Mooney flight to South America and back

Final leg home to Florida

2010-05-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 28, 2010

Cruising at 8000 feet again, for the final time on this trip and I’m still fuming. That was absolutely the worst departure of this whole trip. I was ready 45 minutes ahead of time. The line guy could see the flight plan in the system. I’d said last night that finally things would be “easy” again. I’d filed with fltplan.com, checked this morning that it filed and assumed all would be ok. I started up, called for my clearance, nothing in the system. He said usually they popped up 30 minutes before departure, so I waited a few minutes. Nothing. I shut down, went inside and filed with Flight Service. He confirmed that it would be in the system in two minutes.

After a rest room break (only one cup of coffee this morning) I started up again. Still nothing. Finally the ground controller agreed to call flight service and after another 10 minutes found that it was there but they were modifying the route. I taxied to the runway, he said it would be available in a few minutes. Finally he read a new route clearance. It really wasn’t that much different, only the first intersection and leg, after Grand Turk it was the same as I had filed. I checked everything again and called tower for takeoff. Then sat another 15 minutes. He finally said it was stuck with San Juan, so I asked for and received a VFR departure. After 35 minutes on the ground, I finally took off 15 minutes after the filed departure time. First time in the whole month that I’ve had a late departure.

Once I was talking to departure control he asked if I was ready to copy a full route clearance. I said that I’d already received it. He asked me to read it to him. Here I am at 1500 feet supposed to be watching for traffic and I have to read a full route clearance back. He said that was the correct clearance and had me put my squawk code back in. Everything proceeded normally from then. But, I’m still hot under the collar; I’d probably still be on the ground waiting for San Juan if I hadn’t asked for a VFR departure. What a complete waste of time, with cumulus building the whole time.

Anyway, now I can sit back and enjoy the final ride home. Right now there’s only a two knot headwind and not too many buildups ahead. I have the power setting just a little higher than normal for me…maybe I’m trying to make up for the late departure. But, I only used 8 gph yesterday and my last two hours today will be over land. So, I can stop and gas up if need be. This morning at Tropical Aviation, again everyone was very good to work with, I refueled at a more reasonable $5.43 per gallon.

Everything is proceeding well, only 20 minutes from Grand Turk and only six hours to go. The airliners are asking for deviations, so there are some big buildups ahead, I just can’t see them as there’s a cloud layer above me. I plugged in my XM weather, and it keep sending me a message that there is no signal. So, it’s trying. Hopefully I’ll have weather soon. I don’t remember, on the way down, where I lost weather.

I could see a huge black mass ahead and had decided to deviate to the left if I needed to. It was smooth as I got closer, so I kept going. Once inside, there were mild bumps then, stronger bumps, but nothing really severe. Lightening strikes started to show on the strike finder, but behind me, I was through the worst of it. Then, ahhh, blue sky.

I just talked with Wes and Jim on HF; we had a nice chat. Wes was at home with his beam antenna in Cocoa Beach, Jim is on his boat in the Chesapeake and I was north of Grand Turk at 8000 feet. Looks like we might all be able to get together in about three weeks. Wes installed the HF, so was keenly interested in how it was working and any problems I might have had. None, it worked flawlessly.

Air Traffic Control just announced a weather advisory for widely scattered thunderstorms. I don’t see any significant buildups right now, but probably will have more ahead. XM weather still hasn’t started displaying, but then I’m still three hours from the coastline.

XM weather just showed up at N23 23 W074 51, just abeam Long Island on the east side. So, it actually covers most of the Bahamas. Nothing significant at this time, which is nice to know. Sure looks like beautiful blue sky ahead; clear and smooth.

Past Nassau, almost over Freeport, buildups all along the coastline. Two hours to go four and half hours of gas, plenty for any deviations. It’s relatively clear in the middle of the state, so arrival should be visual. Talking with Miami center in radar contact, no more distance and time reporting; life is good. Time to put the sandals back on and oh I didn’t have to wear my pilot’s uniform today. Back to normal cloths, shirt and shorts – yeah.

The last hour and a half were deviating around thunderstorms and asking for re-routes. I made it home just before a storm that was brewing around Gainesville, 15 miles south. I got a little rain and a few gusts on final, but am now home and starting an oil change. Wash and wax tomorrow.

In summary, this has been an amazing adventure. I’m so glad I decided to fly my Mooney to Brasilia for the Earthrounders’ meeting. I hope you readers have enjoyed the blog and thank you for your feedback. Next year I’ll be off again. Most likely the website will be http://www.alsworldflight.com/, the same as the world record flight website. We’ll be working on that this summer and fall.

I’ll finish off with a quotation from Mark Twain; it’s also in the book on page 112 and it’s on the Brown Arch, entrance way to AirVenture. He said:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

To Puerto Rico

2010-05-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Well, here we are again, cruising along at 8000 feet and smiling. I just left the coast behind. It’s smooth up here and only six hours and 20 minutes to go. ;-)

The alarms woke me up at 5am, nice hot water in the shower, which hasn’t always been the case, and an espresso at the reception as I checked out. Taxi arrived 10 minutes early and I’m at the airport with plenty of time for a 7am departure. First stop after the rest room is immigration. They look into the next department and say that no-one is in customs or the payment office so there’s no use in them stamping my passport. I know it’s ten minutes to six, so I’m patient for a while, then less patient by ten past six. Finally he stamps it at 6:15am and my baggage is scanned. The payment office only takes five minutes and I’m headed to the weather office. No-one is around. Finally a person shows up and says nothing has been prepared, it’s shift change time. I tell him where I’m going and say that I’ll prepare the plane while he prepares the weather for me.

As I do the pre-flight, I notice a blue stain under the wings. With the heat yesterday afternoon, the gas must have expanded and vented out. That’s why I prefer to gas up the morning of departure. I check the level and can’t have lost that much. Everything else is ready. Back at the met office, the printer doesn’t work, so he can’t give me anything. I look at the screen and he points at the clouds over Cayenne. I say I’m going to Puerto Rico and point to it on the screen. He says there are only high clouds over head. Good job I checked the weather myself this morning.

I ask for engine start, not knowing if they will give me an early departure or make me wait for the predetermined departure time, like in Brazil. He lets me start and gives me a clearance right away. I’m off 10 minutes early. Yeah.

Had to stop writing for a while as I had buildups, bumps, rain and unpleasant conditions. Now back on course and only five hours to go. There were 15 knot tailwinds at the start, but that’s now down to seven knots, so the flight will be a few minutes longer than planned. Hopefully I won’t arrive too late for customs to be mad at me. It’s a wonder with all the flying, my biggest worry is eAPIS and US customs.

I couldn’t make contact with Paramaribo at the last FIR boundary, so I’ve plugged in the Barbados frequencies to pick them up as early as possible. I picked up some snacks yesterday, knowing no breakfast would be available, so I think it’s snack time. Sorry, no coffee, but I did get some ice tea, in cans, just for a little caffine pickup. More later…

Finally some smooth air for an hour. It’s been a lot of hand flying around buildups. Not as easy as on the way southbound. Hmmm another hour of flying and no writing; this leg is really making me work. Now north of Barbados. I finally made contact with Barbados and didn’t like the look of the weather ahead to the northwest. I asked if he had any weather, but he said no. Then he called another plane and asked the conditions. That plane confirmed a big buildup to the northwest, but negotiable around it. The other areas have only buildups over the islands. I thanked him for the information. On the other side of Barbados, things look better. So, I’ll make Martinique my next decision point. If weather looks terrible, I’ll land there. Only three hours to go, but I don’t mind stopping if the storms look too bad.

I have all the charts ready for San Juan. Looks like just high clouds ahead, the weather is certainly beyond there. Unfortunately, the tailwind has died down it’s only two knots which isn’t helping much at all. I climbed to 10,000 to be above the cumulus layer and it’s much smoother up here. I am going into the smaller airport next to the major international airport in San Juan. It’s like an executive airport. They only have one approach; but hopefully I won’t need it. My alternate is the big airport with ILS.

I talked with Jim, KC4AZ on HF for 20 minutes or so and we had a clear frequency and a very nice chat. He’s in his sail boat in the Chesapeake and I’m flying at 10,000 feet south of Puerto Rica – wow, isn’t HF wonderful. We will try again tomorrow. I had to end the conversation and reel in the antenna as I was heading into bumpy clouds.

The last two hours were in rain and clouds with deviations around the worst weather. San Juan had radar and was giving recommendations to lots of planes. On the north side, it was much clearer and I did a visual approach. It was great to be down after over eight hours in the air.

Customs went relatively smoothly. The first thing the officer said was: “it’s the pilot from French Guiana that didn’t call ahead.” I told him the name of the person I talked to and he said that person was at the other airport. But, at least he agreed that I’d called in. He also said that I did eAPIS correctly. He didn’t say much about arriving 45 minutes late.

A ground person from Tropical Aviation met me before customs and offered their ramp for the night. I said yes I’d go there and gas up as well. He led me there after I’d finished with customs. They saw the decals on the plane and asked about them, wanted to hear more about the world flight and about my trip to S. Amercia. They were absolutely wonderful. I was exhausted. They made a reservation at a local hotel and drove me there and will pick me up in the morning.

Now, I can do my flight plan on line, get my own weather and depart in shorts and T-shirt tomorrow. Life is back to being simple. More tomorrow.

Sorry, no pictures. The setting was incorrect and they didn't work.

To Cayenne, French Guiana

2010-05-26T12:13:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

At the airport early and weather still looks good. The earliest thunderstorms are forecast by 1pm local and I should arrive at noon. Immigration stamps go pretty quickly, but no-one is at customs. The immigration guy calls next door and tells me to wait. The customs guy finally shows up and lets me in. He copies all paperwork and starts asking about the plane. Then says he’s coming out to inspect the plane. This is a first. I think he just wants to see it. As we are driving to the “back forty” he asks if it’s a jet. Ha, ha. No, it’s a small, pequenio, plane. The driver says single-engine and I confirm.

He wants to look at my baggage – as messy as it is after four weeks of traveling. He asks to get into the compartment behind the baggage area. I said we can’t get into it. He goes through both luggage bags and says everything is ok and I can depart.

I pre-flight, ask for engine start and am off. Overall 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It’s a little bumpy this morning with buildups between 10 and 11 o’clock but great 17 knot tailwinds. The refueling yesterday was at $5.82/gallon without tax. Much better.

I’m already half way there and get some pictures of the coast and clouds along the way. It’s only a three hour flight, but I wanted to go non-stop to Puerto Rico and I couldn’t do that from Belem, thus this intermediate stop. Well, actually I could make it from Belem, but without enough reserve for my risk tolerance. With thunderstorms in the area and possible deviations, I want at least two hours of reserve. So, I get to visit Cayenne, French Guiana.

The last half of the flight was slightly more difficult. I was out of contact with air traffic control for over an hour. Two planes gave me other frequencies to call, but no response. Finally I talked with a local controller on the boarder who switched me directly to Cayenne control. At the same time I was mostly in cumulus clouds, very bumpy and lots of rain.

