Fascinating reading as usual, even from a non-pilot landlubber's POV. One quibble though: Puerto Rico hasn't been on the UN Special Committee on Decolonization's list for quite some time now, whereas both sets of the Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and a number of other Caribbean islands are.
-- Jani Patokallio, January 28, 2003
You complimented the restaurant "California" in Gran Case, St. Maarten. I dined there in December '02, and was disappointed - but allow me to make a wonderful alternate suggestion: only 2 blocks from California is "Alabama" (what is with these state names?) We were intoxicated by the service as well as the food. Service and cuisine are French. The complimentary home-made orange ginger "rhum" apertif was unlike anything of the genre.
-- Amy Smith, January 30, 2003
I'm an expat who has been living in Puerto Rico for about 2½ years. A lot of what you have said is accurate, but I wanted to fill in some details.1) Cellular service
Your phone should work here. The local cellular companies are Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, Centennial, SunCom (formerly AT&T) and MoviStar. My brother has been able to use his TMobile phone here in roaming mode. I'm not sure about NexTel, though. Sprint and Verizon also offer mobile data plans, with pricing comparable to those in the mainland.2) Internet service
There are more wireless hotspots being offered now. San Patricio Mall in Guaynabo has free wifi, as do some Chili's restaurants. Broadband access is about as widespread as you'll find in the mainland. I live way out in the suburbs of San Juan, and I was able to choose between the phone company's DSL and the local cable outfit's offerings. There are several companies that get set you up with faster connections as well.3) Food and water
The water here is perfectly safe to drink; the EPA and the Clean Water Act operate here too. It does often have a high mineral content, so a lot of people filter it or buy bottled water and use tap water for showers and washing clothes.Some food is still grown here, but not nearly as much as in the past. A lot is imported from the States or fron the Dominican Republic. The rum that is made here is most likely made with sugar grown in the DR.
One thing that I should mention is that the USDA is very firm about not taking any fruits, vegitables, or other plant life out of the island, due to the risk of insects stowing away and infesting crops on the mainland. They have machines set up in the airports to scan luggage, and you do have to have an inspection sticker on your bags before you can leave.
4) The drinking age in Puerto Rico is 18. The political leadership has decided that they would rather have the votes of 18-20 year olds than take Federal highway funds.
5) There are a lot of rich people on the island, but a lot of them don't pay their share of the taxes. Officially, there are 40,000 people here who make more than 100K/year. There are clearly more than that, since someone is buying up all of those million-dollar condos and keeping the Mercedes and Porche dealers in business. The Treasury department has been cracking down on this stuff, but the problem is pretty widespread.
6) The Ponce Museum of Art really is outstanding. It's not a big place, but they have plenty to see, and one should plan to spend the day there. They have both a Goya and an El Greco (both of which are on loan to museums in Mexico in exchange for being able to host an exhibition of the works of Frieda Kahlo), as well as Flaming June, one of the most sublime paintings of the Victorian era.
-- Ronald Lovejoy, April 16, 2006
concerning the last paragragh on "stuff to buy" where u were talkin about telecommunications. In the bahamas u can use a cell phone that is from the U.S.A. i didnt read to see when this all of this info was dated but as of 1999 the bahamas installed a new gsm cell phone system on the 1900 frequency and makin a call to the U.S is 0.51 cents per minute. if u feel that u would like to reply please dont hesitate to.sincerely yours, stan the man from the bahamas repin for the 242
-- stanley hall, May 24, 2006
I believe this website offers valuable insight for those seeking the adventure of flying to the Caribbean. However I would like to provide some guidance for those of you how would like to fly to Jamaica. I made the flight about 2 months ago, prior to that I had little experience of Caribbean flying. Some of the procedures are different, especially if youýre going to Jamaica or Grand Cayman. There are a couple of ways you can go about this trip. If you want the connivance of going non stop, you most certainly have to obtain a Cuban over fly permit. This must be done at least 48 hours in advance, otherwise it may be denied and you will have to make alternate plans.Well with that said let me my share my experience, I flew a C172 from Miami to Kingston, JA. Total flight time was just under ten hours. That was due to poor research the distance from Tamiami to Kingston is about 595 nautical miles. With a stop in Grand Cayman that would have been no problem, however we did not obtain the Cuban over fly permit. We had to take the long route which involved two stops in the Bahamas, which was not a pleasurable experience I might add. Nothing against the Bahamas, but if you like spending unnecessary money the transition through the Bahamas is your way to go. Our first stop was in Exuma (MYEF), we landed there around 0630 which was earlier than expected. Nothing very eventful, however we were delayed 2 hours due to the immigration officer being two hours late for work. He had to show us landed, so he can issue a Bahamian transhire so we can commence an inter-island Bahamian flight. Fuel there wasnýt too much different in price; it was comparable to that of the prices in Miami.
