When we lived in the Pacific Northwest, a notion like flying across the continent to the Caribbean was very attractive on March 10. Today was a typical mid-70s crystal blue calm here, so Winter is a different visceral experience. We’re excited to finally visit that part of the world (a first for both of us), yet I wonder what weather we’re leaving this for.
4737 Hills of Home
Even looking out the window at scenes like this, it’s fun to focus on maps. I’ll be reading a lot about flying in the Caribbean, talking with pilots who do it a lot, and possibly even meeting up with pilots flying there at the same time. Meanwhile I spent some time this afternoon putting together a mosaic of maps to get a rough idea of the distances. Later I’ll plan some actual fuel stops and stretch breaks and we’ll choose our overnight stops. For the Florida Keys, it looks pretty simple compared with our Big Adventures all over the rest of the continent.
Keys Route
Between whim and weather, the actual route we fly will surely be quite different but this is a great place to start. When I see Key Largo on a planning map for our flight, the beauty outside right now dims into a very pleasant background. Looking at the Caribbean part of our upcoming Islander Adventure is even more enchanting.
Caribbean Route
You won’t be able to make much of this map unless you click to see the large version. But it’s dreamy to imagine visiting all those names I couldn’t locate before and adding them to our mental map of places we’ve flown over and landed. Bahamas, Freeport, Nassau, Turks & Caicos, within sight of Cuba, on to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Quite a quest. Quite an Adventure!
John & Anne Wiley 
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