I got the weather which wasn’t the best, 300 foot broken, 1100 scattered, 8 kilometers visibility. So, I prepared for the ILS approach. The female controller was handling three planes without radar. Looked like I’d be first to the runway. She kept asking for DME and radial crossing – real non-radar work. I finally turned onto the localized and came down the glide path, there was the runway. No pictures of this arrival.

Ah, it is so enjoyable to be able to talk with people and ask where to go. After a week on my own with no Portuguese, it was a pleasure to speak in French. I did the flight plan and meteo and gassed up. Still expensive, even with no tax. The landing fee people were fun to talk with, but still wouldn’t let me pay today; tomorrow at 6am.

I took a hotel in town, with internet, so as to do eAPIS for US customs and to see some of the town…. Maybe a mistake. It took over two hours and tons of patience, not my strong suit, to get the eAPIS entered. I don’t know how much was the problem of the local internet provider, but I had to log back on over 25 times. Then I called the customs number in San Juan, as Wayne said it was necessary to place the phone call to customs as well. No-one answered the private aircraft line, so I called the main customs number. Finally someone took all the information. He didn’t seem to understand why he had to take this information. I got his name and badge number, just in case.

OK, time to go into town, walk around and eat as this morning’s breakfast was only a piece of bread with the coffee. I’m starved. As I walk around at 2pm, all the store fronts are closed. Only Chinese restaurants are open. I finally find a normal bar/restaurant and order lunch. I ask why everything is closed. Their siesta is from noon until 4pm. I remembered that everything in France closed form noon to 2pm, but I wasn’t expecting this. As I walked back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it poured down. As I walked back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it poured down. Time to get this updated prior to visiting the town later this afternoon.

2010-05-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 25, 2010 to Belem

Cruising along in clear and smooth conditions with a ten knot tailwind; what more could you ask for? How about a good night’s sleep. I was awake all night. I think that last cup of coffee, offered by the meteorological guy at the airport at 4pm, stuck with me all night. It was good and I had another this morning!

I didn’t get into the main city, but you can see that the infrastructure is well prepared. The airport has everything, see pictures. New tower, big fuel station and fire station. Nice terminal, with not too many people. The roads are wide, four lanes going into the city. Plenty of room with trees in the middle and on both sides. It’s still very clean.

This morning I walked straight out to airside and the flight plan office, checked the weather and signed the flight plan, had a cup of coffee, with the met guy, and restroom break and was on the ramp pre-flighting in no time at all. Plenty of time, sunny day, very relaxed. The thunderstorms aren’t forecast until after I’ve landed. Let’s hope the next two days go as well.

I got some pictures of the airport after takeoff and you can see the city also. It’s in a beautiful location with hills and lakes around. Very much like Brasilia. I hope this planned city works. I can see fields all around, so maybe this used to be rain forest as well.

I’m talking with Amazonica Center again. As usual, they want time estimates to the next few intersections. With the GPS doing all the calculations, that’s pretty easy. Time to get the Belem charts out and figure out what might happen. Yesterday, clear weather and no-one else in the area, and I had to do a full VOR-DME 11 nautical mile arc to final. Although I had the airport in site, and tried to shorten the procedure by telling approach that it was in site, he didn’t want to hear that until I was on final, then passed me over to tower. The last three landings at Campo Grande and Iguacu, they actually let me do visual approaches; but, no such luck yesterday.

Wow, that was expensive avgas yesterday, $8.41 per gallon. Cheaper than Manaus, but more expensive than other places in Brazil. I should get the last fill-up tax-free, this afternoon, as I’m departing the country, we’ll see. Although, the airport fees here in Palmas were less expensive by $50 than other controlled airports.

There was one big isolated buildup to the northwest as I departed. Now, after two hours and 10am local time, there are a few buildups to the east south east. Nothing ahead that I can see.

I received an email from Wes saying that the propagation doesn’t look good for HF communication today. I tried the net at 13z and there was a lot of static. I called a few times and KD4CMV turned his beam on me and we spoke relatively clearly. At least I heard him well, but he said my transmission was light. At least he got my location and that I’ll call in on Thursday on my way to Puerto Rico.

Well, the weather is 1100 feet broken, so an ILS approach is required, but they give me a shortcut directly to the final approach fix. Wow, that’s nice. Under the clouds, I snap a few pictures of the city and airport and land. The parking if off in the “boonies” nowhere near anything. I’m all set to go and the avgas truck and Infraero bus haven’t shown up. It’s VERY hot with the sun beating down. I stand in the shade of the guard shack and finally the avgas truck shows up. After filling up, Infraero still hasn’t shown up, so I take a ride back in the Shell truck.

I completed all the paperwork except customs and immigration which must await the morning. Hopefully things will go smoothly and quickly.

story from Iguacu airport, Argentina

2010-05-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

When I was in Iguacu, one of the airport authority people asked about the decals on the plane and I explained about the 2008 world flight. Later a photographer, Walter, and several helicopter pilots came over and wanted pictures. I was happy to oblige.

Walter just sent me these pictures: the pilots with me and Mooney, Walter with me and Mooney, me and the pilots in front of their helicopter. It was fun for all of us. I hope they can read the website.

North to Palmas

2010-05-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 24, 2010 heading to Palmas

Cruising calmly and smoothly at 9,000 feet with a slight head wind and all the difficulties of the morning behind me. It was a very restful night with a good dinner, shower and breakfast. However, on looking out the window during breakfast, there were clouds above this morning.

On arriving at the airport, I went straight to the meteorological office; there was a cold front almost over Campo Grande and headed northeast with high winds and thunderstorms. My destination was clear and good weather. The front was not supposed to be at Palmas by tomorrow. I wanted to get off the ground and head northeast before it hit.

At the Infraero office for payment things went reasonably quickly. They offered me a small cup of their sweet coffee which Wayne and I had enjoyed during our stops on the way south. It seems that each country has its customs, sweet coffee here, sweet tea in India and mahte in Argentina.

After payment, I took the receipt to the flight planning office and asked that the takeoff time be brought forward by an hour. I only had refueling to complete and I could depart. The officer did the change immediately.

As I stepped out of the terminal to walk to the plane, there was a light drizzle and it looked very dark to the southwest. The Shell avgas truck was just pulling out to refuel someone else, so he would stop by my plane afterwards. I did the rest of the preflight and he showed up, just as it started raining more heavily. Slight problem, he doesn’t accept US dollars and I’ve spent most of my reais. Guess I got rid of the local currency too quickly. So, I just filled the mains, gave him all my reais and added a US 20 dollar bill to cover the last 20 reais that I was short. He accepted that. I didn’t want to take the time to go back to the terminal to get more local money from an ATM. That’ll teach me a lesson that Wayne was preaching: never pass up a gas truck, never pass up a bathroom. If I’d taken the gas offered upon arrival yesterday, I wouldn’t have had this problem this morning and would have had enough reais.

I called up the tower on the radio, knowing it was 35 minutes before take off time, but asked for engine start. He said to wait 20 minutes for the clearance. I asked for an early departure due to weather. He said to standby. I got my handheld radio out of the ditch bag so as not to stay on aircraft battery for too long. When I called again after 10 minutes, he let me start up but told me to wait for clearance. That was ok by me, I just wanted to get everything set up and be ready when he was.

Looking at the stormscope, there were no lightening strikes; that was one good point. The rain alternated between light and medium and the wind was a little gusty but not too strong. So, I felt that the front wasn’t over the field yet and I would be ok for takeoff.

A few minutes after getting everything setup, tower called with my clearance, I taxied out and took off. With a right turn after takeoff, I was heading toward clearer conditions and away from the storm. I took a few pictures of the storm behind me. It was bumpy with 15 knot headwinds at 4000 feet, but I was finally cleared to 9000 feet where it is smooth with very slight headwinds. Everything is running well and only four hours to go. ;-)

Margi sent me an email explaining that Palmas is another purpose built city, like Brasilia, but hasn’t really taken off yet. It will be interesting to see this type of city in its early stages. We saw pictures of Brasilia during its construction and early years. This might be similar.

When will I ever learn lesson number one: don’t drink that extra cup of coffee in the morning…I have to pee. As I am preparing, I see deep ravines cutting into the flat fields. What a view. I try to take a picture from my awkward peeing position. Fascinating rock formations. See above; the picture turned out after all. The Brazilian coffee was just too good to pass up. I should be ok for the last three hours of this flight.

At noon, 1600 zulu time, I tries to contact Wes, Sandy and Rusty on the HF radio. I couldn’t reach them, so tuned in the Maritime Net and heard him. I tried calling and he heard something, but not clearly enough to talk. I tried our group again, nothing. So, I had to reel in the antenna. Will try again tomorrow and should reach them during my long flights to Puerto Rico and back to Florida at the end of the week. Too bad we couldn’t talk today.

The winds have picked up, 16 knots on the nose now. So, less than two hours to go, but about 20 minutes longer than planned. There are some clouds forming on the horizon, but I don’t see any huge cumulonimbus buildups. Palmas is situated at 11 degrees south of the equator. Belem, my next stop tomorrow, is at one and a half degrees south and apparently it rains all the time. We’ll see tomorrow.

Onto the ground and gassed up right away, thanks Wayne. Went to the weather office and it looks good early tomorrow morning. Went to the Infraero and paid the bill. The woman at the information station got me a close hotel and taxi driver. I found an ATM and got more cash. Good to go.

Wayne's home in TX

2010-05-23T15:57:00.001-07:00

Had a good flight from San Juan and then tail winds from Palm Beach. Getting dirty clothes out of plane and draining oil. Enjoyed every minute of the flying, visiting with people, seeing the wonders of Brazil. Best, Wayne

Into Brazil

2010-05-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 23, 2010 Into Brazil
Or so I thought. I got to the airport before 8am, got everything completed until the flight plan office said that I couldn’t go into Cuiaba, which requires 24 hours previous notification, and should to to Iguacu, Brazil. So, we changed the flight plan, gassed up and off I went. I didn’t get a view of the falls this time. Landed, parked, headed to the office to find that the civil aviation is closed until Monday. Only thing I can do is return to Iguacu, Argentina and go somewhere else. They recommend Campo Grande. I can’t check into the country there, but could do it on Monday morning. I prefer this to staying in Iguacu as it will gain me two hours further north and a stop with avgas. The downside is that I have to pay the airport fees two times at $150 each.

After a frustrating time watching the new guy learn the payment system at my expense, I’m finally escorted out of the building and back to my plane. I asked for the escort so that I wouldn’t get stuck in customs and immigration.

Now I’m back in Iguacu, Argentina. Everyone is asking what happened, but at least they are taking care of me. We enter the new flight plan, but must wait two hours for acceptance by Brazil. I pay the fees, much cheeper here, $8. I really want a cup of coffee, but it’s the other side of customs and immigration. As I enter, I see my friendly police officer who escorts me to the café. I have 10 pesos left and that’s the price of an expresso. I’m happy. I make it back on my own and am now waiting for take off time.

I’m going to shoot for five hour flights each day to leave enough time for paperwork and see something after I arrive. So far, my plans haven’t worked out, so we’ll see what happens.