Our second leg we stopped in Matthew town (MYIG) which is the southern most Island in the Bahamas. It is approximately 72 miles north of Haiti and 55 miles east of Cuba. It is said to be the best secret in the Bahamas, and I can see why. Very expensive the fuel was about six dollars a gallon; we were charged a surcharge for immigration and customs. The Fuel Company charged us $45 just for coming out to the aircraft. There were no facilities provided for us to do our flight planning. Luckily there is a Coast Guard base right there on the field. They were nice enough to let us use there facilities so we can file our flight plan and check weather.
Once we took off we were pretty much on our own as far as radar coverage and navigational aids. Once Miami center handed us off to Port-Au-Prince, we realize they had no radar coverage and we were not receiving a reliable signal from the PAP VOR. Not really a big deal if you have a GPS (which we did). It is important that you give your position reports and your ETA to the next fix. With that information, they will provide you with IFR separation. Once we turned westbound towards Jamaica it became a little unsettling, there were numerous build ups from the west heading straight towards us. The MEA was 11,000 ft and we could not get lower until we were talking to Kingston. At which time we descended to 9,000ft and we had the island in sight. Kingston (MKJP) is really efficient. There are precision as well as non precision approaches to choose from.
Clearing immigrations was a breeze the agents were friendly, customs were professional as well. The fees to use Kingston were reasonable, even though they charged us a navigation fee. The landing fee was seven dollars, and overnight parking was $11 a day. Leaving the island is a different story they charge a $35 departure tax for each passenger, flight crew is excluded from tax. I must say all in all Jamaica is a great destination and anyone considering going there should toy with idea of obtaining the permit to over fly Cuba, and also you might want to check out Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Negril. All these cities by the way do have its own airport, MoBay as the locals call is an airport of entry also.
-- Damon Lobban, May 8, 2007
Philip, thanks for a very useful perspective on flying within the Caribbean. As I found out while trying to research a trip I did in November, good information is hard to find, and there is precious little of it for anyone taking an airplane south of Miami. Your site was one of the very few sources of reliable advice.
On the plus side, it makes for an interesting adventure. It's not quite flying in Africa, but its not far off in places. In November, I managed to get a 172 all the way through the Caribbean to make the final crossing into South America, via Trinidad-Venezuela. I kept a short blog as the flight progressed, with some pictures: caribbeanflight.blogspot.com, which might provide further background for future journeyers.
-- Mark Zee, April 17, 2008
The information provided about St Croix and the Boelhke FBO is no longer correct (well, I don't think it ever was). I've just spent four days here as part of my solo round the world flight, and I found the island fascinating (same crime level as most other places, from my experience - you wouldn't walk around at night loaded with Rolexes and jewelery anywhere, would you?).Bohlke FBO is very friendly and efficient, and they have fuel at more or less the same price as other icelands in the Caribbean, oxygen, maintenance, and whatever else one can expect from a large FBO. Even home-made cookies and pizza to augment the usual vending machine sweets and soft drinks ;-)
Best Regards Troll Air aka Calle Hedberg - RTW from Cape Town to Cape Town
-- Calle Hedberg, November 18, 2013
Great series of articles, I plan to follow the one for Mexico/Baja this year.I agree about high costs in Bahamas, flying through the US is actually cheaper.
I should add that I went to several government-owned airports Nov 2013 and they all charged me landing fees of about $9 or $10. They did claim in the past that there will be no landing fees so this is something that has recently changed.
I would avoid Marsh Harbor due to the boredom there (no good beach, I was stuck due to weather), and strongly recommend Stella Maris on Long Island. I skipped going to Provo since the landing fees on a weekend was $400 for my Grumman Yankee, but trying again, I would go there on a weekday.
Happy flying everyone.
-- Ghazan Haider, April 24, 2014
Wrote a long comment and it disappeared so now just short advice. Aruba landing and overnight very expensive Curaý much cheaper, prettier and less crowded. Virgin Gorda with its Baths worth a visit. Chritian Fardel. Grad Case St.Martin has a very complete guide for nearly all Caribbean airports, call be reached at 011(590) 877870 has frequencies,hotels,taxis and plates for most airports in the Caribbean. Most exciting landing is at St.Barth,except maybe Saba. Have to get checked out to land at these two airports. Flying there for over 30 years in. Seneca
-- tom zaidman, October 18, 2014
Great article, the less expensive and more interesting island close to Aruba is CURAýO. OTHER COMMENT CORRECTED NAME..
-- tom zaidman, October 18, 2014