Firepower

Day 2, Cozumel. Erin and Dan had located us a boat for hire, with a captain and guide. The plan was to freedive spearfish. And we were ready; ready for 80 pound grouper, or barracuda, or jack, or parrotfish; we had huge spear guns, breakaway float lines, blah blah blah. And when we got to the boat, our guide was carrying the equivalent of a peashooter with a rusted out shaft and no line. We immediately thought, this guy is a BADASS! He can take on huge fish with a teeny tiny dart gun! He must be a crack shot.
Or there was the other option that we didn't really think about.

Anyway, as you can see, not all who were impressed with our equipment knew anything about fishing (see below). But still we went out that windy, swelly, choppy day, with high hopes.

This guy was alot of talk when it came to fishing. But he didn't know how to hold a rod (it's upside down).

Our guide, Geronimo, in the background. Erin the Slayer in the foreground.

We went out for about 5 hours, hit 6-7 different sites, including three wrecks, up to 55 feet deep. We fished hard; we were in the water for 4 of the 5 hours. The visibility was almost unlimited, and the wrecks especially were just beautiful. And we did get fish. Flatfish, parrotfish, lion fish, scorpion fish. Huge fish. HUGE. But not really.

That's a lionfish. Very dangerous. Very goodeating.

Geronimo gracefully offered to cook up our catch, so we met him at his mom's house later in the evening. Turns out his mom gives cooking lessons! The feast was excellent; parrotfish ceviche, the best guacamole I've ever had, the first grilled lion and scorpion fish I ever ate, it was quite the meal.

A portion of the bounty

Chef Geronimo

Outstanding!

While the dinner was great, the fish catch was not what we were hoping for. Well, the species were fine (except no grouper); but the sizes were a tenth of what we had envisioned in our own mind. Geronimo strongly suggested we go to the other side of the island tomorrow, where he would take us for the same amount we had spent that day ($300). But in spite of his excellent cooking, we weren't convinced that there were any big fish anywhere. It was beginning to look as if the fishing pressure were really intense on this little island...

If you're flying to Mexico, you might want to read this

Upon landing at MMCZ, Cozumel, we were processed through Customs and Immigration like anyone else. Lines are a little bit shorter, though, since I only had two passengers with me. Here's a tip; Cozumel operates 24-7 but most days after 3 PM there are no more flights til the evening. So I plan on landing around 330-4 to avoid the crowd. So when we arrived, we were outnumbered by officials. We were cleared in about 5 minutes, which is what it took us to fill out all the forms.

Baggage Claim #1; Just us

Here is another tip: if you go to certain websites you will see claims that you MUST FILE ELECTRONICALLY an APIS-type form for travel to Mexico. I called up the website that said this was required, as they also said they provide this service. The quote to do so, was hundreds of dollars. Had it been twenty bucks, I would have paid it. But it wasn't. The quotes fee was so outrageous, I decided to do a little Due Diligence, and I called Cozumel Flight Services and asked them if an electronically submitted manifest was required. They said No, the system had not been implemented yet. To be sure I asked them, in Spanish, if the system was the same as three years ago, when I last flew there, and they sad, Yes. So NO ELECTRONIC FILING TO MEXICO FOR MEXICAN CUSTOMS IS REQUIRED AT THIS TIME. Mexican Customs is advised of your arrival (ADCUS) upon activation of your flight plan. Save your money.

Total landing fees were $27 per passenger (pilot excluded) and $140 for an annual permit for multiple entries into Mexico (originating from the US only).

It took me about an hour to get the requisite 4 stamps to close my flight plan: Operations, Customs, Immigration, and Airport Supervisor (El Jefe), after which it was off to figure out how to slay some huge fish.

But first we had to find a place to stay. Since we were spending all our money on avgas and boats, we opted to go the economy route on our domicile: $9 per person, per nite. And we even got free wifi. Let's hear it for Hotel Edem!