Flying north VFR at 5,500 feet. It’s a little bumpy, but not bad. Got some great new shots of the falls from the other side, see above. Winds are still unfavorable from the northeast, but slowly swinging around to the southeast. As Wayne, Flemming, Claude and many others have said about this type of endeavor, the flying is the easy part. It’s once again enjoyable up here. I’m even ready to be patient when I’m back on the ground. Nothing else I can do.

I filed a VFR flight plan and the clearance was to the destination with only altitude limits, but no route intersections. Each controller is checking time to terminal boundaries and destination and confirming the flight level.

There was a food store near the hostel last evening, so I ate a croissant sandwich and beer for dinner and bought an extra one for lunch today. Good job too as that’s all I’ve had since breakfast with Claude in Buenos Aires yesterday morning.

On many flights I look out at the 36 foot wingspan with awe and amazement. So small, sticking out on each side of the fuselage, yet able to take me so far. Here we are winging our way over Brazil and we’ve seen so many countries in the past 10 years and have so many more to visit. Flying is a real freedom and joy.

It’s getting warmer as I head north. During our short hops in Brazil, we didn’t have to wear the captain’s uniform of white shirt and stripes on the epaulettes. But I’m back in it again and probably will be for the next 5 days. It was cleaned in Brasilia, but I’m sure it’ll be pretty dirty by the time I finish these last few legs.

On the ground; all the processing went pretty quickly. Flight plan filed for tomorrow. Need to make all the payments in the morning, then gas up and depart by 10am. The weather guy showed me that it’s looking pretty calm to the north. He also showed me the giant cold front sitting to the south, the one I just went through in Argentina. It’s still there.

I’m in a nice hotel looking forward to a nice shower, dinner, beer and good night’s sleep.

Heading north; pictures added

2010-05-22T14:49:00.001-07:00

Saturday, May 22, 2010
Claude and I had a superb dinner of suckling pig. It was my first time to try this Argentinean specialty, but Claude had enjoyed it for many years while living in Tahiti and it brought back good memories for him.

I reviewed the weather early and saw there was no way of getting to Eric before Tuesday. If I did that, the weather for my return was then turning bad. So, I had to turn around and head back now. I was very disappointed. I was so much looking forward to taking Eric and his friends flying around their local area. I know how much Young Eagles enjoy their introduction to aviation in the US and I wanted to bring that enjoyment to Eric’s host families and friends in Coronnel Suarez.

I caught a taxi from downtown Buenos Aires to San Fernando airport. Unfortunately, the driver didn’t know the way and kept asking. We were in a very bad part of town, he even reached over and locked my door. Finally we arrived. I think we were both relieved. I knew my way around the airport, so filed the flight plan first, with plenty of time to spare, I allowed two hours to get everything done. I checked weather, sunny and clear in Iguacu. I managed to get through security and didn’t bother with customs and immigration as I was staying in the country. At the hangar, one of the mechanics ordered the gas truck for me. Unfortunately, I had to pay with my precious remaining dollars, but it was better than not getting any. Now I’m ready to go and have an hour to wait. It’s not every day that things go so smoothly.

I’ve decided to do this in two steps, rather than trying to do everything in one day. With customs and immigration paperwork in two countries and a six hour flight in between including a night arrival, I think it would be too difficult. So, I’m only going to Iguacu, Argentina today. Stay overnight, checkout tomorrow and into Brazil at Campo Grande or Cuiaba. Then I’ll have two days or so in Brazil during my trip home.

It’s with a heavy heart that I’m flying at 9000 feet northbound. I didn’t reach my goal of seeing Eric and his Argentinean friends. I didn’t get to take them flying. But, looking at the vast sea of white below me and knowing the conditions at the airports this morning, I’m sure I couldn’t have flown to his town or the alternate. So, I’m headed home.

It’s supposed to be good weather in Iguacu for a few days; but the headwinds right now are 30 knots on the nose and I only have a groundspeed of 116 knots. It’ll take an extra hour and fifteen minutes to get there. The communication is much easier today. I know what to expect, what reporting points they are going to ask for and can prepare everything ahead of time.

After two hours of flying over a solid undercast, I think I can see a break in the clouds in the distance. As I get closer, I can see that yes, it’s finally clearing. There is still a big mass of clouds to the west, but north is clear and I can see the ground again. What a nice change.

After four hours of flying the ground is much greener, it was very brown down south as it is supposed to be during the dry season. Unfortunate for me that the only rain in the past several months came the weekend I planned a visit and stayed for more than four days.

Should land around 5pm and get to the hotel for dinner. I’ll see how many of the formalities I can complete this afternoon and leave the minimum for tomorrow morning.

Well, that didn’t work. There isn’t a hotel room available in the whole town. I’m finally in a hostel; at least it’s cheep. I’m tired, so I’ll sleep ok. Just got an email from Eric. It rained all day and is supposed to rain all tomorrow; so it seems that I wouldn’t have made it anyway.

Into Brazil tomorrow. Off to find a beer right now.

Wayne's in Florida, almost home

2010-05-22T14:46:00.003-07:00

I was not sure how I would get to my plane but the taxi driver calledthe port authority with the number I had been given. Everythingworked and I was at my plane, I was also concerned as I filed theflight plan on duats and believe it or not it worked and now I am inPalm Beach, the FBO drove to the motel and all is well with the world. I will sleep without an alarm and look forward to flying hometomorrow.

Wayne's trip from Brasilia to Barbados via Manaus

2010-05-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Wayne from Brasilia to Manaus:

I am in the hotel 6PM local 7 your time. Good flight from Formosa at
flt level 100. Time from Formosa 6:29 85.2 gallons. The good news the
fuel was less than the last at Manaus by a good margin. I hope the
flight tomorrow goes as well. The plane is fueled, flight plan filed
and released with fees paid. A little trouble getting transportation
from the airplane but all went well, A lot less tape leaving the
country than entering.

Wayne from Manaus to Barbados:

Easy leaving Manaus and light winds mostly favorable gave a flight
time of 6:09 with 81 gallons of fuel. Checked in, plan a shower and
enjoying a meal overlooking the surf. Good red wine will be
appreciated, the only thing better would being enjoying your
fellowship. Tomorrow for San Juan and my first experience with eApis.

2010-05-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

May 21, 2010 off to Coronel Suarez, to visit Eric

It’s an early morning start to get weather and catch the taxi by 6:30am. Weather isn’t looking that great, but I have an optional airport with approaches and Buenos Aires as a backup alternate. If everything is low IFR, I have enough gas to return to good weather. Still, as Eric said in his email last evening, the rain seems to be following me. Actually, I believe it’s leading me by one day. It’s supposed to rain all weekend, oh well.

After pre-flighting the plane, I went inside to make sure everything was ok. All the employees were in the same office drinking coffee. They trooped out as I arrived, but waited in the hall. The flight plan guy said that everything was ok, I showed him that I had paid the fees and he said I was ok to go. The guys in the hall then started talking. Apparently the tower guy was one of them, so he now had to go to work. They joked with him as he headed upstairs.

I’m in the air now, cruising along at 8000 feet. It’s a non-radar environment, so I have to report intersections and the time to the next intersection. It was beautifully clear at Iguacu, but there is a low undercast now. I hope that will burn off. I can see the edges and ground beyond, so it’s localized.

Well, things got interesting after four hours of flying. As I got close to Buenos Aires, I finally picked up the weather and terrible it was. 400 foot overcast with 3 kilometer visibility. Not good. With solid clouds under me, I don’t hold any hope of descending into a VFR only airport. So, I ask to deviate to my alternate. It has an ILS approach and is only a one hour flight from my destination. If things are VFR underneath, I could still get the Coronel Suarez. We’ll see.

As I’m headed for my alternate, the controller offers direct to my destination; hmm that doesn’t make sense. So I say, no, I want the ILS approach at Tandil and what’s the weather there. After a minute he returns with visibility 600 meters and ceiling zero. That’s not going to work. I ask to go to my second alternate, San Fernando near Buenos Aires. He gives me radar vectors and I listen to the weather again. It’s just above minimums. I do a full instrument approach and land.

Gerard had told me it was a small airport and relatively easy to get everything done. So, in I went. Everyone was very helpful; but weather wasn’t going to improve for three days. What to do. I couldn’t reach Eric by phone and there was no wifi at the terminal. Then one person who had helped me offered to try on his phone. His went through and I talked with Eric. I explained the problem. I said I’d take a hotel for the night, watch the weather and see when I could get further south to see him. If everything failed, I’d have to return north.

Knowing that Claude, another Earthrounder, was still in Buenos Aires, I took a taxi to his hotel. We’ll have a wonderful dinner together then he’ll head out to Australia and I’ll keep watching the weather.

May 20th, to Argentina

2010-05-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

May 20, 2010 To Resistencia, Argentina

I just got an email from Margi and Gerard saying that Wayne and his Bonanza are safely in Manaus after an almost seven hour flight. He has completed all the formalities and will depart for Barbados today; that will be about a six hour flight. He said the fuel price was much lower than last time, so he must have got the tax-fee price on departing Brazil.

I’m checking weather and everywhere has low IFR this morning. Only Resistencia shows some clearing for the afternoon. So, looks like that will be my port of entry into Argentina.

Well, I got everything done unusually fast at the airport and now have to wait two hours for Argentina to accept the flight plan. At least that’s what the officer told me it would take, so I set the departure time for noon. I’ll check the weather at the top of the next hour, then head downstairs for customs and immigration and head out to the plane.

Weather at the top of the hour hasn’t improved, so I’ll wait another hour for the next METAR report. Although….looking out the window, it’s improving here and Argentina is just across the river, a ten minute flight. I ask about changing the flight plan to Iguacu in Argentina and the officer says no problem. The weather checks out VFR on both sides, so off I go. All the way to customs and immigration, which take another hour. Finally I’m on the ramp pre-flighting.

As soon as I take off, I can see the vapor rising from the falls, luckily that’s the direction I’m traveling. I’m below the clouds VFR and get several pictures, see above, as I head towards the next airport. Wow, you just don’t get the same feel of the size from the ground. Several minutes later I’m on final and cleared to land.

I started the processing into Argentina with the plan to depart as soon as possible and get further south. Unfortunately, the processing took too long and departing became less probable with bad weather in the middle and evening arriving, so I took a hotel for the night. I think I got all the paperwork done so I can get an early start tomorrow. I’ve filed the flight plan for 7:30am. We’ll see what time I get off.

Practicing Spanish has been fun, but sometimes frustrating. At least I understand more than in Portuguese. Everyone was very helpful, even though it took a long time.

To Iguacu Falls

2010-05-19T13:34:00.001-07:00

May 19, 2010 To Foz do Iguacu

It is a joy to be flying again and, at the same time, there is sadness on departing Barranco Alto after six wonderful days. It has been a fantastic stay with hosts Marina and Lucas and guides Carol and Fernando. I saw and learned so much. Even the sixth day; I thought I’d seen everything and I we saw so many new animals and birds. Each time they took the time to explain about the creature and its habits.

