Bahamas PIREP
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 5:02 am
I thought I would post a trip report about my flight to Cat Island, Bahamas this past February in case anyone else is considering doing the trip and would like a PIREP. Our DA40XL was at Premier in Ft. Lauderdale for the ADSB install, so I decided to take the opportunity to fly it over to the Bahamas. I flew Jet Blue from Boston to Fort Lauderdale on a Friday. My plan was to depart for the Bahamas Saturday morning, stay three nights, and fly back to Fort Lauderdale Tuesday morning in time to catch an evening Jet Blue flight to Boston. Note this trip took place several months before Hurricane Dorian, which may have affected some operations particularly at Marsh Harbour.
1. Paperwork
This was most of the effort. Having done it once I can see that it will be less stressful next time. In addition to the usual documents, this is the paperwork you are supposed to have in the plane: Radio Station License (airplane), US Customs sticker (airplane), and Radiotelephone Operator Permit (pilot). I got all of these as required. At no point did anyone ask to see any of them. There are several Bahamas immigration forms you need to fill out. It is a bit confusing and I’m told which forms you really need depends a bit on who is working in the office that day. I filled out these two prior to departure and brought them with me: C7a Bahamas Cruising Permit Form and Bahamas Immigration Card. Obviously you need your passport too. You need to set up an eAPIS account (if you do not already have one) and fill out the info about the pilot and passengers. This is not hard but do it well in advance in case there is any trouble setting up your eAPIS account. I filed eAPIS for the departure and return trips before leaving home.
2. How to get there
I filed IFR both ways. You do not have too, but since I had never flown internationally before I thought I would have less chance of doing something very wrong if I was on an IFR flight plan. My route was: KFXE ZFP BR70V MRRSH MYEM at 7000’.
3. Departure
I used Banyan for FBO services at KFXE. You should use Banyan too. Every other plane there was a light jet but they took very good care of me. I rented a life vest and a raft from them. The life vest is required. I was not planning to rent a raft, but as the man behind the counter explained, “If you need to use the life vest, you will really wish you had the raft.” I couldn’t argue with that logic. Fortunately the vest and the raft stayed secured in their packaging for the duration of the trip.
Departure day was a total mess. The weather in Ft. Lauderdale was VFR, but there were spots of convective activity off the coast. It got a little better, then a little worse, then a little better throughout the day. Radar didn’t show anything at my destination, but I wasn’t sure if that was because there was no precipitation or because there was no radar coverage. Given the nature of the flight and realizing that my options might be limited once outside of the ADIZ I made a no-go decision at 2pm. I got a different hotel for the night Saturday, the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale North. Stay here if you need to overnight, it is really nice for the area and practically walking distance to Banyan. I spent the night re-filing eAPIS and re-filing IFR. In case you’re wondering what happens if you don’t depart on your eAPIS plan, the answer is: nothing. It just disappears in to the ether. Turns out that no-go was a good choice, I later learned Cat Island experienced torrential rain for parts of the day. Do not assume the weather in the Bahamas is always going to be severe clear VFR just like in the photos.
Departure the next morning was effortless with severe clear VFR weather just like in the photos. Yes, it is a little weird at first flying off over open ocean. I think I was not in sight of land for about 7 minutes. Maybe 20 minutes of the entire flight was not within engine-out distance of land. It’s practically a non-issue.
4. Arrival
Since Cat Island does not have fuel available, I made Governors Harbour my port of entry. Immediately upon landing I was greeted warmly by a lineman. I asked where customs was and he pointed me to the little building (it is the only building actually, so he could probably tell I was a tourist …). I requested a top-off and was told “Oh man, that’s a problem …” Apparently the fuel truck was broken. OK, well I still had to clear customs so I went into the building. I must have had that deer-in-the-headlights look as the lady working in the office basically filled out the forms for me (again, the required forms seem to have some flexibility about them) and stamped my passport. Fuel or no fuel, I had made it to the Bahamas! The lineman directed me to North Eleuthera (MYEH) for fuel. It’s only 10-15 minutes away. I told the lineman at North Eleuthera about the situation with the fuel truck in Governors Harbour. He told me that fuel truck has been broken for two years.
As I was paying the bill (every place took credit cards by the way, other than tips I don’t think I spent cash at all while I was there), I glanced out the window and it was nearly solid overcast at about 2000’. Really? Now what am I supposed to do? Scud run from Eleuthera Island to Cat Island? File IFR somehow and pick up a clearance from … whom exactly? There was a young pilot picking up some passengers in a small commuter airline turboprop so I asked him what folks do around here. He told me no one files an IFR departure here, just pick one up in the air with Freeport Radio. Sounds good.