So much stuff

Erin and I headed to KORL around 830 AM; Logan had left around 530 for work. We tried to eat $40 worth of cookies and coffee (the approximate price difference in fuel versus self serve) before we headed out to get Dan in West Palm. Three hours later we landed at KLNA, where we were met by a whole group of Dan's family. Once again we grabbed some fuel, Dan's gear, and loaded up. The Mooney is not a big plane; and I have to say, Dan was a great sport about getting thrown in the back amongst all the gear. He was practically buried back there. Quite amazing, considering he had never been in such a small plane before. Most people would have felt a bit claustrophobic, I think. In fact I wasn't sure we were going to be able to fit everything in, but once we did, Dan says, 'You know, I think we could fit even more in here...' Of course all you pilots know about something called Weight and Balance, right? Well, we had both. A ton of weight, and proper balance.

Off to KEYW, Key West. We ran in to moderate IMC (clouds and precip) on our way, which just cleared prior to landing. Well, at least enough to make a visual landing. It was still raining a bit when we pulled in to grab some more fuel (because of our weight I elected to fly with less than full tanks, necessitating more frequent stops). From KEYW to Cozumel is only 3 hours usually, but today I had a headwind, making our flight almost 3.5, so I wanted to stop at the closest airport to fuel up. And, with the weight I was carrying, I was expecting to burn 10 gallons per hour versus the usual 8.8 with just me.
We took off from KEYW two minutes before they shut down the airport because of weather. A local thunderstorm made its way right on top of us. within minutes we were in moderate instrument conditions, and it started to get bumpy. That's when the cockpit got pretty quiet. For the next hour plus, we were bouncing around pretty good in total whiteout conditions with moderate to heavy precip. Before the rain I warned Erin, who was in the right sit, that the Red Sled isn't exactly watertight. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, water was bubbling in through the front windshield. I swear you'd think they could seal a windshield better than that.
After about 50 minutes we were still in the soup. I was getting a little tired of the lousy ride, and it was frustrating because I could see the sun trying to peek through the clouds; we were at 8000 feet but I just couldn't get to 10,000 with our weight, and anyway with the headwind I didn't want to climb any further. since XM Weather doesn't work outside the US, I had no weather so I called flight services and asked them what they saw, and by that time they said I was almost out of the soup. Sure enough, 10 minutes later and we were clear.
Hats off to Dan and Erin. What kind of person gets in a small plane packed to the gills with spearing and fishing equipment, to go to a foreign country with a pilot whom he has never met (Erin) or flown with (Dan)? When they've never flown in a small plane before (both)? I think you see what we're dealing with here. They're not above throwing caution to the wind. Nevertheless I think they secretly were hoping/preying during the turbulence in IMC that this was not fated to be the last trip ever on this earth...
Course it wasn't. And the red sled did fine. We arrived at Cozumel three hours later without a hitch.

Over the Keys

Enroute, Cozumel

Cozumel Tower

Arrival, Cozumel

Team Mooney

I'm gonna blame it all on Dan. Once he found out I have a plane and am not shy about going most anywhere, he started immediately to tell me about freedive spearfishing. In the Yucatan. I said, we can fly commercial, but then he went on about how a pain it was to pack all your gear, including spear guns, plus of course fishing rods etc., so I basically said, Yup, that's good enough reason for me. I'm in.
Then we decided we really wanted a third. After all, three is more fun than two, and anyway if we rent a boat, one can stay in it while the other two dive. Great, I said. But none of my (three) friends who would be up for such a trip could ever pull it off. Enter Erin.