Within half an hour I find the airport of Aquidauana, at least I think I’ve spotted it (see picture). I asked Lucas at breakfast what direction the runway was and he said west/east. This was a black tarmac north/south. I had heard the runway was gravel, so I wasn’t expecting this. Also, there were trucks running up the runway. I circled and the trucks stayed off so I came around to line up on final, but kept looking for another runway. Then I saw a red east/west runway and a hangar on the south side. As I got closer I saw the avgas station. This was the right place; not the other one. The red clay was very hard and smooth.

I pulled up to the gas pump and a guy came out. I said bom dia and he responded likewise. I got out and we couldn’t communicate. I think he was telling me the price. He then filled the mains and I paid. I brought him the flight plan, but he didn’t understand what I needed. A pilot came along and we communicated a little. He said to call Campo Grande and talk with them in the air. The first guy asked what I interpreted to be where did I come from. I indicated Manaus, Brasilia and Barranco Alto and Lucas. He understood the last two and indicated that Lucas bought avgas here also.

In the air again but I can’t contact Campo Grande approach. I look at the chart and find Curitiba center. I hear talking and they respond to my call immediately. He speaks good English and enters my flight plan. I climb to flight level 100, 10,000 feet and cruise south with a tailwind. On my way. I took on full mains, 64 gallons, so I could go anywhere depending on weather. It’s somewhat limiting when there are fields on the other side of the boarder but they are not accessible as I haven’t checked out of Brazil. Well we’ll do the paperwork today and see what happens.

The weather is Iguacu has been cloudy and rainy for days. The ceiling this morning was 150 meters or about 450 feet. It has an ILS approach and I have plenty of avgas to get back if this doesn’t work. It’s so great to be up in the air again. It’s smooth and cool up here. I’m happy.

There are scattered clouds ahead and lower down. They look overcast further ahead. I’ve prepared the ILS approach in the GPS, but there is no ATIS listed for weather, so I won’t know the ceiling until I get closer and Air Traffic Control advises me. Only an hour to go. It seems to be beautiful farming country below with lots of fields and some towns every now and then. Unfortunately, I won’t see much of the falls when I arrive.

During the descent I asked for the weather which was 500 foot overcast and winds out of 305 degrees at 7 knots. So, I had to put the VOR-DME approach in with descent minimums just below the ceiling. This was going to be fun. Then I heard ATC give another plane a hold as the runway visibility had gone below his minimums. I wondered which airport that was and how bad it was down there. She vectored me around and onto final and as I descended, I had great visibility and got the runway in sight two miles out. Although she didn’t put me over to the tower until short final; she had already cleared me to land. I talked to tower and they cleared me to land. I confirmed as I came over the threshold. Interesting.

The Iguacu Falls are worth seeing. Although overcast with a little rain at times, the volume of water pouring over and their thunderous roar was amazing. See pictures. There are a number of falls, you and just see a boat under the falls in one picture.

The weather isn’t looking good again tomorrow, nor for my intended destination of Buenos Aires. I might head to another airport with customs in good weather. I don’t want to be low on gas and arriving in bad weather.

Fifth day in Barranco Alto, rev 2, pictures added

2010-05-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The local weather is forecast to improve as the day goes on, so I decide to go out with the group doing the jeep/walk outing and check the weather upon my return. After the rain we had last night and with the clouds, it was a different atmosphere and new odors. We saw many new and old birds, but few animals. We also learned more about the local plant life.

The very bright red Vermilion Flycatcher caught our eye early on. It’s very small but stunningly bright in color. As with most birds, this is the male and the female is a dull brown. Nearby were Scaly Doves, a Blue-collared hawk and a Roadside hawk with a single Toucan flying overhead.

We saw holes in the ground where pigs had been foraging then we saw the reason for their holes. They are digging up new palms to eat the heart of the palm. This type of palm doesn’t have the self-preserving needles that we saw in the rain forest. As we came to a swampy area I saw all these tails wiggling in the air. They are Coati, part of the Raccoon family. Their noses are down in the ground, foraging, and the tails stick up. They signal to each other with their tails. They don’t have to look up to see each other, just take a glance at the others’ tails. See pictures when I can post them, hopefully tomorrow.

In another meadow we saw Gold-collared Macaw. They are mainly green and have a yellow/gold neck and their tail feathers are red, blue, green and yellow. They were beautiful to see when flying together. By a lake we saw another Spoonbill, now easy for me to spot the pink color, and a duck with the little chicks on its back as it swam through the water.

We saw one species of palm that usually had a strangle fig growing on it. Lucas explained that this is useful as there are too many of these palms and this keeps their numbers down. At the same time, these palms are hosts to many orchids. They weren’t in flower during this season, but we could see the bulbs growing.

The clouds had been low and we’d had a little rain during the morning. I checked the weather upon returning to the lodge and it’s didn’t look like it would get any better. There is still a room open for this evening, even though another couple is arriving. So, I can stay one more night. The forecast locally is sunny and warm for tomorrow. It’s still not great at Iguacu, but not stormy. So I should depart tomorrow and continue my journey south.

Afternoon outing:
The sun came out and so did the animals. Right away we saw ocelot tracks in the sandy soil. After the rain, it was easy to tell they were new today. We saw a Burrowing owl, which is both daytime and nighttime bird and lives in burrows up to two feet deep.

On top of a high branch on a dead tree was a Laughing Falcon, named for its cry which sounds like a laugh. It sure looked big up there. Then we came across the first of three giant anteaters. We followed them on foot to get a better look. As I already had quite a few pictures, I used binoculars and got some great views. They are ancient creatures and little understood. More studies are going on. They have very long hairy tails which are sometimes used as a fan to cool themselves and sometimes for balance, but otherwise it isn’t known what its use is. The females carry the young on their backs for the first six months. By that time they are almost full size. We’ve only seen one at the time as they travel alone, except when mating.

We saw a single Magoa stork for the first time. These are much rarer than the Jabiru storks. To me it seemed smaller and thinner with red around the eyes. While we were walking we came across a very long trail of ants. In one direction they all marched carrying a blade of grass about an inch long. In the other direction, they were returning for more. We all laughed as one ant was carrying a small yellow flower, instead of grass, see picture. There has to be one independent one even in ant armies.

On the way home at night, we saw a Potoo, which doesn’t exist in the US and is a cross between the owl and nightjar.

It has been an absolutely fantastic stay, but I'm ready to fly again. Off to Iguacu Falls tomorrow.

Fourth day in Barranco Alto, pictures added

2010-05-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 17, 2010 Decision time

We each looked at the weather independently and discussed the situation over breakfast. Everyone came to the same conclusion. Even if we could get to Iguacu Falls through the bad weather, it wouldn’t be any fun visiting them in the rain which would continue all day. So, two planes would return to Brasilia and I would remain for one extra day, then head south. Several hours later we waved as they took off.

As I had enjoyed the canoe trip the previous day, I asked to borrow a kayak and head upstream. No problem and off I went. With the overcast clouds and late start, the river was pretty quiet; but I finally came across a Jaburu Stork. I parked upstream and hoped he would take flight. Several minutes later I was rewarded with his huge wingspan, see picture.

Continuing upstream I saw all the normal birds and sounds that we were used to. I stopped at several river banks from time to time then continued again against the current. Finally I decided that I’d come far enough and decided to settle lying down in the kayak and drift downstream listening and watching. Just as I was comfortable, two Toucans flew over with their huge orange beaks gleaming. What a sight. Continuing around several bends in the river an Amazon Kingfisher landed on a small branch with a fish flopping about in its mouth at the same time two Hyacinth Macaws flew over. As I floated downstream I watched two herons. One would try to get close to the other and as soon as it did, the first would fly downriver a bit. This continued for quite a while; I don't know if it is courting, heron-style. Wow, what an enjoyable morning.

Upon returning, I checked the weather again. It looks like it is moving through. Don’t know if I’ll depart early morning or afternoon, will keep checking.

There was no afternoon outing today because the next group arrived very late and a worker cut off the tip of his finger and Lucas had to fly him to a local hospital. I did a local walk and enjoyed the peaceful lakeside.

I thought the weather was improving, but upon Lucas’ return, he said that the local forecast for tomorrow is deteriorating. We’ll have to see which is correct. No worries, Wednesday looks very good, so I’ll get out eventually.

Third day in Barranco Alto, rev 3, pictures added

2010-05-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

May 16th at Barranco Alto

This morning we’re all headed out in canoes. We load up at 5:30am, yes, that’s early. But, to hear all the birds and everything waking up, we need to be in the canoes and quietly paddling before sunrise.

There is a cacophony all around us and large groups flying overhead. All the birds seem to be squawking as they wake up. Apparently the parrots all sleep in several trees close to each other. Upon awaking they head out to find food, so it seems that they are all flying together. But, as the day progresses and they get further a field, they will split into smaller groups.

Through the binoculars I watch two skimmers lowering themselves to the water, with wings still flapping, then climbing out again about a foot or two above the water, then descending and touching the water again, then up again. This goes on and on up and down the river. Later Gerard explains that they are washing, not eating. When they eat, it’s only one dip in the river and out to eat. This washing ritual was fascinating.

We stop for a picnic breakfast on the bank and while there, four giant otters swim close by. Once they hear us, their heads pop up and down several times then they head off to the far bank.

We continue paddling slowly downstream enjoying the views, birds and animal sounds on the river banks. After a while, Marina, our hostess and guide, points out that everything is quiet. I listen and it is. Around 9am the morning chanting is over and peace descends on the river. From time to time, we hear birds squawking, but nothing like the morning sunrise songs. As the sun has risen and warmed the banks we see more Caiman on the banks sunning themselves.

Finally we reach our beach and stop for a swim; yes, with Caiman on the opposite river bank. I’m convinced that they won’t come after us and enjoy the fresh, cool water.

Afternoon outing:

It was a hot day, so we didn’t expect to see much activity during our afternoon and evening outing. The first thing we saw, in the grass just as we started out was a False Water Cobra about four feet long. It is very fast and aggressive, but not poisonous.

As we continued, we started to smell dead meat and saw vultures in a tree. Lucas stopped the jeep and got out to investigate. It was a dead calf that had been attacked by a Puma more than a week ago. They’d treated and released the calf, but obviously it had succumbed to its wounds.

Lucas continued to a tree where he knew there was a Jabiru stork nest. It is huge, over six feet across. Both storks were there, which is unusual. When they have young, normally they take turns and as soon as one returns, the other leaves. Now they were both pruning themselves. We waited, hoping to see one take off, but no luck.

We went for a nice walk through the fields and forests and saw Plumbis Ibis, named for its grey color and the national bird of Brazil, the Orange-bellied Thrush which is a beautiful song bird.

Before this outing and continuing afterwards, we were watching the weather for our departure tomorrow. Iguacu Falls and around that area were forecasting thunderstorms and it looked like a front was moving through. We’ll look again in the morning and make our decision then, but we discussed options during the evening. Everyone else had to make it back to Brasilia within a day or two; I was heading south and could wait for weather. We have two planes, besides mine, with ten seats for seven people. So, the most logical option was for everyone to return to Brasilia and for me to wait out the weather and continue south afterwards. We’ll see what the morning weather brings.

