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.