Departure date was MLK day, January 20. Turns out Dan had a thing down in West Palm and Erin was in Myrtle Beach. Thus the plan was, I would pick up Erin, then we would fly to get Dan, then off to, once again, the Yucatan (Cozumel). I loaded up the Red Sled with Dan's and my gear: two spearguns (5 feet each), two float lines, three deep sea rods, skindive gear for two, a big cooler for the heaps of fish we'd be bringing back, flight bag, backpack, and plane stuff. It took all of the baggage space and the back seat, and really had no idea how I was gonna get not just one, but two adults in the plane with all that gear.
Gear up outta HWV (Long Island) was about noon thirty; it took me forever to load everything. First stop, KXSA, to grab fuel (cheap cheap) and see my good buddy Fred. I wanted to ask him about my starter, which had been giving me trouble. Fred had an extra one out of his LGEZ that was the same as mine, so I thought I'd swap it out. Well, turns out I was pressed for time, my starter was suddenly working fine (it was the bendix actuator giving me a problem), and anyway Fred showed me how to align the starter gear with the flywheel so if the bendix didn't work I could anyway get the gears to engage by hand. I could have taken it with me as a backup were it not for the fact I had neither the space nor room for the thing (18 pounds!).
I fueled up and headed out to a new airport for me, HYW, Horry County. It was a pleasant evening flight; I landed around 630PM or so, and refueled. Erin showed up and we introduced ourselves through the chain link fence: "John?" "Hey, Erin!" I had limited Erin to 35 pounds and he was actually diligent in hitting that mark, which was nice. We loaded up two more rods and another gun, and Erin, and with max fuel, I was at max weight.

Night fuel and loading, Horry County airport, South Carolina

Erin and I had about a three hour flight to Orlando, where we would crash at my good friend Logan's pad. The night flight was uneventful even though it was my third 3 hour leg of the day. However, it being a 50 year old plane, the red sled has nothing if not character. Upon touchdown, KORL, my landing light shut off (it does that when it overheats; I think it's the filament in the switch) so an airport truck volunteered to lead us to one of the two FBOs. I had no idea which to go to (although I had looked it up before, which had the cheaper fuel), so I just said, take us to the closer one. I chose the high end one. How did I know? When they came out to meet us, they brought a carpet. For the red sled. Such treatment does not come without a price. $7.50 a gallon, to be exact. Showalter Air knows how to do it, for sure.

My good buddy Logan came to pick us up and take us to the best taco place in Orlando, and after a solid meal and long day of flying, we crashed out around midnite.

And, Cut.

The original plan was to dive the cenotes with a friend in Tulum. However that didn’t work out. I will save that adventure for another day. After a couple reef dives in Cozumel, I was left with the odd sensation that in fact, this mission is over. Collin made it to Costa Rica, and the red sled made it there as well, and back. Along the way we met characters that could have come out of a Joseph Heller novel, and made new friends. And of course, the original adventure of flying my own plane all around Central America was realized. But now, sitting here in Cozumel in a very nice empty resort hotel, I am getting antsy. There is nothing left here for me to do, now that the dive trip is off. Monday morning I said goodbye to my dive friend and contemplated returning home. The original plan was to wait until Tuesday to fly back to the US, but weather made it likely that I would have to wait til Thursday. I then checked the TAF for Miami and Savannah, my point of entry and destination point, respectively, for my return trip home, and wouldn’t ya know, all looked good for today. So, on monday at 1130 local time and in spite of having already paid for another nite at the nice empty hotel, I made the very quick decision to get out of town, and return to the US.

Cozumel

Now I had something to do. File eAPIS, pack, check out, return car, file, wheels up. The same guy was working flight ops when I first arrived in Cozumel. A really helpful and knowledgeable guy. He said my Spanish was much better. He also asked where my friend was? I smiled and told him that he is smarter than me; he stayed in Costa Rica. After I got my requisite four stamps, and said adios, the guy said, Yes, your friend is smarter than you. I laughed, and told him I will be back one day.

I chose Tamiami because I figured the Customs office is quieter there, and because gas is supposedly cheap. There was a little mixup when I called Tamiami from Cozumel to let them know of my arrival, as they had not received my APIS manifest. Furthermore, they told me, the office closes at 6PM local time and they cannot process anyone after 540PM. I was pushing it. My flight planner said 3.6 hours to Tamiami, via Vinka and Maxim, plus a one hour time change, and it was close to 1PM already. Plane was fueled, plan filed, I told Tamiami Customs I will get there as soon as I can, and hustled out of there wheels up 105 PM. In 90 minutes I went from sitting in my hotel room wondering what to do next, to taking off for Florida.