Second day in Barranco Alto, pictures added

2010-05-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

May 15th at Barranco Alto

After enjoying breakfast to a gorgeous sunrise, we set out on horseback to help the real cowboys move the cattle to town for sale. Actually, we were just following along to watch. There were horses in front and a mixture of some older cattle and many young bulls, over 140 head all together. The cowboys all had lambs' wool hides under their saddles and each was dyed a vibrant color, mostly reds and oranges. There were about eight cowboys for this herd.

They were underway and we were following behind. Every once in a while, one bull would try to get away and one or two cowboys would chase it down and return it to the herd. There was a lot of whip cracking and once even a lasso being used to bring down a bull. This was the real stuff and fascinating to watch.

As the cowboys and herd went one way, we continued on our way through the bush. I saw Hyacinth Macaws overhead and in trees. I was getting better at spotting them. We didn’t see too much in terms of wildlife, but had an enjoyable outing. I think I’ll be a little sore tomorrow.

Afternoon/evening outing:
We again went out in the jeep. This time we are seriously in search of Jaguar, but a Puma will do. New tracks have been spotted in an area that is 20 hectares in size, so it’ll take a lot of luck; Jaguars cover a large distance, but we set off with high hopes.

We don’t spend too much time looking at the other sites, but do see an American Kestrel, similar to a very small falcon, which is brown with a striped face. Later we see a bright yellow Campo Flicker woodpecker and then a small group of collared Peccary. There is a very large group of Blue-crowned parakeets sitting together in a tree. All of a sudden they all start flying together; what a sight. As we continue, we see a lone pink bird, the Spoonbill. Like the flamingos, its color comes from what it eats.

We come upon a large group of Capibara. Several mothers have babies suckling. We travel a long distance and finally decide to walk a bit. We see an old Jaguar track then further on newer tracks; but we don’t see any large cats. Oh well, it was a long shot.

98% of the Pantanal is privately owned. Many are farms like this with tourist accommodations. They have to follow country and conservation guidelines which most do, but some unfortunately don’t and with such a vast area, it’s very difficult to regulate. These wetlands are really amazing and need to be conserved.

We saw lots of crab-eating foxes during this trip and at night, on the way home, we see more. Suddenly there are two Tapir in the dirt track in front of the jeep. We stop and watch them with the spotlight. At first they stop, then continue walking towards the lake where they walk right in and start swimming. At first the criss-cross each other, swimming, then start in the same direction swimming the width of the late. Fascinating.

We return to the lodge happy with all that we have seen, ready for another wonderful dinner.

First day in Barranco Alto, pictures added

2010-05-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

May 14, Boat tour on Rio Negro

As we walked to the boat, we passed two Hyacinth Macaws in a tree. Lucas, our host, said they were 30 years old and starting a nest in this tree. When the sun caught them, their blue feathers were a rich color. They were doing a lot of squawking, but also very attentive at cleaning each other. The Macaws are the only bird that can crack open the Acuri nut. Once done, many other animals and birds enjoy the feast.

On the boat tour, we saw all the kingfishers that we had seen on the Cristelino, the Green, Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers. We finally saw one dive in a catch a fish! There are holes along the river bank where they nest. We saw Capibara and babies from a distance, but later caught a group sunning themselves and got some good pictures. These are the largest of rodents. The smaller ones look like rodents; however the big ones look more like hairy pigs.

Three toucans flew over us with their orange beaks shining in the sun, amazing. We saw lots of Caiman sunning themselves on the river banks; no swimming for me. One had its mouth open, see picture. We could hear it hissing as we floated by. There were a couple of Skimmers flying down the river. They skim the surface and catch fish as they fly along. Their lower beak is larger than the upper one.

We saw one striated heron. It’s the smallest of the heron family and this one was only about nine inches tall. A black collared hawk seemed to follow us for a little way and I finally got a good picture of it as it took flight with its almost four foot wingspan.

The yellow headed parrot is on the endangered list, but we were lucky enough to see one sitting in a tree; then we passed a roost of another relatively rare bird, the Boat-billed Night Heron.

While walking in the forest, we saw a “beginner tree” and Lucas pointed out the leaf-cutter ants walking down the tree with their leaves. He explained that the tree is host to fire ants who usually kill the leaf-cutter ants to protect the tree. He tapped on the trunk and the fire ants came out and went to work. The smaller fire ants took on the leaf-cutters who were more than twice their size and killed them within seconds. They would curl up, drop their leaf, then fall off the tree. Isn’t nature amazing?

We finally saw a giant otter move along the bank and slide into the river. It was alone and they usually travel in groups, so Lucas thinks it might be a young male, kicked out from the family group, now searching to start a group of its own. We saw and learned about so many other species, the jabiru stork, tiger heron, peach-fronted parakeet and many others. It was a fascinating morning.

During lunch, we hear the sound of a plane engine. It must be Gerard. We run outside and walk to the landing strip just as he’s on final. Now there are four planes lined up on the strip; this is a new record. Our party is complete with the arrival of Gerard and Margi (our hosts from this Brasilia earthrounders meeting) and Jorge and Malu (earthrounders who hosted the 2005 meeting in Mexico City).

Afternoon outing:

We went out in the jeep again to another part of this 11,000 hectare farm. Two pair of Hyacinth Macaws were flying together and landed in a nearby tree. We were able to get a close look at these beautiful birds. The second kind of nut they eat is the boca iuva and three others were in that tree chomping away. We could hear the cracking of the nuts.

Just as we came out of the bush to a field, there was a giant anteater to our left. It was walking along and poking its nose into holes. We took tons of pictures, then got out of the jeep to get closer. They can’t see or hear very well, it’s their sense of smell that is well developed. So, as long as we stay upwind, it won’t know we are around. It was magnificent to watch, see picture.

As we rolled along, we saw Pampas deer, a savannah hawk perched on a dead branch and Seriema, roadrunners, running ahead of our jeep. Later on there was a majestic looking Roadside hawk looking down on us from on high. Then, just alongside the road was a red-footed land tortoise. We guessed that it was female due to the toenail painting, see picture.

We walked for a little bit to a lake and watched the sunset, then returned to the lodge while searching for nocturnal animals.

to Barranco Alto, pictures added

2010-05-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

May 13, flight to Barranco Alto

We all have an early breakfast and start out on the bumpy red clay road back to the air port at Alta Paraiso. The planes are still sitting quietly next to each other on the empty ramp with the nice terminal building and no restrooms. We load up, back taxi and head out. Angela is with us this time. She had to drive last time due to the fuel problem. Claude is headed to Brazilia by car then home to Perth, Australia. So, Wayne gets all the luggage in his roomy Bonanza and Flemming and Angela fly with me, see picture, as they have a Mooney and we had this trip planned for a long time.

As we are outside Brazilia airspace, we can fly VFR without a flight plan and without talking to anyone. I take off first, as usual, and Wayne follows. As this airport doesn’t have any fuel and our next stop doesn’t have any fuel, we are headed for an intermediate fuel stop just two hours away. It’s a cool morning and the runway elevation is 4400 feet. There is a slight breeze and we take off to the east. The runway is crowned, so we have a bit of uphill as we start out and the takeoff roll is a little longer than calculated, but we’re off and climbing. We can enjoy the scenery this time and take pictures of the hills and Cerrada wilderness. We cruise at a pleasantly calm 6500 feet with Wayne behind us a little higher.

In less than two hours, the mountains and high terrain gave way to fields and farm lands. We spot the airport on the other side of a large town, land and park. Wayne landed ahead of us and has the gas truck in front of his plane. The next runway is a short grass strip, so we both take only enough to get there and to our next fuel stop, plus reserve. There is a nice little terminal with restrooms and food. In no time we are on our way again climbing out over vast areas of green fields and trees. It could have been a flight in the US for the ease and ability to get everything done. Wonderful.

The fields get bigger and we are over a major agricultural area then we see the escarpment in the distance and the Pantanal beyond. The Pantanal is much lower in elevation and there are lakes and rivers everywhere. It seems very wet. It’s just the end of the wet season and will dry up over the next four months. After two more hours we see our little strip and land. Wayne is already there and our hosts, Lucas and Marina, are there to greet us. No more flying for four days. It was great to be able to see so much of Brazil, VFR, and to go wherever we wanted.

The runway is very close to the lodge, so we can walk back and forth and get whatever we need from the plane.

That afternoon we went on our first outing. Our guides, Carol and Fernando, took us in the jeep to the north side of this farm. Right away we saw Rae ostrich and a crab-eating fox. Soon we saw and smelled the white-lipped Peccary that we had heard about in Cristalino. We got out of the jeep and walked a while and saw a tapir, see picture. There are only about 20 or so on the farm, so this was a good find. As we were watching the tapir, to the left was a group of four collared Peccary. They travel in smaller groups than the white-lipped Peccary and are not seen as often.

As we travel back to the lodge in the jeep, with the beam light searching the forest for more animals, we see a giant ant-eater walking along a path. Unfortunately, it disappeared quickly into the forest. We saw the orange eyes of lots of caiman in the lakes along with several nightjars.

Arriving back at the lodge, we had a sumptuous meal and relaxed peacefully. What a place. You can find out more at: http://www.fazendabarrancoalto.com.br/ and http://www.pantanal.biz/. We have four days here, so I’m sure we’ll see a lot more.

Alto Paraiso

2010-05-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

First day in Alto Paraiso

After a full night’s sleep, I’m still exhausted and aching all over. I must have got under the wing on my back and up again at least 100 times yesterday and the hangar floor wasn’t all that comfortable. My back, neck, arms, everything aches. Another hot shower, breakfast and we’re off to discover the area.

Flemming and I followed our guide, Rafael, on an 11 kilometer walk in the Cerrado, their version of the US savannah. This is a necessary part of the ecological system with smaller trees and deeper roots. This 70,000 hectar National Park represents only3% of their total national park system. Unfortunately, this part of Brazil is being lost to deforestation at an even higher rate than the rainforest. We saw a number of fascinating plants and flowers, such as the Candonba, the shower flower and the mimosa. The mimosa puts out purple flowers which turn white when pollinated, thus saving time for the bees so they know which flowers to go to. Several plants were good for medicinal purposes for the lungs, kidneys and cuts. We first went to a canyon with a terrific swimming hole, and then to the Carioca Falls.

There is a protected path which is no longer open to tourists because there are nests of the Brazilian Mer Ganser a rare bird with only 10 known nests and only 250 birds remaining in the world. It is a type of duck which can swim underwater and catch fish by swimming upstream.

We were happily exhausted upon returning to the pousada and we had seen another interesting part of Brazil. The pousada is the Bagua in Sao Jorge and Rafael can be reached at rafaelsaojorge@yahoo.com.br. It is well worth a visit for anyone coming this way.

