Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The alarm goes off early around 6:00am.  We jump out of bed and prepare for the day ahead.  Surprisingly, Leroy is already waiting for us before 6:30.  We hurry and pack up ready to head to the airport.  The woman at the airport had told us yesterday that the airport wouldn’t open until 7:00 AM.  We beat her to the airport but she did let us slide in a few minutes early.

Dad reviews his flight plan and makes some calls before we took off.  We were finally in the air by 8:00 AM.  It was a little cloudy in the sky but overall a pleasant flight, especially since we were tailing Hurricane Sandy.

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 11:00 AM.  We made our way towards customs and were cleared fairly quickly, a nice surprise from our trip before.  The airport staff was pleasant and offered us all cold water bottles.  We rested a little while in the pilots lounge and Dad updated his flight plan, while we waited for the airport to finish fueling the plane. 

We checked the weather while we were there.  Dad and Brad had a discussion about where we would end up having to land.  It seemed Sandy was loitering close to our area, and may or may not still be there when we were due to arrive.  Dad talked about possibly landing further inland in Shenandoah or Roanoke.  Brad was hoping for the possibility of landing in Emporia, only about an hour drive home.

We were back in the sky in just over an hour, still unsure of where we would end up.  Another pleasant smooth flight, it was hard to believe there was a hurricane nearby.  We landed in Brunswick, Georgia a little after 3:00PM.  We asked the airport to fill the plane up and we borrowed the courtesy car to get some lunch.  We decided to check out the barbeque restaurant that we had heard so much about.  Wasting as little time as possible, we took off by 4:20PM.

Once back in the sky, the first thing I noticed was the increase of clouds.  The first thing Dad noticed, however, was that the fuel gauge was not pointing to full.  We had gotten a little fuel but not enough to make it home.  Thinking quickly, we were able to fly for an hour before landing in Charleston, South Carolina.  We were only on land long enough to fill up and in less then half an hour we were back in the air.  Another thing I noticed while we were there was how much colder it was.  We had gotten use to the hot temperature in the islands, and I was glad my sweat pants were in reach to pull over my shorts.

Once again I noticed how increasingly the clouds around us were growing.  We were definitely approaching hurricane Sandy.  Although completely confident in Dad’s flying abilities, I couldn’t help but wonder how terrified Mom would be right now.  Looking out the window, there was barely any lapse of cloud underneath us.  It almost looked like sand or water with the lack of landscape.  It seemed strange that there was barely any turbulence.  In fact, I dozed off for a few hours enjoying the melody of the motor’s hum. 

Yanked from my siesta abruptly, I was very confused by my surroundings.  Unsure of where we were or what time it was, the first thing that came to my attention was the rough ride I was on.  Outside it was dark, rainy, and very cloudy.  I heard Dad communicating with someone from the tower on the radio.  I could feel the different angles the plane was being tossed into, while Dad fought to keep it under control.  There was no visual to speak of that I could see and I have to admit I began to worry.  It seemed that we had finally come head on to Hurricane Sandy.

Dad was definitely struggling to find a runway to land on.  I hoped that the view from the pilot’s seat was better then mine, or lack there of.  I listened to the man on the radio to keep my spirits up.  I was glad that it was only dad and the tower communicating and that there was no one else in the nearby air space.  I don’t think we could have seen any other aircraft if they were there.  Luckily, only my father was crazy enough to brave the weather.

The closer to ground we approached, we may have been able to see more, but the flight grew rockier and rockier.  In my head, I could hear the ear piercing screams my mom would be making as if she were in the seat next to me.  Trying my best not to overreact, I remembered that my dad would never risk our lives.  Still dazed from my sudden return to consciousness, I had not completely recovered.

The angle of the plane to the runway had me convinced that we would lose a wheel or worse when we hit pavement.  I was pleasantly surprised that the rough jolt of the land was not nearly as powerful as I had anticipated.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still hard, just not wheel fall-off, plane crash, fly out of your seat through the window hard.  Mom probably would have disagreed though.  Lucky for all of us, she wasn’t there.

Finally safely on the ground, I got the skinny.  It was just after 8:00 in the evening, and we had landed in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The man in the tower had filled the guys in that the further north we would have gone, the worse the weather conditions would have become.

Brad got to work right away on renting us a car.  We made plans to find the closest hotel and make our way home in the morning.  We all made calls to our loved ones to let everyone know that we had safely landed and what are plans were.  We then piled up in the rental and headed out to look for somewhere to eat.  We settled on a sports bar and ordered a bottle of wine.

I brought up the subject of the drive home.  Half-joking I made the comment that I was surprised that the men didn’t want to push the trek through and finish the 3 hour drive to make it to Virginia Beach that night; especially since before Brad had seemed to be in a hurry to make it home.  That was all it took. 