The flight was fast and uneventful. I figure I had a 15 knot tailwind. Ground speeds were close to 160 knots. Even better, ATC routed me direct Maxim from Cozumel, which took me very close to Cuba; a more direct route. Again, flight control was seamless, and I was passed along from Cozumel control to Merida to Habana to Key West. I find it interesting that in spite of the rhetoric between the US and Cuban governments, it is business as usual for the aviation and pilot communities. There must have been two dozen commercial aircraft talking to Habana within my flight window alone. I was then routed by US ATC via Key West and then direct KTMB. I landed KTMB at 520PM, a good 25 minutes early. Nice. Customs was empty and waiting for me. Total flight time, 3 hours, 15 minutes.

 

Gulf of Mexico from 11,000

Flight track. Some of you guys know where i am in real time!

PILOTS: IT IS A MYTH that you have to hit your time of entry at a Customs entry point to within 15 minutes. I talked to the guys at Tamiami and they’re so cool, and they’re like, just call us and as long as you get here when we are open, it is no problem. Do you mind if it’s earlier or later by a few hours, I ask? Nope, they said, as long as we are open. I have no idea where AOPA gets the notion that you have to be within a 15 minute window. I even read a comment form some pilot who purposefully slows down so that he hits his time of arrival exactly! Are you kidding me?? I was pedal to the metal all the way and couldn’t wait to get there as soon as possible. Anyway, this is straight from US CUSTOMS: “Tell your pilot friends.” You do NOT have to hit your entry time. They just want to know you are coming and that your APIS is on file. Just show up during normal business hours.

Customs at Tamiami was empty, fast, and the people very professional and cool. Total time, maybe 10 minutes. I was pretty excited when I got there; my adrenalin was still pumping after having made my first successful solo flight from Cozumel to Miami in a single engine. Not too many people can say they've done that. I told the guy, this was my first time flying there and back, and he asks me if I will do it again, now that I’ve done it once, and I said, Definitely. Afterwards I taxied over to Silver Star something FBO for fuel as I read fuel was cheap there, $4.9 a gallon. But I ended up paying over $6. RIPOFF! I will call them today about it. I was so preoccupied with filing to Savannah I didn’t bother to do the math til later. Anyway, I filed IFR to Savannah, KSAV, where I would spend the nite at a friend’s place and weather out the storm that is supposed to be hitting the northeast. And 50 degrees is better than 15 degrees.

The flight to Savannah was just under 3 hours. Another fast trip with ground speeds averaging 147 knots or so. Not sure why; there seemed to be not much wind component, according to XM weather. I don’t think that XM winds are all that accurate. Anyway in spite of a couple PIREPS for light rime ice along the border of Georgia/Florida, the flight was uneventful. I was in IMC for maybe half the time but temperatures at 9000 were comfortably above freezing. Over savannah, we had overcast at 7000 but not thick. I was cleared #1 for landing 12 miles out, and behind me was a King Air and a C-130(!) so Approach asked me for ‘best speed to final’, to which I obliged; 175 knots ground speed upon descent, and no delay in getting on the ground.

That's a wrap

I will stay in Savannah until the front passes; hopefully tomorrow I will be able to make it to Winchester, to return the life raft to Tom and maybe change the oil. By the time I get back to NY I will have logged close to 40 hours and covered close to 5000 nautical miles in a little under three weeks. Collin and I have flown in and out of five countries, and then I flew solo from Costa Rica to Managua to Cozumel to Miami to Savannah, all within 5 days. Encountered ice, mountains, turbulence, super short runways and mythical runways. Until last nite, no mechanical problems were encountered. I look back and the first part of the trip, to Roatan, seems like a distant memory already. It is almost surreal; I read this blog and think, was that me who actually was there, did all that?? I know it will be some days before I get over the letdown of  being back in real life after such a grand adventure. I know I was in a rush to leave Cozumel, but now that I have, I wonder whether I couldn’t have roughed it for a few more days in 85 degree weather.

Sure I could have. But all good things must come to an end, else they stop being good. It was time for me to go home. And when you have a red sled waiting to take you to wherever you want to go, why wait?

So for all of you thinking about flying your plane to Central America, I say, Why wait? For me, I am sure there will be another trip in the not too distant future. Perhaps South America. Maybe Africa. Maybe around the world…who knows.