This town is hard to believe; it’s a red dirt town, over 20 miles from Alta Floresta, the closest real town. One would think that it has nothing to offer, but it is on the edge of a national park and thus has tourism. The pousadas are upscale and we had tremendous dinners in the restaurants that cater to tourists.

Departing Brazilia

2010-05-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 12, 2010

What a day; absolutely unbelievable and exhausting. We finally made it to our destination, but what should have been a 40 minute trip turned into a day’s work. Arriving at our planes at the private airport where we’d landed 5 day earlier both planes were looking good, side by side, just a little wet from the rain.

I gassed up first as Wayne was packing the plane with all our stuff. I pulled out of the way, so that Wayne could gas up and checked the plane over. I started to sump the fuel and got three cupfuls of dirty water. I showed the third to Gerard, our host. He was astounded and showed the airport manager. They’d just been refueled and were happy to have avgas available again. There were also bits from the bottom of what appeared to be a rusty tank. This was NOT a good situation. I drained over 30 cupfuls before getting any avgas at all and it was still contaminated.

We moved the Mooney into a hangar and spent the next four hours draining and cleaning out the tanks. We took off the gasculator and made sure the screen was clean. We cleaned out all the water and spent a long time rocking the wings and sumping, rocking the wings and sumping. We finally got it down to a very low level of dirt in the bottom, practically nothing, but always a little in the first sump after rocking the wings. But this was at the lowest level, nothing was getting to the engine. We checked what was coming through the fuel filter and it was all clean avgas.

I ran up the engine on each tank for five minutes and high rpm. Then I took off and did several turns around the airport in both directions. I sumped again on landing and still, there was only a very small amount in each drain. We finally decided that this was ok. I called my A&P, IA, and close friend, Arthur, and he confirmed that we had taken the correct steps. He recommended watching the fuel pressure and cleaning the fuel filter in the engine if we had any indication that the contaminated gas had made it that far.

Flemming was coming with me on this leg and another earthrounder, Claude, was traveling with Wayne. We finally departed for a 30 minute trip to get new avgas, then a 40 minute flight to our destination. All went well. We are here and absolutely exhausted. It was a flight over beautiful terrain and no-one took any pictures. We’ll get some tomorrow. Right now, at 7pm, it’s time for bed.

Last day in Brasilia

2010-05-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

Today was a quiet day, walking, swimming and looking at waterfalls with a picnic lunch along a river. All very nice. This evening is our farewell dinner and everyone goes their separate way tomorrow.

Wayne and I along with several others are headed to two days in Alto Paradiso, only a one hour VFR flight to a 4000 foot strip at 4400 elevation north of Brasilia. After that we have a four hour VFR flight west to Barranco Alto, a grass strip in the Pantanal. We will spend four days there. It is doubtful that we will have any internet access during this time. So, I don't expect to be able to update this blog until May 17 or 18th. We will have flown south to Iguacu Falls and should be in a hotel with internet access at that point.

I will take good notes along the way. More to come.....

Third day in Brasilia

2010-05-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

Brasilia, Earthrounders meeting, Third Day

We had a city tour today and learned all about Brasilia’s 50 year history. How its president J. Kubitschek created this city with architects L. Costa and O. Niemeyer who developed a fascinating city structure to streamline government, culture and habitation spaces. From above it looks like a “concrete city” however, on ground level there are lots of green spaces and air flow as all the structures are on stilts (instead of having a ground floor) to allow the breeze to flow under all buildings. The architecture has developed over the past 50 years, mainly based on newer building materials. See the JK Memorial and church pictures above.

During the afternoon the Antanov flew back into the airfield where we had enjoyed dinner two days earlier. You get a good view of the 10% grade of this short grass strip as the Antanov lands. See pictures above.

Second day in Brasilia

2010-05-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Brasilia, Earthrounders meeting, Second Day

What a “surprise” dinner last evening. We went back to the small airport where we landed with Gerard. Dinner was in one of the local hangars, see picture. This airport was originally started by Nelson Piquet, the race car driver. He and his brother have several planes and hangars here. They are as passionate about flying as any people we have met.

Today we went to a local aero-club airport. It is a small airport with over 100 small general aviation planes, very close to Brasilia and the main international airport. These planes have a corridor around the area and below the Brasilia airspace. Many of us were given rides in the local planes including a number of RVs and some local Brasilian planes. Wayne and I each took ride with pilot, Mamede, in his Brasilian light sport Paradise airplane, PU-AOB. We flew around the area, over our hotel and over the president’s palace (can you imagine that). It gave us a magnificent view of the city. There is a video of coming in to land, below.

Afterwards, we had a local lunch, churrasco, which is their version of a BBQ. Just look at the picture above with all that meat, they really mean BBQ. It was a wonderful exchange between pilots.

First day in Brazilia

2010-05-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

Brazilia, Earthrounders meeting, First Day

It was wonderful to see old friends at the evening get together at the hotel. Earthrounders from the US, Europe, Russia, and came together for four days of touring and meetings. The first evening was just social to renew old friendships and meet the new members. We ate at a typical Brazilian restaurant, with lots of different meat on skewers, serving as much as you can eat. I had five different types of beef and some lamb; it was fantastic.

Can you believe the RED hotel where we are staying, picture above. It’s right next door to the President of Brazil’s palace and on the lake in Brazilia. The first full day included a boat trip on this lake, looking at the different views of Brazilia while we were holding our first roundtable discussions.

In the afternoon, we visited the amazing “Blue Church” or Dom Bosco Sanctuary, see picture. Then we met with the Civil Aviation Authority to give them some input on their procedures and processes compared with other countries. Gerard, our host, had laid the groundwork of this meeting which was very informative for both sides.

Off to dinner; more tomorrow.

May 6th, to Brazilia

2010-05-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

May 6th to Brazilia

Ahh, back in the air again, 9000 feet, nice and cool. Four hours to SIQE, a private airport about 10 miles east of Brazilia. Just took my shoes off, that feels better.

We had a bit of a hassle getting out of Alta Florista airport; although it’s great working at a small airport where we could walk right to the planes, go to the bathroom just before departure, etc, the downside was that the tower guy didn’t speak any English and our Portuguese is zero. So, a plane coming in translated a little and I said what I thought he meant and finally got permission to depart. On our way again.

I just can’t express what a fantastic time we had in the Amazon jungle. I only listed about half of the things we saw and learned; it was just amazing. The Cristalino River which the camp was on, the “tea colored” river, flows into the Teles Pires river (named for a guy who drowned in it), a warmer and lighter colored more basic ph river, which flows into the Amazon. They are one of the top five tributaries to the Amazon. Brad, our English speaking guide (actually Canadian speaking), is a professional birder and, for those interested, can be reached at: http://www.birdingmatogrosso.com/ or Bradley@birdingmatogrosso.com I would highly recommend him as a tour guide if you are heading this way.

Another interesting fact about Alta Floresta; it currently has a population of 50,000, but during it’s peak gold rush days in the late 1970’s it had over 100,000 and the airport was one of the busiest in Brazil. The runway is long, 5,200 feet, because the planes had to go out heavily laden with gold. Fascinating. There’s still some “sifting” for gold out of the silt in the riverbed, but it’s only small scale as it’s not that cost effective.

After this visit, I’m looking forward to the Pantanal even more. That’s in the southwest of Brazil and will have even more wildlife. In this jungle there are the big cats, Jaguar and Puma, but they are rarely seen. The local guide, Fransisco, has been guiding for 14 years and has only seen them 19 times. We’ll be headed to the Pantanal on May 13th, next Thursday, and stay for four days. This evening we’ll join with the other Earthrounders and enjoy our time together visiting and touring.

For now, we’ll cruise along over green farm fields under a clear blue sky, unfortunately with headwinds, but enjoying the view. I’ll try reaching Wes and Sandy and maybe Rusty on the HF radio at noon. I was going to change out of my pilot’s uniform into comfortable clothes as I’m planning an oil change as soon as I arrive. But, Gerard, our host, has planned TV cameras and coverage for our arrival, so I need to look my best! ;-)

Well, well, I’ve finally got a 9 knot tailwind and am cruising along at 150 knots ground speed. What a nice change after the last few legs of headwinds and at the start of this leg also. Only an hour and 40 minutes to go. The apple that I had left in the cockpit wasn’t too rotten! So, that was lunch.

The land ahead is rising. Brazilia is at 3,400 feet elevation, so we are looking forward to nice warm days and cooler evenings with no rain as they have entered their dry season. I have a quick chat on the HF with Sandy, KE4EJ, but the propagation isn’t the best and sometimes it’s clear, other times not. Also, I’m getting close to Brazilia airspace and am going to have to talk with them.

Arrived at the small private airport next to Brazilia. Friends and newspaper people there to greet us. I had time to do my planned oil and filter change and look over the engine. We loaded our stuff into Gerard’s plane and he flew us 5 minutes to home. What a strip, 1300 feet, uphill, grass and he landed his Embrayer/Saratoga on it. Now it’s time to shower and head downstairs to meet everyone.

No more flying until next Tuesday; then we’ll be off again.

3rd Rain Forest tour

2010-05-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

May 5th, Third Rain Forest tour

We’re doing both river and hiking this final morning. As we set out, we can see the morning mist rising out of the moist vegetation. One interesting point about this “tea colored” water is that the leaves that drop in the water leach out and make it acidic. Due to this, there are no mosquitoes. That’s been great! Brad said not to accept an offer to spend an evening on a whiteish water cruise. It will be less acidic, more basic in ph, and have a lot of mosquitoes.

We head up-river again, but much further than last evening. We see a black Coura Coura which is black with a yellow face, a neo-tropical river otter family with one of the parents taking a young in its mouth and dunking underwater to get away, several Capuchine monkeys and a Muscovy duck with white patches on top of its wings.

We pull the skiff up to the river bank and head out for our hike. Both Wayne and I say immediately that this is a very different type of jungle from the previous day. It has many more broad leafed trees and palms much lower down. Brad explains that the soil here is better. We see several Brazil nut trees which are enormous. They are between 200 and 500 years old with trunks five to eight feet in diameter. We learn several amazing facts about these trees: there is only one type of bee that can pollinate the tree and the husks that fall, which contain the Brazil nuts, can only be opened by one type of rodent. I would say that makes the life of the Brazil nut tree pretty precarious.

We saw more spiders and a scorpion as well as a new fig vine just getting to the ground to develop its root. It will take many years, but I can imagine this being similar to the fig tree we saw yesterday which had completely overtaken its host. Brad showed us a Bullet ant hole. They get their name because apparently their bite feels like you’ve been hit by a bullet. The right of passage to adulthood for indigenous males was to put their hands into a package with these ants inside.

As we walked we heard the amazingly melodious Musician Wren whose song makes all the other birds of the jungle stop to listen. It seemed as if they did. We sure did. Later we saw their nest. The wrens use skeletons of leaves, eating the meat of the leaf. It looks like tedious work. The hole is in the bottom and it is covered all around and on top, like a hat.

On the way back we saw a Spectacle Caiman, even bigger than the Dwarf; that does it, I’m definitely NOT swimming today. Two brightly colored macaws flew over us as we were returning; they are magnificent. Just before getting back to camp we saw several giant otters playing near the river bank.