The renewed energy spread like wildfire through the group and before I knew it, I was behind the wheel taking the first shift on our continuing journey.  Me and my big mouth…  I really didn’t mind, I must admit, after all I had taken a nice power nap earlier.  The trip was actually pleasant compared to the last few minutes of the plane ride.  It felt good to be on land and safe again.

By the time we pulled into the driveway, it was past 1:00 in the morning.  We made it!  The adventure comes to an end and I was sad to see it go.  We survived flying over the ocean and into a hurricane.  We even did some good along the way.  Next time, we will probably fly commercially.  The overall experience, I must say, was fantastic!

Until Next time…

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Atlas, our final morning of the beautiful sunrise on a terrace overlooking the ocean has come. We get up around 6:00AM and begin to pack up our trusty rental car. I arrange the little room back to the way it was when I had first seen it, (minus dirty buggy bedding of course). Dad makes his final calls about his flight plan while the weather channel plays in the background.

I can barely believe our time has come to an end here in St. Croix. It feels like just yesterday we were getting off the plane being lectured by customs. It feels like time has sped up and before long we were in our car, driving down the “road that never ends” for the last time.

We make our way to the airport and Brad turns in our friendly rental car. We pack up the plane and Dad checks his flight plan status and the weather one last time. Once again we are flying through the sky on our way to our next adventure: following hurricane Sandy up the coast and making it home in one piece.

Trusty passport in hand, Dad has no worries about landing in Puerto Ricothis trip. We seemed to go through customs easy enough, although they again claimed we were not in their system. They were nice enough and cleared us through. We re-fueled and were on our way again by 11:00am.

The 4 hour flight from Puerto Rico to Inagua was uneventful and smooth enough. We could barely tell there had been a hurricane a few days prior. I enjoyed a short name while the men took turns steering. Inagua’s airport was the same as I remembered it a week before. We went through Bahama customs and paid our landing tax. This time we re-fueled with our own fuel that we had been toting around with us. We didn’t stay in Inagua for longer than we had to. In less than an hour we were in the air again.

We landed in Grand Exuma at quarter to 6 in the evening. We hoped to re-fuel and be back in the air in no time. However, when Dad got on the phone with the international briefer, she informed him that we would not be out of the Bahama air space before dark, and that without an IFR Rating, Dad would be in trouble. Dad told me to let Brad know that we would be staying the night so we needed to grab some overnight stuff from the plane.

I ran out to let Brad know. He did not seem happy at all and tried to get someone on the phone to clear us to come in tonight. Dad and I overruled him, and he finally gave up and jumped on the bandwagon.

The taxi-driver, Leroy, was very friendly and on our way to a hotel, several cars honked “hellos” to him. When we pulled up to the hotel, we were a little worried. The lights were all off and there were no cars in the parking lot. Leroy told us to wait in the van while he went up to see if he could find something out.

We watched as a maintenance guy appeared out of nowhere and had a chat with Leroy. He returned to the car and told us the man wasn’t sure when or why or for how long but that the hotel was closed.

No worries, we were soon on our way to another hotel. It seemed to take us awhile to get there, but Leroy informed us it was the same distance from the airport just on the other side of the island.

We pulled up to a small hotel resort and Leroy helped us with our luggage. We stepped inside and the main entry was also the entry to the restaurant. It seemed to be bustling with visitors but the only person working was a bar tender. Leroy said he would stay until he made sure we had a room. The bar tender got on the phone to call in the hotel manager for the night. It took her about 10 minutes but she finally arrived. She pulled up her computer to see what rooms she had available. She told us before we decided which ones we would stay in she wanted to show us what was available. We paid Leroy and told him what time to pick us up in the morning.

The first room she showed us was a suite. One room had a queen sized bed with a couch and the other room had a king-sized bed. She didn’t end up showing us that room since when she walked in she said it hadn’t been cleaned yet. Next, she showed us two rooms next to each other- one with a double bed that had been rolled into it. We decided on those two rooms. Dad and I would stay in the room with the two beds and Brad would stay next-door.

We left our luggage and returned to the hotel bar to get some dinner. The mix of locals and visitors made a pleasant atmosphere. We seemed to fit right in. One of the men we talked to was doing construction nearby. As soon as he found out what we had been doing in the islands, he got real excited. He introduced us to the woman next to him telling us she had many pets.

Once in deep conversation, the woman revealed to us that the only veterinarian on the entire island and nearby islands, had just recently passed away. She told us how he and his wife had moved down to the Bahamas to retire and opened up a practice. I could see excitement growing in Dad’s eyes as she spoke. I could see him picturing the excitement of a new adventure brewing.

The woman at the bar began telling us stories about patients the veterinarian had seen. She told us how it wasn’t all vacation and how a lot of the patients brought in were not in good shape at all. She spoke of how strong the vet’s heart had to be in order to keep on doing what he was doing in spite of the conditions and heartbreaking sites. She also told us that the vet had the only X-ray machine on the island and if people broke a bone they would have to go see him as well.