RoamingAviator@gmail.com

Welcome back

Managua is the most expensive airport that I flew in to/out of. Yes they gave me rockstar parking but I ended up paying $60 for an overnite stay. Ripoff. Then, the next day, while I got to the airport at 915, it took hours to get out. And I had done it before. I needed to top up my fuel tanks as I was going over water and the flight time was 4 hours. I did not want to take the chance that I had enough fuel to make the trip, even though I was pretty sure I could make it on what I had. It took almost two hours to get fuel.  First they said they would meet me by the plane. So I waited by the plane for twenty minutes (this after I had submitted my flight plan and was ready to go). Well that didn’t work. So I flagged down a fuel truck and they called someone. Then they found out I wasn’t a turbine so I couldn’t use jet fuel. Oh, they said. Of course I had told this to them an hour ago. Then in 10 more minutes the head of the FBO came out with a linesman. Then you have to taxi to the aero club, on the opposite end of the airport, and the pumps are locked up as tight as a frog’s butt, so you have to bring a linesman with you. Then when you get there (off taxiway Delta) there are soldiers there with big guns, and you have to sign stuff and go through ANOTHER ID check. Then you need 5 minutes just to unlock all the locks. Then you need to place the fire extinguishers in case of fire. Then the guy fuels your plane. Then, when you are all done, you need to taxi back to the terminal, and walk to the FBO to pay for the gas. This takes another 20 minutes.  Oh yeah and the price of fuel is $6.50 per gallon.

refueling at Liberia

terminal parking, MNMG

After all that I was ready to grab my clearance. I called the tower and then they said they had not received my IFR flight plan. I told them to call flight ops, I had submitted it 2 hours ago. Then they found it, sorta. I say sorta because I had the entire route spelled out on the flight plan, from Managua to Cozumel. However the clearance was to the first intersection only. Whatever. Get me out of here. I took off and climbed to 11,000 feet, direct Bertha.

in the soup again

mountains at 11,000 on the coast of Honduras

The flight was long and pretty much uneventful, except over Honduras, when they diverted me around some active military airspace. Then it was straight to the Honduras coastline. The friggin mountains are huge there; at least 10,000 feet. Then, over water for a little over two hours. I figured I was about 100 miles offshore at the farthest point. It was an uneventful, but slightly unnerving, flight. To be 100 miles off the coast by yourself in a single engine plane provokes a certain level of attention. But I was tired too; I had not slept well for a few nites. Nodding off at 11,000 over the water is not a good idea. I was singing to myself, eating chocolate bars, playing with the GPS, whatever to keep me focused. Finally I was talking to Cozumel and 20 minutes out I began my descent. Cleared to land runway 11. Cozumel however has two runways. You would think I’d remember this fact from the first time; but my approach was different and the runways were not clearly marked. No excuse; I began my approach to the wrong runway and even though it didn’t look right, didn’t feel right, I kept going. I was maybe 500 feet above and ready to set down when the tower told me to go around and land on 11. Yeah yeah, you would think I would notice the runway was not 11 based on my compass/DG, but the crosswind was strong enough so that it was reading close to 11. And the runway was not marked (neither one). So here’s a tip; Cozumel has one, and only one, runway for us. Don’t land on the other one. When I landed there were a few extra dudes with guns and the operations officer was there and asked me why I was going to land on the wrong runway. I told him that I simply screwed up, that my GPS showed two runways and I thought 11 was the one on the left. Then he told me the runway I almost landed on was military, and had I landed there it would have been a big problem. I apologized and told him I felt really embarrassed I made such a mistake. I still am embarrassed.  But now,maybe you won’t make the same mistake.

There were a few N registered planes at Cozumel (two), one was a Cirrus turbo and one a twin. They remembered me; i was greeted at the airplane by customs who said, "Welcome back, Senor".

So now I am in Cozumel. I have been here for two days. I am wondering now, however, whether the stop in Cozumel is a mistake. But that's a different story. Maybe it is time for me to head home.

And I would, if it were not for the fact that it is like ten degrees in New York.

oops

Made it to Cozumel. Almost landed on the military runway. Tower told me to go around. Oops.

More later