I could go on and on about every thing we saw and learned. The city of Alta Floresta was only settled in 1976 and only 30% of the original rain forest remains; that’s a lot of deforestation in about 34 years. The grass for the cattle which replaced the rain forest is imported Angolan grass, as the rain forest didn’t have grass. I forgot to mention the leaf cutter ants, the howling monkeys, the Yellow Vultures which circled in the thermals as we departed and many other species that we saw in the Amazon Jungle.

To Brad and Francisco, our guides, and to everyone at the Cristalino Jungle Lodge our many thanks for making this an amazing and unforgettable experience.

2nd Rain Forest Tour

2010-05-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

Rain Forest, Second outing:

Our evening tour was on the Cristalino River; we headed upstream as it was raining in the other direction. We got some rain during the 2 ½ hours on the river, but overall we were able to complete the evening only slightly damp.

We got a good relative perspective of a Brazil nut tree that we will see close-up tomorrow. It towers above the rest of the canopy. You can see a picture above. We also saw three of the five kingfisher family, the Green Kingfisher, third smallest, the Amazon Kingfisher, second largest and the Ringed Kingfisher, the largest. The two smaller kingfisher species live inland, not along the river. They catch small fish in the rainwater pools in the jungle. These three co-habit as they catch different sizes of fish and don’t compete for food. I got pretty good at spotting the Amazon Kingfisher.

It took four tries to get a picture of this capped heron, which is mainly white with a yellow breast and white plume. Now I feel just a little of the frustration of real bird watchers and photographers.

We saw some rubber trees and the story is most interesting. Rubber used to be harvested from trees in the wild, tapping them where they were. I guess Brazil was the leader in rubber at that time as they didn’t exist anywhere else. Apparently some British people smuggled rubber seeds out of Brazil and set up rubber plantations in Malaysia which took over leadership in rubber production. We also saw Angelin trees which look very much like the African Acacia trees in the canopy. These are one of the few which drop their leaves annually. We saw a lineated woodpecker, related to the US pileated woodpecker, a crocodile like dwarf caiman. I’m sure glad that I didn’t know they were in the water before my afternoon swim in the river!

As it turned to dusk, we drifted back downstream with a spot light on the banks. Along with many bats and night hawks flying over us, we saw a ladder-tailed night jar and several other dwarf caiman, some at close range. No swimming for me tomorrow after getting a good look at those guys.

I elbow Wayne in the ribs, point up and tell him to look at the stars (we'd been spending all this time looking at the river banks). The stars out here are brilliant. With no light pollution, we can see tons of them. Of course, being in the southern hemisphere, we see the Southern Cross standing out among many others.

This is a fascinating ecosystem. Just before dinner I was reading about it: In a 250 acre section of the Amazon there are over 270 species of birds living together. Overall, the Amazon has over 1300 species and Brazil has 1650 species. Compare that to all of North America which has about 800 species. These birds and the other wildlife we have seen are absolutely incredible.

First walk in the Rain Forest

2010-05-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

May 4
First walk in the rain forest

We had breakfast at 5:30 and were walking in the rain forest by 6am. After a 20 minute walk we came to the tower and headed up, slowly. It has three levels, 20, 30 and 50 meters (approximately 60, 90 and 150 feet high). At each level, we stopped and looked at the forest and our guide, Brad, would explain what we were seeing. Our longest stop, on top, we sat and talked and each time a bird would fly by and land or monkeys would be calling, Brad would explain what we were seeing and hearing. He set up a telescope so that we could see many close-up. We saw Red-crested Macaws preening themselves, Scarlet Macaws which were red, blue and yellow (see pic), Blue-headed Parrots and even a relatively rare Crested Eagle which stands about 2 feet high and has a wingspan of over 4 feet. Even Brad had only seen it five times.

On the walk back we saw the muddy area where the pigs, called White-lipped Peccary, butterflies and some birds come to get their vitamins. The fruits don’t give them any minerals, so they eat some mud to get their needed dose. Fascinating. In that and other areas we saw Cicada mounds. The larva live underground for about 6-10 years. Near their hatching time, they start pushing up the earth into these pointed mounds. After they hatch, they live and make the loud Cicada noise that we are used to for two to three weeks, during which time they mate, then die. We also saw several interesting spiders and their webs. One was the Funnel Spider as its web is in the shape of a funnel to trap the insects inside.

We also saw a fig tree that had started in the top of another tree, grown it’s vine down to the ground, put in roots, then grown around and overtaken the host tree (see pic). The competition between all species is fascinating in the jungle. Just before we returned, we saw spider monkeys playing in the canopy above (see pic). They have very long, skinny arms and legs and a long tail.

The soil is not good, so the root structures are wide and not deep. We see many buttressed trunks and multiple trunk systems that were common to different species of trees. One palm has prickly bumps coming out of its roots. The guide has heard that indigenous people used to use these roots as nature’s scrubbing brush to clean fish and food. We also saw palm with needles coming out to protect it as animals know that heart of palm is good eating.

The Cristalino Jungle Lodge where we are staying is a private reserve over 7000 hectares (17,500 acres) to preserve the rainforest. It abuts a state park area over 50,000 hectares. See cristalinolodge.com.br for more information.

second half of Alta Florista flight

2010-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

May 3
Second half of Alta Floresta flight

There was a huge storm cloud ahead. I couldn’t decide whether to go right or left but as I got closer, I could see the rain shafts and decided to go between them. It was VERY bumpy for a while, maybe two to three minutes, but felt longer. Finally clear on the other side, back in touch with Amazonica control, I was allowed to descend. Wayne had been through the bumps also and said it was hot down low. I stayed at 4000 feet until I had to descend for landing. There were lots of fields below and few trees; definitely the result of deforestation to make room for cattle grazing. The local tower did not have as much English as Amazonica control, but also much less traffic. I landed about 5 minutes after Wayne who was already gassing up.

It was so nice to be on a small, non-international, airport without the massive paperwork. Inside the terminal we were escorted to one office. We had to show our paperwork from Manaus that allows us to fly around Brazil, pay the landing and parking fee and we are good to go. They let us go back and forth to the planes with no worries. Boy, it’s nice to be on a small, non-international, airport.

We’re picked up and taken to the local hotel. This is where groups meet to be taken to the jungle lodge and where we’ll return after two nights in the jungle. Luckily, they have wifi, and I get the last two flight legs published to the blog so that followers will know that we landed.

We load into a 4-wheel drive jeep along with a Brazilian couple who are birders. It’s a one hour drive along red dirt roads kicking up lots of dust when cars pass. Thankfully we only see two other cars. The arrival is to a dock where we load everything onto two boats for a 15 minute ride to the lodge.

The lodge is simple as are the rooms. The generator is run only twice a day for charging batteries and lighting; otherwise we use candles and flashlights. Water is heated by solar and is plentiful. Before dinner, we meet the guide along with another couple who is just ending their stay here. The food is delicious and we learn about the tours we’ll be on and what we’ll be seeing over the next two days.

to Alta Florista, Revision 1

2010-05-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

May 3 (updated)
From Manaus to Alta Floresta
We were given breakfast at the hotel which was some compensation for no hot water in either room and no shower for me. The same taxi driver picked us up and returned us to the airport. He had pointed out the gymnasium, football (soccer) stadium and town hall on our way in last night. On our way out he pointed out the Opera House. Wayne had read about this. It had been constructed in the 1800s during the boom years of rubber plantations. Whole orchestras were shipped in to play for the town.

We walked directly to civil aviation without any bother and got the weather right away. Although there were some widely scatters thunderstorms we would be coming out of the bad weather area and headed towards clear sunny skies. This was good news. As it had rained heavily during the night, I was worried about arriving in a rainstorm with low visibility and no ILS or higher minimums for the airport in the middle of the rain forest. Not to be.

We were driven to the airplanes, gassed up efficiently if not expensively. It was around $6.4 per gallon in the Caribbean and now over $9 per gallon. I had to wait 10 minutes for permission to start up, then the clearance and taxi were efficient. Two other planes were ahead of me and one behind, but all was efficiently handled.

The ceiling was 500 feet, so I wasn’t going to see the rivers joining, let alone get a picture of them. I saw the white/cappuccino colored river, but not where they joined together. Oh well, next time? Ha, ha. I’m now cruising at 9000 feet, above the clouds below with some buildups visible, but not in my path. There are headwinds and the flight will be 3 hours 45 minutes. I have three hours to go.

Wayne just came up on frequency, so he’s not too far behind me. He’s on top at 11,000 feet and doesn’t see any buildups ahead. I have one big black cloud ahead and deviated five degrees east around the lighter looking part, which gave me light rain, but no bumps. Now it’s clear ahead. We’re both doing well, but surprised at the price of fuel back at Manaus. At this rate, I’m going to run out of dollars before I get home. No one so far has accepted credit cards.

Wayne and I were talking during our three hour paperwork hassle last evening. On flights like this, and we’ve each done two around the world flights, the flying is the easy part; it’s the time on the ground that’s difficult. But also, when it’s all over and you’re at the hotel, there’s a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes there is frustration with ATC and communications while flying. Yesterday in Brazilian airspace, the communication was fantastic, clear and understandable, until we were about 60 miles from Manaus. There was a warbling and it was impossible to understand what the controller was saying. There must have been two competing antennae or something like that. Ahead and behind it was perfect, there was just that space, when communication was required for descent, that it was impossible to communicate.

Just passed the halfway point and checked in again. Only an hour and a half to go and I realized that I forgot to take my shoes off. Must be a short flight today! ;-) Boy, there such are a lot of trees below; over 500 miles of nothing but trees. I’m really interested to learn more about the rain forest ecology at the lodge where we’ll stay for two nights.

Down and headed to lodge in 30 minutes. Enough time to get this posted and to say we’ll be up again on Thursday, May 6th. No connection until then. At that time I’ll have more pics and stories of the second half of this flight.

to Manaus, Revision 1

2010-05-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

May 2nd (updated)
To Manaus

Well, here we are again, cruising along over deep blue waters, some little puffy clouds on the horizon, quiet radio and all is peaceful. Well we are now, but on the climbout and first hour there were some small buildups that were bumpy. I see clouds way ahead, that must be the South America coast. We’ll be bumping along once we get there and deviating for real storm cloud buildups.

We got off reasonably early, just after 8:30am for me with Wayne waiting a little later. Knowing we had two extra hours to fly, we wanted to get going as quickly as possible. Handling was very efficient and expensive, $150 per plane. When we arrived in Barbados two days earlier, we tried to avoid it, but they have the system set up so that you need a number that can only be generated by handlers. You can’t get through customs without it. They were extremely nice helping us for both arrival and departure.

I just checked my numbers and have been running 7.9 gph; which is good. I checked weather this morning at the hotel; it looked like easterly winds, but we’d only have a slight component as we’re headed south. That’s about what we’re getting. Boa Vista has 20% chance of rain and Manaus has 40% chance of thunderstorms.