When the time came that the woman excused herself to leave, Dad traded e-mail addresses with her, hopeful that he could find a veterinarian who would love to retire and follow in the past vet’s footsteps. Not long after, we retreated to our rooms as well to prepare for the following day’s adventures.

 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Friday, October 26, 2012

It's nice to wake up with no real set plans. I get up around 8:30 AM and Dad and Brad are already up and making coffee. The TV is on playing the weather channel "Tracking Hurricane Sandy". They are calling it a "super-storm." Of course this was our original day to leave. Now we are really unsure what day we will be able to take off.

We had hoped to go to Bucks Island today but it looks pretty unpredictable outside.  Since we are still hoping to leave tomorrow, we decide to run some errands today.  Dad wants to check on his plane and make sure it is okay and re-fueled for tomorrow.

Once we arrive at the airport, we meet some friends of Mike.  They tell us there is a large jet-engine plane planning to land in about an hour or so and Dad should move his plane over to their side of the airport.  They drive us out to the plane and Dad moves it to the new location.  We then head up to the pilot’s lounge for Dad to start his flight plan.  He wants to be extra prepared this time.

When we left the airport we started our hunt for some “ting”.  The drinks Dr. Bailey had made for us the other day had been mixed with ting.  It is a juice that is very common in the island St. Kitts.  It wasn’t all that common on St. Croix, however.  We ended up going to at least 3 different supermarkets before we finally found it.

Kellie texted Dad informing him that his passport had finally arrived; she asked where we’d like to meet to get it.  She let us know that she was at K-Mart currently, so we made our way in that direction.  When we got to K-Mart we met Kellie in the parking lot.  At this time of day, everyone had the same thought on their mind: lunch!

We invited Kellie to join us at Mencho’s, the same sandwich place Brad had picked up for everyone a couple days ago.  She took us up on the offer, having never been there herself.  We sat around a table outside enjoying the warm island air and reminiscing over the last week.

When we made it back to the house after lunch, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon.  Brad had complained that Dad and I had yet to make it into the water.  Given the time and our track record for the last couple of days, I honestly thought it wasn’t going to happen.  Not to mention, we had dinner plans with Mike and Dr. Bailey.  I was proven wrong when Dad gathered his snorkeling gear and headed out the door.

I ran to catch up and we hiked along a nearby path to a small beach.  There were several turtle nests along the shore.  Some of the nests still had the mother turtle tracks where she made her way back to the water.  Few had tiny baby turtle tracks and I could almost imagine them hatching out of their little shells.

Dad had brought an additional set of snorkeling gear for me to borrow.  They were, however, a little big for me.  I watched as Brad made it out to the water first.  I had never snorkeled off the beach before and was a little nervous, especially when I saw the wide path of sea urchins that was unavoidable.  I mustered up some courage and made my way into the water.

My fear, combined with the oversized snorkel gear, didn’t keep me in the water for long.  Not to mention the scenes from Jaws kept replaying in my head.  That made matters worse and I’m sorry to say I soon retreated from the watery depths that I was consumed in.  No worries, however, I enjoyed sunbathing on the shore while the men continued their snorkeling adventures. 

We stayed a couple hours to get our island beach fix and then headed back to the house to wash up and prepare for dinner.  On our hike back, we crossed paths with a wildlife conservationist who was making her rounds to check on the turtle nests.  We also asked her about a very questionable ball of meshed sand and grass that we had seen in a tree near the shore.  She said she thought it was a nest of some kind but wasn’t entirely sure herself.

Once back at the house, we began getting ready for dinner.  I decided to put on another load of laundry, and in doing so glanced out the window.  There I saw the biggest dog I had encountered on the island.  (Most of the dogs were medium sized about 30-40lbs but no bigger)  This dog was at least 80 lbs or more.  I called to it through the window and it turned, looked at me and lay down.

I quickly ran outside to see him and found he not only had a collar, but tags with his name and address.  He belonged to the neighbors next door.  (On the other side of the house not where I had seen Misti, a few days prior, disappear).  His name was Pedro and he was very friendly and enjoyed a nice pat.

The weather began to look like the sky would open up at any moment.  It started pouring but only lasted less than a minute.  It was almost as if we had imagined the whole thing by how fast it was over.

We met Dr. Bailey and Mike at around 6:00 in the evening.  The Yacht Club, where we went, wasn’t far from where we were staying and it didn’t take us long to get there.  A  Halloween celebration was going on, and many people and children were dressed in costumes.  Dr. Bailey had once again brought her cute little Chihuahua and the shirt he wore made him look like a bumble bee.

We sat outside on a small deck that was directly followed by a small beach.  We sat and socialized while watching the many Halloween events (including a pumpkin carving contest) going on inside.  We discussed our plans to leave the next morning and hoped the weather would cooperate with us.  Hurricane Sandy should be past Florida by the time we take off.  Here’s hoping.