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Well today started early again but we had all of our paperwork done last night so we were able to get going quickly. Ken was up before me checking weather. Last nights storm had pushed through but some of the clouds and rain were lingering south of us which posed some question as to how far and fast it would move compared with our flight speed. We took off early and the winds were blowing about 20 knots but right down the runway. We took off and after turning south those nice winds has us cruising over 200 knots or about 240 mph. We were making great time!

Unfortunately, the farther south we got, the closer we got to the rain and clouds. We fly a route that keeps us next to the islands of the Bahamas just in case there is a need to land we can do so on some nice land rather than the water  . As we caught up with the weather the clouds were pushing us lower and lower until we decided there was no chice but to divert and land on the nearest island.  We made the decision to go ahead and land on Crooked Island. We had a little trouble locating the field as we had already decended to about 700 feet and the runway had trees on both sides so the view from above was not ideal.  We did locate it however and Ken made a great landing as always and we pulled into a small parking area.

About 2 mins after landing a car pulled up to check us out. The driver was a nice guy named Glen also know as Blackjack! He is a local who makes his living fishing and doing charter snorkel and dive trips. Blackjack had clearly just gotten out of bed and raced to the airport. We are still not sure why he was so interested in getting there so quickly. Perhaps, they don’t get too many drop in tourists and he thought there might be some business to be had. The small airport  and I mean small the only building was perhaps 12×15  with some chairs lined up as the terminal I suppose, was closed and locked up tight. Blackjack asked us if we needed anything or any help and we let him know we just needed to wait out the weather. He posed for the picture below before hoping back in his car and away he went. Shortly after Blackjack departed a police officer came to inspect our paperwork and looked us over suspiciously. We produced the needed paperwork and he sped away on his small motorcycle.

After a few phone calls ( Thank you AT&T for signal on Crooked Island ) we were able to reach the BahamasHabitat team and let them know our status. We also made calls to our wives just in case they too were watching our satellite track online. We were concerned the dot on the marker would be larger than the island giving the impression we were in the water and not moving.  After about an hour we departed a bumpy runway and were once again headed in the right direction. We had about 160 miles to cover and with the wind at our backs we would cover the ground quickly. But as before we caight back up to the weather and once again the visibility and clouds were greatly reduced. We were only about 70 miles from our destination but we were forced to turn back until we could reach air traffic control on Provo. We reached them and recieved an IFR clearance into Provo.  We turned back around and headed direct for Provo. For this who don’t know an IFR clearance allows you to fly based only on your insturments and with little to no forward visibility. In this case we had basically none. With Ken’s experience handling the IFR was no problem and we landed safely in Provo.

10 minutes later, the sky opened, the heavens boomed and a wicked Thunderstorm pounded Provo for the next 45 minutes. We were awfully glad to be on the ground. We spent the next 2 hours or some trying to get weather updates on where the weather was moving. We could see that the storm was going south southeast and we want to go south south west. But down here information isnt as easy as turning on the weather channel . The type of information we needed would come only from very specialized sources like NASA and other agencies who track weather world wide. The only problem was, when it finally started to clear in Provo and we wanted to depart the radar images we needed were malfunctioning. We had no view and no weather reports to base the final leg of the trip on. We were starting to run out of time to make it into Haiti and back out to Provo before dark and before the airport closed. We still had no reliable weather reports to base things on. The biggest concerns were:  Thunderstorms ( these cause huge havoc and are to be avoided at all costs), Low clouds into or over Haiti ( Haiti has mountains that reach higher than 8 thousand feet and we only fly 9500 maximum clouds make it really hard to see mountains ) , last was a concern that if we flew all the way there and had to turn back we would have burned a lot of fuel and thus spent a lot of money to still not complete the job.  As we labored the choice we needed to make the sky started to clear and things started looking up. We grabbed the best weather we had and headed for the airplane. We got things set, got the engine started and called the tower for our taxi clearance. Then we looked up again. More clouds, rolling in low and a new rain started to fall. I didn’t say anything just watched Ken look up, then down, then up, then he shutdown the plane.  We decided that we simply did not have enough information and the weather had become so unpredictable that we could no longer proceed safely on the mission for the day. While we know the need is great and our supplies are needed desperately, making a safe choice of when we fly is of the upmost importance.  Tonight, we stay in Provo, it was a hard choice, we felt guilty and disappointed but I think we both know we made the right choice, safety. Tomorrow, wheels up 8am and into Jacmel and get those supplies delivered, then back to Nassau and try to pickup more supplies from Ft Lauderdale. Do as much as we can do and prepare for the remaining days ahead. Now its late and time for a shower and sleep. Until then..

Fly High

Curt..

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