Story time

[DGP]

We got up at 7 and had breakfast at the resort and then drove back to the airport which took a while...lots of folks going to work and the road is very narrow. We do outbound Customs and hit the sky. Buddy wanted to fly down the west side of the island but the tower told us to head to the east side as the main airport in St Lucia is on the south end of the island and they had a jetliner inbound so we got to fly right over the island...very lush and green but very rugged. We fly past the airport on the south side of the island and head out over the ocean again...hour and a half to Trinidad!!!

[DGP]

Well as usual there is not much to see out over the ocean...and then we see a small boat that looks like a big canoe with an outrigger on the right side . This thing is smoking...we are doing around 100 knots and my best guess was this thing was doing about 80 mph....unreal...out in the middle of no where! We leave him behind and pass over an old freighter that looks like it was used in WW2. What a wreck...maybe buddy in the speed boat was meeting up with this ship for..what? Oh well not our problem. I finally get to say those famous  words...land ho! The north side of Trinidad has a pretty good sized ridge running east to west. We had been cruising along at 1500' and we had to climb to around 5 grand. to be continued

[DGP]

As we come over the top of this very green ridge we can see the airport coming up and give the tower a shout .Port of Spain controller is very...very...very all business! no friendly chatting for these guys which I can see as they have the most helicopter traffic that I have ever seen. They have oil fields off shore to the south east. All kinds of big stuff coming and going and it is a major center for Caribbean Airlines...very busy. He fits me in to his traffic and I sort of feel like a fool doing an airplane approach...I come in over the runway and get passed to ground and have to air taxi all over the place which aint fun with a strong wind blowing up your a##! We get directed over to an area on the ramp which we are told to land at and shut down..and don't get out of your ship...nice guys...and then WAIT for Customs!

[DGP]

Ok..so here comes the Customs guys...they look more like military types. One guy comes over and says we have to spray the inside of your ship for bugs. We are told to get out and stand by as they get these spray cans out and give the ship a good spraying .We then get marched inside and again buddy leaves me in the waiting room and takes my papers in the back room with Customs. An hour later we are cleared to go and I ask for the fuel man which he tells me is waiting at the ship...very good guys. They don't seem the least bit interested in us anymore. No one in any of these ports ever once looked inside the ship. Works for me! We get walk back out on the ramp and I open all the doors to get rid of what ever they spayed in it and I help with the refueling. The departure was just as painful as the arrival...air taxiing all over the place and we are heavy...not fun...also had to hold for what seemed forever for an inbound S-92...I am getting pissed but what can you do...finally we blast off and it is 3 plus hours over nothing but water...thanks for having us waste fuel!

[DGP]

Well south of the airport in Trinidad there aint much to look at...rugged ground and very poor looking places..oh well... we reach the south side of the island in about 20 minutes and head out over the very brown water.I can hear helicopter chatter on the vhf and most have British accents. I give a shout on 122.8 and get a guy on the radio flying an S-76...works for Bristol Heli. I tell him my location and destination and tell him if I am in any trouble I will expect him to fire off a call to search and rescue which he gladly excepts...thanks guys! We have an overcast sky...very gray and not to high. We are cruising at 1000 ft which I do not want to get any lower...to be continued

[DGP]

This is not a very comfortable flight...you cannot see a horizon and it is a long haul to our destination. I tell buddy we should head west and pick up the coast of Venezuela but this is a NoNo...he says you do not want to go into their airspace....

[DGP]

So we continue on but I am moving more to the west hoping to at least see some land.Now its starts to drizzle...oh yeah we are having fun. I had told buddy that the weather didn't look good before we left St Lucia...oh its always like this...sure....well we are commited..I tell him I will not go lower....I had set the altimeter to sea level before we left Trinidad knowing we were going to get into some sh$t and buddy tells me he has an instrument rating so I tell him you may get some use out of that but I aint letting him on the sticks out in this crap!!!!

[DGP]

On we go which seems forever...finally I see some land off to my far 2 oclock. Thank god for a good gps in this ship...796 I think...without as much as a thanks buddy says lets fly over a certain bay along the shore that has the largest pink flamingo colony in the world. I say...sure..why not...we are having a **** of a fine time ...why not do some site seeing.  So yeah we pass over head of the biggest flock of pink birds that i have ever seen...a double rum right now would impress me more!!!

[DGP]

Oh by the way there is no beach on this shore line...its water or mangrove brush..you aint landing out here at least when the tide is in. Good news is we are seeing some sunshine breaking thru the overcast but also we are hitting some torrential downpours...buddy says this is pretty much normal for this part of the world. We continue in and finally see Georgetown just ahead and call for finall...skids down ...I need a drink!

[DGP]

Well we stuff old XZU into their hangar and in minutes they are getting rid of the registration...fuel tank in the back seat is gone in 30 minutes and the guys in the hangar want to know if I want to go and have some local rum...what do you think!!! I am told I have to be over at my hotel by 8 so I said that will work. Off we go...well this outdoor bar might be okay if you are in Vietnam during 1966 but it is lets say austern ...a run down shack with some tables and chairs out on a mud patio...oh well...bring on the rum...its been a he## of a day!