John & Anne Wiley

2013/03/28

Castaway to Peli

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 02:23

To ensure we had a place to sleep when we had little time for planning, we’d reserved a room at the Castaways. We knew it was near the Freeport city centre and thus a long walk from the water. But it was fun to wake this morning where many of the locals live and shop.

0825 Castaways View

0825 Castaways View

We dragged all our stuff around the area, chancing upon what seemed to be the main Grand Bahama office of Tourism.

0828 Tourism Office

0828 Tourism Office

Along the way we met this spiral tail lizard, fat and happy in the sun. He posed so nicely for this shot!

0830 Spiral Lizard

0830 Spiral Lizard

We were helped immeasurably by Pauline in the Tourism Office, who went to extraordinary lengths to help us try to find accommodations on other islands. She has an especially good connection on San Salvador Island, which is the one I’d found most intriguing in my research before we left home. Looks like thanks to her we might be able to visit there. 🙂

0061 Patient Pauline

0061 Patient Pauline

Anne was delighted to find this enchanting mailbox in the hotel lobby, where she posted those two cards. You know who you are. 😉

0058 Magic Mail

0058 Magic Mail

We lunched across the street at a nice restaurant that to me is misnamed The Office. So far from the sort of stresses I associate with that title. Beyond it the beer sign marks a handy liquor store, and the pink hotel across the street is our Castaways.

5618 Office View

5618 Office View

We’d taken a reasonably priced taxi ride from there to Lucaya the night before, but today we discovered the Bahama Bus service. Basically a fleet of vans that roams an unmapped route punctuated by blue “Bus Stop” signs. It was great to save enough taxi money to buy a nice lunch and meet locals.

0062 Bahamian Bus

0062 Bahamian Bus

Locals like Greg here, who studied accounting in Paris and now works in the casino across from tonight’s hotel. He intrigued us with a saxophone case, and when he spotted my miniature guitar said we should jam tonight. The ride was far too short!

0063 Gregarious Greg

0063 Gregarious Greg

Tonight we decided to spring for a more upscale hotel, which sadly lacks the free internet we enjoyed at the Castaways. But it does have a great location on the canal just across the street from the beaches where tomorrow we hope to finally go snorkeling. For tonight, we’re enjoying some beauty.

0067 Pelican Bay Babe

0067 Pelican Bay Babe

2013/03/27

Carib Be In :)

Filed under: Aviation,Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 02:52

Well, we went for it as you guessed. Took off from St. Augustine and flew over the fort we’d only seen from afar yesterday.

0699 St. Aug. Fort

0699 St. Aug. Fort

Also over the tourist part of town we’d wandered the night before while waiting to meet up with sweet Lettie and cool Roy for dinner. Turns out this is the oldest town in the country, and they have some fascinating archeological digs going on dating back into Spanish, French, English and American history.

0715 Tourist Quarter

0715 Tourist Quarter

Then down the coast at 1,500′ to 2,500′ intending to land at Vero Beach to top off fuel and take a stretch. Pretty constant light turbulence, but from what I’d seen forecast for winds aloft I thought it would be worse higher and with more crosswind slowing us down. I was so busy wresting with up/downdrafts I almost blundered into this restricted area over Cape Kennedy.

0742 Rocket Science

0742 Rocket Science

Since winds were plenty strong even low, we decided to just go for it and pay half again as much for fuel on the islands. That turned out to be a good decision, because once we started a gradual climb we were out of the turbulence by 5,000 feet. Again we picked up an express ride at higher altitudes, and up at 12,500 mid-crossing we topped out about 170kts. We were surprised how close both the island and the mainland looked from that high at mid-crossing. The crossing took only a few minutes before we passed this tip of Grand Bahama Island and turned descending toward Freeport.

0762 Landfall

0762 Landfall

Florida had several thick smoke plumes from what appeared to be agricultural burns, and over the island they spread into a high smoke layer that hung over everything.

0763 Smoke High

0763 Smoke High

I quickened our descent to get below it for a better look at the island, only to find that they had fires of their own feeding the layer. Luckily downwind of our turn back toward the airport after touring the town.

0816 Expected Colors

0816 Expected Colors

Down here the colors were more what we expected from the tourist pix we’ve seen. Before long the friendly and helpful guys at ATC had us on the ground. They had me land with a strong and gusty quartering tailwind, but that just made it more fun for me. 🙂

Also wanted me to taxi clear to the end of the long single runway and then all the way back to the customs office at the terminal. Maybe the connecting taxiways were unusable, or they just like you to burn gas. I never did ask what that was about, but wished the tower had told me in advance so I could have landed at the end to look around longer and shorten the taxi.

Update: Pilots can find more details on flying the Caribbean in this thread I started on POA.

