A Journal, with Pictures

On January 17, Joyce and I left Hilton Head a day earlier than planned due to weather moving into our departure point. We originally planned to fly to Fort Lauderdale, refuel and fly on to Cat Island in the Bahamas. We instead would spend the afternoon with our Florida family and leave the next morning to start our four day stay at the Fernandez Beach resort before flying to the Turks and Caicos. We had lunch and then met our daughter Jennifer to pick up our grand daughter Alexandra from school. That evening Mike our son-in-law joined us for dinner at a fund raiser for Alexandra’s school. One thirty AM food poisoning struck and I was afraid I would die and then afraid I wouldn’t. The next morning a pre-flight of the pilot indicated we were not going to fly so I slept until two in the afternoon. Jennifer prepared home made soup, which stayed down and I started to regain strength, but still didn’t meet pilot pre-flight requirements on Thursday morning so we pushed back our departure to Friday. We communicated with Fernandez Bay Resort, who was very understanding and did not charge us for the delay. Friday we were ready to go and it was a great day to fly.

On Friday January 20, I was back to full strength and ready to fly to Cat Island. We took off at 10:00 AM and landed around noon. Our route of flight took us by Bimini, over Nassau, South of Abaco to Cat Island then to New Bight, MYCB, mostly within sight of an island. New Bight is un-towered and without a FBO, so one of the fireman directed us to a parking spot. We cleared customs and the fireman, John, took us in his personal car to Fernandez Beach Village. It turned out that everyone on Cat Island couldn’t do enough to make our stay pleasant. Tony the owner is a pilot and he and his wife Pam,were always on hand and very gracious hosts. Donna the manager, made sure our every need was fulfilled. Fernandez Bay Village defines laid back. Beautiful beach, very casual (rustic) accommodations and main resort, with classical Bahamian atmosphere.

Our cottage was called the Hummingbird House which was a short walk down the beach from the main resort. At night the clear skies gave us a spectacular view of the milky way on the walk back from dinner.

On Saturday Donna the resort manager drove Joyce and I to the Hermitage, which is a tiny chapel and hermit quarters built by Father Jerome atop the highest hill in The Bahamas. This Franciscan monk ministered to the people of Cat Island until 1956 from his Heritage, which affords a great view of Cat Island.

Our stay at Fernandez Bay Village was too short and we will return. It is a great place to relax and experience Bahamian hospitality at its best.

On January 22, we departed Cat Island for the short twenty minute flight to Stella Maris, MYLS, to refuel and clear customs out of the Bahamas. We were in the air in forty five minuets and on our way to the Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos. We arrived after the one hour and twenty minuet flight and landed with the aid of the RNAV approach into runway ten. Provo Air, the FBO, helped us secure the aircraft, whisked us through customs and took us to our hotel, the Grace Bay Club. This property is absolutely fabulous. We had a great suite, the grounds were perfect, the location is in the middle of Grace Bay beach, the service was extraordinary and they have a five star restaurant to boot. Only complaint is that we watched our beloved 49ers defeat themselves in the NFC playoff game the night of our arrival.

We spent four great days and nights at the Grace Bay Club. We dined at three very good restaurants including the Anacona at the resort. The weather was perfect, warm but not humid with a nice breeze, and the beach as well as the pool were beautiful. The evening were warm and in all it was a great stay.

On January 26 we departed a 9:00 AM for Fort Lauderdale, KFXE and with a nice tail wind were on the ground in Florida, in 3 hours. The flight was back up the Bahamas chain over Stella Maris, Nassau and Bimini, rarely out of sight of land.

The islands and water were beautiful.

We landed, cleared customs, refueled, picked up a box lunch and were in the air in an hour. We again enjoyed a tail wind and arrived in Hilton Head before 4:00 P.M.

It was another great trip to the magical waters and islands of the Bahamas and tropical Atlantic.