Not good. If you have never filed an ICAO flight plan over the radio before, your first attempt should not be filing one with Freeport Radio to a controller with a serious Bahamian accent while you are in a 2000’ sliver of air between the clouds and the ocean. NB: they really do want to know the color and capacity of your rented life raft that is in the back seat where you can’t see it. It was embarrassing to say the least. But after that 20 minutes of misery I finally had Cat Island (MYCB) in sight. It’s a beautiful thing.
5. Accommodations
I stayed at Fernandez Bay Village. You want to stay here. There’s basically nothing to do other than stare at the water and drink rum punch. I don’t think I’ve been more relaxed in my entire life. I originally had a plan to fly to San Salvador to see the Christopher Columbus memorial and to fly to Exuma to see the swimming pigs. I didn’t do any of that. I stared at the water and drank rum punch.
6. Departure
Fernandez Bay Village has wifi, so I filed IFR on Fore Flight from Cat Island to Marsh Harbour. Although I didn’t strictly need fuel to get home, I decided it would be prudent to top off, and I wanted to get in a landing at another island before going home. My route was: MYCB Direct MYAM at 8000’. A mere 40 hours after arrival I paid my parking fee and departed Cat Island VFR. Picking up the IFR clearance enroute was easy. Marsh Harbour (MYAM) is more like a typical US Class D airport (no tower though). Customs folks were easy going and departure was a breeze. Wifi wasn’t good at the FBO but I was able to file back to KFXE using ForeFlight on my iPhone. My route was MYAM ZFP BR68V FLL KFXE at 8000’. You need to call customs at KFXE at least one hour prior to your arrival to tell them you are coming. The rules don’t tell you what to do if you call several times and no one answers. Hmmm. Well, I decided to call customs at KFLL for guidance. She said they were probably just too busy at KFXE to answer the phone but she would pass on the info that I called.
7. Arrival
The flight from Marsh Harbour to Fort Lauderdale was blissfully uneventful, but I really wish that when approaching FLL they didn’t have me descend to 2000’ with 10 miles of ocean left to cover. Upon landing I told the ground controller I was going to customs and they gave me directions. The KFXE customs guys were very pleasant. I was the only one there and I was in and out in a matter of minutes. Taxied back to Banyan and returned my still unopened life vest and life raft. It was red, by the way.
1. Paperwork
This was most of the effort. Having done it once I can see that it will be less stressful next time. In addition to the usual documents, this is the paperwork you are supposed to have in the plane: Radio Station License (airplane), US Customs sticker (airplane), and Radiotelephone Operator Permit (pilot). I got all of these as required. At no point did anyone ask to see any of them. There are several Bahamas immigration forms you need to fill out. It is a bit confusing and I’m told which forms you really need depends a bit on who is working in the office that day. I filled out these two prior to departure and brought them with me: C7a Bahamas Cruising Permit Form and Bahamas Immigration Card. Obviously you need your passport too. You need to set up an eAPIS account (if you do not already have one) and fill out the info about the pilot and passengers. This is not hard but do it well in advance in case there is any trouble setting up your eAPIS account. I filed eAPIS for the departure and return trips before leaving home.
2. How to get there
I filed IFR both ways. You do not have too, but since I had never flown internationally before I thought I would have less chance of doing something very wrong if I was on an IFR flight plan. My route was: KFXE ZFP BR70V MRRSH MYEM at 7000’.
3. Departure
I used Banyan for FBO services at KFXE. You should use Banyan too. Every other plane there was a light jet but they took very good care of me. I rented a life vest and a raft from them. The life vest is required. I was not planning to rent a raft, but as the man behind the counter explained, “If you need to use the life vest, you will really wish you had the raft.” I couldn’t argue with that logic. Fortunately the vest and the raft stayed secured in their packaging for the duration of the trip.