Waiting for us on the ramp was the super friendly, soft-spoken and helpful Daron who kindly posed with us for this documentation of our first Caribbean landing. If you ever land there, please tell him you saw his photo here and treat yourself to his disarming non-posed smile. 🙂

0057 Darren & Admirers

0057 Daron & Admirers

2013/03/26

Currents

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Islander Adventure,Random — John @ 05:04

We saw evidence of currents today, in the patterns of sand on the Gulf coast near Pensacola. Also on our instruments, when strong and smooth air currents aloft had our 135mph Tripp going 190mph. Tomorrow we may leave our fun stop here in St. Augustine, to ride the same air current out to the Bahamas earlier than planned.

(sent from my phone)

2013/03/25

Eyes & Ears

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 06:46

New Orleans is a treat for the eyes, with fascinating architecture and lots of color.

0552 City Mix

0552 City Mix

The mix of ages we see in buildings seems to me wider than in most American cities. As we wander, the character is everywhere.

0555 Casual

0555 Casual

Some of the buildings host plant life.

0559 Life Emergent

0559 Life Emergent

Everywhere people are enjoying themselves and each other in the easy style we see everywhere.

0561 Relaxing

0561 Relaxing

We walked through colorful streets to Armstrong Park with its big white arch.

0570 Armstrong Arch

0570 Armstrong Arch

There was a great festival there, though in many ways the entire city is one giant festival everywhere with interesting and diverse music to caress your ears.

0583 Festival

0583 Festival

Walking back we wondered about the dates 1849 and 1899 on this mysterious building.

0588 Anselm Motto

0588 Anselm Motto

It’s next door to this restored Jesuit church with its distinctive towers.

0591 Two Towers

0591 Two Towers

Nearby is this costume rental store providing another example of the playful contrasts here.

0585 World Of Magic

0585 World Of Magic

Though we’re just beginning to get acquainted with New Orleans, tomorrow we’ll probably head for the Jacksonville area to visit relatives and start plotting our venture out into the Caribbean.

2013/03/24

Mystique

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 06:34

We wandered repeatedly into the realm of magic today. It began with our decision to ride the bus out to look at the Garden district, where many magnificent old homes have been restored. The bus was full, so we each sat with someone else in two rows and struck up conversations. We learned that by going beyond the Garden we could find another fruit: a neighborhood French Festival.

0354 Serendipitous Street

0354 Serendipitous Street

It was such a garden of delights! There was a band playing at the end of the block of course, and lots of arts and foods. But hidden inside the St. Henry School auditorium was the delightful Norbert Slama Trio playing a lilting French accordion and guitar waltz to a nearly empty hall, as if destined for our ears only. And this playful pair.

0362 The Eternal Dance

0362 The Eternal Dance

Walking out a side door, we found this woman in skull makeup turning the Wheel Of Fate for a gathering of kids.

0367 Wheel Of Fate

0367 Wheel Of Fate

Everything was magic by the time we began our walk toward the trolley back into the city, so my eye wandered to these drunks happily loitering beneath the No Loitering sign with their little dog.

0373 Three Men & Dog

0373 Three Men & Dog

After many more enchanted moments that I’ll spare you (and this will still be long!), we were happy to get a seat on the trolley that soon filled to capacity with uncomfortable tourists trying to avoid contact. After meeting more interesting people we’ll never see again, we eventually got to Frenchmen Street as darkness enfolded us and this mannequin welcomed us to the realm of mystery.

0415 Silent Welcome

0415 Silent Welcome

New Orleans is a city of music. Everywhere. All the time. But aside from Lafitte’s the jazz we’d hoped to hear on Bourbon or Royal, was mostly loud rock or blues. Here just beyond the French Market we found various colors of tight jazz in every bar. First the red.

0419 Red Jazz

0419 Red Jazz

Then the black and red.

0428 Black & Red Jazz

0428 Black & Red Jazz

Then the blue gals.

0435 Blue Jazz

0435 Blue Jazz

Next some rainbow jazz.

0443 Rainbow Jazz

0443 Rainbow Jazz

Even lots of great street jazz playing for change.

0541 Street Jazz

0541 Street Jazz

Amid it all, this lonely and all but ignored stoic jazz poet.

0466 Jazz Poet

0466 Jazz Poet

In an alley off the street we found a courtyard jazz artist colony.

0508 Jazz Art

0508 Jazz Art

Anne bought mementos for loved ones…

0522 Jazz Mementos

0522 Jazz Mementos

…as I was entertained by this jazz performance artist playing an angry beaded lady.

0514 Jazz Bearded Lady

0514 Jazz Bearded Lady

One of the tightest jazz bands we heard tonight was at The Spotted Cat, where a guitar and tuba found exquisite harmony in a small ensemble that drew a big crowd.

0507 Jazz Tuba

0507 Jazz Tuba

Few days bring the spectrum of magic that New Orleans provided these wanderers. We’re dizzy with memories, our souls opened by the city of saints so that our dreams can begin to savor the spicy flavor of life here below sea level. I’m reminded of this blessing written for a dear friend.

May we awaken to our Need with the help of other eyes.
Outside our sphere just enough, but near,
That our hearts can stretch to touch new Truth.
Singing what we can barely hear afar,
The harmony of our true nature,
Mingling in the music of ages,
We are blessings each and all,
Rising to the stars together.

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