Flying in Barbados

[Dave Gittins]

Thought I'd try here first before the Caribbean forum.

Just booked a couple of weeks in Barbados with Mrs DG at the end of Feb and wondered if Bridgetown has a flying club or school where I might manage to rent a plane and instructor for an hour and have a bimble round the island. Google shows lots of expensive exec style metal at Grantley Adams (plus a Concorde exhibit) but couldn't see any SEPs.

Any info out there ?

[Flying_Anorak]

Whether or not you fly there (possibly best if you don't afterwards!) I thoroughly recommend 'The Boatyard' Beach Bar in Bridgetown - not far from the airport.

[Aphrican]

Check your PM inbox.

[Dave Gittins]

Aphrican

Thanks for that ... during a bout of insomnia have found these guys Coconut Airways (http://www.coconut-airways.com/index.html) so will send them an email.

Flying_Anorak

Always glad of a recommendation for a bar :ok:

DGG

[trident3A]

Hi, just wondered how this worked out as I'm going to Barbados at the end of the month - did you manage to hire a plane?

[Pilot DAR]

You know Dave, I was in Barbados two weeks ago. I had thought to rent a plane and go for a tour, but really did not pursue the idea, once I was there. There are nice scenes, but it's not that big a place, and I think you'd see them just as well during a drive around and across the middle of the island. And, it was blowing like blazes the most of the time - kinda takes the fun out of a tour flight when you spend an hour being bounced around.

I soon gave up the idea, and am happy I did.

What really made my trip? I went swimming with the sea turtles - right off the beach at the Lone Star, north end of Holetown. Choose a sunny day (so they light up, and you can see them well), take a baggy of fish scraps. Us a mask and snorkle (you really don't need fins) and swim 50M off shore from the beach at 10 AM. The turtles will find you! Be careful with the scraps of fish, you might be mobbed by these gentle creatures!

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/IMG_3988.jpg

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo252/PilotDAR/IMG_4018.jpg

(here I am posting turtle photos on PPRuNe!)

The other thing which was well worth it, was the drive to the north point to see the waves crash up the rock cliffs, and in the blow hole down in the caves there.

My advice is that you'll remember those more (and get better photos) than getting bounced around for an hour in a rental plane!

Have a fun trip in any case....

[Dave Gittins]

Pilot DAR ... you are right and I did all those things with my wife but as I am also a pilot; I cannot resist wanting to fly wherever I go. So far the only place the locals haven't welcomed me is Sicily.

So I had a couple of flights while I was in Barbados, with Coconut Airways, a local school / renter on the south ramp at Grantley Adams. One day was a write off as it was raining with a low base, so 2/3 trips to the airport bore fruit.

Thoroughly enjoyed myself and flew with a Barbadian instructor and all round great guy.

First time I have flown a PA38 since I was with Ed Pape on my first training flight at Ringway in 1990.

The wind was strong, consistently about 25 - 30 kts straight down the runway, which caused no problems at all. A little bit of turbulence immediately after departure whilst over the cliffs but above 1500 ft was surprisingly smooth until we came down to about 1000 ft over the west coast where there was a bit more chop in the lee of the central hills near Holetown.

I also snorkelled with the turtles nr Holetown, dived on a couple of wrecks in Carlisle Bay, visited Harrison's Cave and drove all round the island in a little Jimny. The Atlantic side waves are pretty serious from ground level, they look superb from 3000 ft.

I haven't looked at all the pics I took yet but mostly they were with me little camera out of the Tommie's opening window panel (with a good grip of the wrist strap).

You have to file a flight plan for any flight and the nearest alternative is Grenada, which necessitates an international plan and 15 separate bits of documentation. A QXC via Grenada and St Lucia requires 3 flight plans with 3 separate authorities and is apparently real hard work.

Nobody seems to have a VFR or Topo chart for the area so we just flew without any chart. It isn’t exactly easy to get lost on such a small island. At least in Tenerife we used a Tenerife Pearl freebie map of the island ! Neither my UK nor US GPS’s have the east Caribbean on so I didn’t take them. Local pilots say they just use a cheapie GPS with the co-ords of the main islands in to cross the oggin and then fly visually without a map over land.

All in all ... great fun.

[PilotPieces]

Great photos DAR!

Can I ask what camera you are using. I am thinking of a new camera and waterproof casing.

[Dave Gittins]

Bad subject with me cameras. Took 5 to Barbados. A little Olympus waterproof camera which stopped working on day 3 but the little basket started again when we got home. A Kodak Playsport waterproof video which also played up while we were in Barbados so no pics of the Turtles or the wreck. Then to cap it all Gill dropped our Fuji Finepix S7000 in the sea. That shows no sign of recovering.

Now in market for a new "good" camera with a decent zoom.

[PilotPieces]

I am also in the market for a "good" camera. I like the idea of the Nikon D3100/5100 because the underwater casings are reasonable at $1200...:ugh:

I do a lot of diving as opposed to snorkling so can't get away with the little "waterproof" compacts. Trouble is I don't know that I will ever trust taking an expensive camera underwater.

[Dave Gittins]

I'm not sure I'll trust my wife with an expensive camera near water :mad:

[foxmoth]

I do a lot of diving as opposed to snorkling so can't get away with the little "waterproof" compacts.

The waterproof compacts are not suitable, but for many small digital cameras you can cases that come in around the £200 mark. I have used an Olympus one for many years down to 30M or so with no problem, pics tend to be a bit poor on colour, mainly because I do not have a decent light to go with it - with one of those the pics come out OK, the other way to sort the colour is to run them through Photoshop - even autocorrect makes a vast difference, you can tweek even more, but that would take an age with a lot of pics.