba is...we are about 80 miles n/e of there.He says that that was a lot of water that you just flew over and I say you don't have to remind me...I was there. He wants to know where we are going next and I tell him ...to be continued.

[DGP]

So I hang up with Chris and am waiting for buddy...there are S76 and Dauphin helicopters coming and going everywhere....this place is busy or what! Buddy gets back...hands me my stuff and we put the life jackets back on and away we go again back out over the water. I tell my new found friend that I will stay away from Haiti and we set up to hit the shore right at the border of DR and Haiti.     got to go.

[DGP]

It's an hour and a bit over this stretch of water...140 miles...we finally see the shore coming up...there is a huge rock island just off the coast...looks like the rock of Gibraltor but smaller. We fly right over this and then drop down to 100 ft above the trees. Mostly palm trees and banana groves...it's shades of Vietnam...muddy rice paddies ...small grass hooches . I feel safer down low as anyone that hears us coming will not see us until we scream over them...just in case they don't appreciate us being in their neighbourhood! You never know!!!

[DGP]

It takes almost 2 hrs to get to the airport in Punta Cana and I can tell you this island has the most inhospitable countryside that i have ever flown over. Flying over the ocean seems way better.I tell buddy if we loose an engine over this sh#T we will be toast. His reply ...what!!!! I can't wait to land!..We come over a fairy high mountain ridge and there is the airport...thank Christ...this leg really sucked!