A Journal, with Pictures

A group of nine planes, three leav­ing from Key West and six from McAllen Texas,with 20 COPA mem­bers and friends on board left for Tikal in Guatemala on March 14, 2015. Joyce, my broth­er Mike and I, left Hilton Head Island, SC on Fri­day March 13 to join the group leav­ing from Key West. Our planned route of flight is depict­ed below:

Our return would retrace our route, with the Texas con­tin­gent fly­ing through Mex­i­co on their return. In total our route would cov­er Thir­ty five hun­dred and nine­ty miles. Our stops would be in Belize City, Belize, Tikal, Guatemala, Liberia, Cos­ta Rica and Golfi­to, Cos­ta Rica. Our first flight to Key West was unevent­ful. Joyce, Mike and I checked into our hotel then had lunch at the South­ern Most Beach cafe with a flock of spring break­ers. We then met our Key West trav­el­ing com­pan­ions for a flight brief­ing con­duct­ed by Peter Stor­er, and then had a delight­ful din­ner at Louie’s Back­yard an excel­lent restau­rant on the water. This trip is start­ing off right. Tomor­row we take off for Belize City where we will clear cus­toms and refu­el then fly on to Tikal.