Departure day was a total mess. The weather in Ft. Lauderdale was VFR, but there were spots of convective activity off the coast. It got a little better, then a little worse, then a little better throughout the day. Radar didn’t show anything at my destination, but I wasn’t sure if that was because there was no precipitation or because there was no radar coverage. Given the nature of the flight and realizing that my options might be limited once outside of the ADIZ I made a no-go decision at 2pm. I got a different hotel for the night Saturday, the Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale North. Stay here if you need to overnight, it is really nice for the area and practically walking distance to Banyan. I spent the night re-filing eAPIS and re-filing IFR. In case you’re wondering what happens if you don’t depart on your eAPIS plan, the answer is: nothing. It just disappears in to the ether. Turns out that no-go was a good choice, I later learned Cat Island experienced torrential rain for parts of the day. Do not assume the weather in the Bahamas is always going to be severe clear VFR just like in the photos.
Departure the next morning was effortless with severe clear VFR weather just like in the photos. Yes, it is a little weird at first flying off over open ocean. I think I was not in sight of land for about 7 minutes. Maybe 20 minutes of the entire flight was not within engine-out distance of land. It’s practically a non-issue.
4. Arrival
Since Cat Island does not have fuel available, I made Governors Harbour my port of entry. Immediately upon landing I was greeted warmly by a lineman. I asked where customs was and he pointed me to the little building (it is the only building actually, so he could probably tell I was a tourist …). I requested a top-off and was told “Oh man, that’s a problem …” Apparently the fuel truck was broken. OK, well I still had to clear customs so I went into the building. I must have had that deer-in-the-headlights look as the lady working in the office basically filled out the forms for me (again, the required forms seem to have some flexibility about them) and stamped my passport. Fuel or no fuel, I had made it to the Bahamas! The lineman directed me to North Eleuthera (MYEH) for fuel. It’s only 10-15 minutes away. I told the lineman at North Eleuthera about the situation with the fuel truck in Governors Harbour. He told me that fuel truck has been broken for two years.
As I was paying the bill (every place took credit cards by the way, other than tips I don’t think I spent cash at all while I was there), I glanced out the window and it was nearly solid overcast at about 2000’. Really? Now what am I supposed to do? Scud run from Eleuthera Island to Cat Island? File IFR somehow and pick up a clearance from … whom exactly? There was a young pilot picking up some passengers in a small commuter airline turboprop so I asked him what folks do around here. He told me no one files an IFR departure here, just pick one up in the air with Freeport Radio. Sounds good.
Not good. If you have never filed an ICAO flight plan over the radio before, your first attempt should not be filing one with Freeport Radio to a controller with a serious Bahamian accent while you are in a 2000’ sliver of air between the clouds and the ocean. NB: they really do want to know the color and capacity of your rented life raft that is in the back seat where you can’t see it. It was embarrassing to say the least. But after that 20 minutes of misery I finally had Cat Island (MYCB) in sight. It’s a beautiful thing.
5. Accommodations
I stayed at Fernandez Bay Village. You want to stay here. There’s basically nothing to do other than stare at the water and drink rum punch. I don’t think I’ve been more relaxed in my entire life. I originally had a plan to fly to San Salvador to see the Christopher Columbus memorial and to fly to Exuma to see the swimming pigs. I didn’t do any of that. I stared at the water and drank rum punch.
6. Departure
Fernandez Bay Village has wifi, so I filed IFR on Fore Flight from Cat Island to Marsh Harbour. Although I didn’t strictly need fuel to get home, I decided it would be prudent to top off, and I wanted to get in a landing at another island before going home. My route was: MYCB Direct MYAM at 8000’. A mere 40 hours after arrival I paid my parking fee and departed Cat Island VFR. Picking up the IFR clearance enroute was easy. Marsh Harbour (MYAM) is more like a typical US Class D airport (no tower though). Customs folks were easy going and departure was a breeze. Wifi wasn’t good at the FBO but I was able to file back to KFXE using ForeFlight on my iPhone. My route was MYAM ZFP BR68V FLL KFXE at 8000’. You need to call customs at KFXE at least one hour prior to your arrival to tell them you are coming. The rules don’t tell you what to do if you call several times and no one answers. Hmmm. Well, I decided to call customs at KFLL for guidance. She said they were probably just too busy at KFXE to answer the phone but she would pass on the info that I called.
7. Arrival
The flight from Marsh Harbour to Fort Lauderdale was blissfully uneventful, but I really wish that when approaching FLL they didn’t have me descend to 2000’ with 10 miles of ocean left to cover. Upon landing I told the ground controller I was going to customs and they gave me directions. The KFXE customs guys were very pleasant. I was the only one there and I was in and out in a matter of minutes. Taxied back to Banyan and returned my still unopened life vest and life raft. It was red, by the way.