Ahh, that feels better. One cup of coffee this morning, with an earlier than normal takeoff and I have to pay the price. I could see clouds ahead and knew I’d be talking with ATC quite a bit over land, so decided to pee early in the flight. Once we land, it’s usually an hour or so on the ramp before we get to an office and restrooms, so it’s best not to hold it for landing or I’ll really be suffering. In this case, we still have 6 hours to go and lots of water to drink. At 7000 feet, it’s still a little warm; Wayne’s cooler at 9000.

The coast is coming into view. Wow, first time in South America; I’m excited. I’ll try to get some pics. There are scattered clouds, but hopefully I’ll get some pictures of the coastline. I’m talking with Georgetown control in Guyana and all is going well.

Everything happened at once, ATC check-in, change altitude, 15z HF scheduled time to talk, change fuel tanks and crossing the coastline taking pictures. ATC first, then pics, called on HF but didn’t hear Rusty and didn’t expect Wes. Actually didn’t look like it was going to work today due to their travel plans. I also listened in on the Maritime Net, but it had lots of static, so I didn’t call in.

Looks like lots of agriculture along the coast. Lots of green and yellow fields. Not too many miles inland and that ends. Looks like forests or shrubs (difficult to tell from up here) and rivers. I’m up at 8000 feet due to turning more westbound and above the clouds, which is nice. I was skimming the tops earlier at 7000. Wayne is above me at 10,000 and about to overtake me. He’ll get everything organized by the time I arrive at Manaus, just like he did at Barbados. It’s nice having a “front man.” Just over 4 hours to go for me, less for Wayne. I think it’s lunchtime.

OK, there’s a break in the clouds, so I can type again. It’s been pretty bumpy at times. ATC won’t let me go higher because Wayne is up there and without radar they want more separation. Even though we just gave distances and times to the next waypoints, I’m still stuck down here. Right now it looks good ahead, so I’m smooth for a while.

So, what was lunch today? Yesterday I had fish cakes which turned out to be like conch fritters. There we so many I couldn’t eat them all. As we had fridges in the rooms, I took them back to the hotel. I split them with Wayne so we’re both having them for lunch today. They are really more fritter than fish, but fill the spot. I also found bananas and apples yesterday, so we’ll stay healthy today.

The terrain has been rising and there are mountains further to the northwest, but we can’t see them with all the clouds. As I continue I can see some ridges and valleys in between. No houses or signs of habitation. As I cross the edge of the mountains and over the flatlands to the south, I can see roads and maybe a town. We’re only 75 miles from Boa Vista, so we should see more signs of life. Less than 3 hours to go. There’s a slight tailwind, 3 knots, but at least it’s no longer a headwind.

I received a short cut and didn’t get to over-fly Boa Vista so now we are direct to Manaus. There are lots of layers of clouds on this final 2 ¼ hour leg. We can see some real buildups to the left and right but only dark clouds ahead and nothing on the storm scope. We are talking together and wondering what’s ahead, but proceeding. The little I have been able to see below are trees, some fields and a few roads with cars in between the rolling hills. That’s mainly trees and hills.

We’re almost to the equator, we then proceed to 3 degrees south where we’ll find Manaus. Looks like the storms are sitting right on the equator. Wayne just called back again; he’s 50 miles ahead and still has nothing further ahead of him. Some clouds and rain, but nothing building or cumulus. Maybe we’ll be lucky as we continue south. He has less than an hour to go; I have one hour 15 minutes. Sure looks dark though.

Wayne called back again with Manaus weather and approach. They have storms around but good ceiling and visibility. He now has storms on both sides of him, but not directly ahead where we are going. If they aren’t moving, I’ll be ok also.

OK, we’re down and in the hotel; but I’ve got to say it’s the longest procedure I’ve ever been through, even longer than in India and that’s saying something. First the approach: after we got through the rain it was relatively clear. On my way in I got some pictures of the rivers that come together to make the Amazon. A storm had also passed over the airport, but the visibility and ceiling had improved from the last weather report.

After landing, without fueling, which we have to do tomorrow, it took three hours and five or six offices and stamps and signatures to get the paperwork complete. The only good part was that it was in air conditioned offices, instead of out on a hot ramp. I got in at 4pm, Wayne even earlier, and finally out to the terminal area to find a taxi at 7:15pm. We had time for a quick sandwich at the airport, taxi ride to the hotel and sleep. We have to wake up at 6:30am and take a taxi back to the airport. Luckily, one of the young handlers helped us with the formalities and another person escorted us everywhere.

No internet at the hotel or airport, so this update will have to wait for tomorrow at the earliest. Good night.

more from Barbados

2010-05-01T14:06:00.000-07:00

May 1, Saturday evening
Well, this wasn’t the best day to visit a new country. May Day being Labor Day in the rest of the world, everything was closed. Oh well. We drove to the north end of the island and saw a very rugged coastline, nothing like the glorious sandy beaches of the west and south coasts. It was shear rock that has been beaten and formed by the water, see pic above. There are some caves, but we didn’t go through them. It would have been a perfect stop if we’d brought a picnic lunch. It was also less touristy and more sparcely populated than the southern half of the island. As we flew over the other islands, they all had mountains in the middle. This island is comparatively flat, will hills, but certainly not mountains. We are wondering what made the difference?

We returned south via the coast road, but as we looked for a local restaurant, they were all closed. I also wanted to visit the cigar factory and rum factory; but again both were closed. We finally found a restaurant that wasn’t closed and enjoyed a local lunch.

Back at the hotel, I walked the local area and scoped out another seaside restaurant for dinner. I also bought apples and bananas for the next day’s flight. I just received a message from Gerard and called him. Apparently our first airport in Brazil no longer has customs on weekends. So, he’s recommending flying to Manaus. We had thought of continuing to Manaus after passing customs at Boa Vista, but now it’ll be our first stop. If Gerard hadn’t called, we’d have been stuck at Boa Vista, unable to depart until customs opened at 8am on Monday morning. It’ll be at least 7 hours flying tomorrow, so let’s hope the parties aren’t too loud tonight.

in Barbados

2010-05-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

May 1, Saturday
The fresh snapper dinner was absolutely fantastic. What flavor. Of course the beer went down well also. It was early to bed as I was tired again. Unfortunately I was already getting the impression that locals run on a later schedule than we do. The restaurant was empty when we took our table. Only a few people had arrived before we departed. Later in the night things got really noisy. I couldn’t tell where the band and noise was coming from, but it lasted until the early hours of the morning. The sun comes up early, so I’m up by 6am, still feeling tired. I hope that doesn’t happen tonight.

Well, I finally figured out what was wrong with the camera. With the jostling in my backpack, the setting had changed. It wasn’t taking good pics of the islands on the second leg. This morning I tried taking pics of the harbor, out my bedroom window and found the problem. So, above you have the view overflying one of the Bahamas Islands, our resort in Punta Cana and Wayne eating dinner at the resort.

Found good coffee, now off to tour the island. Hopefully good pics and an update this evening.

To Barbados

2010-04-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

In Punta Cana we had a nice dinner, nice rooms and nice breakfast, all included in room price. So, except for the long and expensive taxi ride, it was a good stay. The bellhops and desk people were wonderful at letting me practice my poor Spanish. They would correct my mistakes and teach me how to say things. It was fun and they truly seemed interested in helping me learn. The people at the resort were mainly Europeans. We heard lots of French and Spanish, some German and the signs were also in English and Russian.

Paperwork, customs and filing flight plans were normal, slow, lots of double checks but finally engine startup was approved by the tower. There was difficulty with the clearance, so I sat idling at the end of the runway for 20 minutes. Finally underway. It’s nice and cool up here at 7000 feet. Four and half hours to Barbados, maybe more depending on winds. I hear Wayne talking with Air Traffic Control behind me. He’ll be up to 9000 feet and overtake me pretty quickly.

I see the shore of Puerto Rico through the haze. There are clouds over the land, but fewer over the water and it’s smooth up here. There are mountains in the middle of the island with houses along the ridge lines. Some are in the valleys. It makes you wonder what they all do down there. Some of the cliffs are shear with no trees, they are so steep. I took some pics but they didn't turn out, I'll check and see what's wrong.

I’m off the other side now and headed out over water again. They’ve amended our route to go direct to an intersection, so no more islands underneath. There is a 13 knot headwind. It’s stronger, 31 knots out of the northeast, but our component is enough to slow my groundspeed to 131 knots. Wayne is above me at 155 knots. He’ll arrive ahead of me by quite a bit today.

I checked in on the ham radio net and both Wes and Rusty were there and waiting. Their signals were strong and we spoke for a while, confirming the next flight dates and communication time. I confirmed no internet connection last night, so no blog updates yet. Hopefully tonight. Will also email dates of proposed long flights when I’ll have time to talk on HF. After arrival in Brazilia, local flights in Brazil and Argentina will be too short, so HF connection will have to await my return . Guess I should have let Wes install the data transfer as I could have sent him the blog updates. There’s much more time available on this flight than the last world flight; oh well, next time.

Just checked in with Guadeloupe approach and now barometric pressure is in Hpa. I have my conversion table at hand. He talks with French planes in French, just as the Dominican Republic controllers spoke with locals in Spanish.

There’s a good size buildup ahead. Wayne thinks he’s high enough to pass over it or only need a slight deviation. He thinks I’ll be in it. I might go higher as I get closer. Well, these build-ups aren’t really “building up,” they are not getting any puffier and aren’t bumpy in them either. Had some rain but now clear again. I see Martinique ahead and to the left. I was thinking of stopping there on my return; I checked and they have avgas. We’ll see; I really need to stop in Spanish speaking islands, not French islands. Sure looks nice.

Wayne is setting up for his visual approach and I’m still 50 minutes behind. Suppose I’d better put my shoes back on for arrival. The clouds look grey and inhospitable, but they are really nothing. Still, after another five hour flight day, I’m ready for a day off. We’re going to look around Barbados a little.

OK, now in touch with Adams approach. They get us on radar, but still want confirmation of distance, radial and altitude. Although good English, I had trouble understanding what she was asking. Finally got it and all is well.

It was a busy arrival with several planes landing and trying to depart at the same time. I don't think they appreciated my slow little general aviation plane increasing the separation.

We were required to use handlers, even though we tried to avoid it. Finally we made it through and are now in the hotel right on the water. I'm looking forward to a great fish dinner and touring the island tomorrow.

To Dominican Repubic

2010-04-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

I had an uneventful flight to Ft. Pierce and met Wayne on the ramp just as I shut down. His plane was there and he was preflighting. After a difficult hour with eApis and getting Wayne’s info input, we finally succeeded; what a pain and now relief. I wll be flying slower than Wayne, so gave him my flight plan, HF schedule and air-to-air frequency and I set out to get my clearance and be on my way. I wasn’t sure this would go smoothly or if I’d be back inside with him, so I figured I’d better get going.

The climbout was smooth, but I had lots of vibration early in cruise. Maybe it’s just me. The engine coughed a few times and my heart beat faster. I’d just have to get used to it again. After several ATC handoffs, I climbed to 9000 and everything seemed to settle down. I saw Freeport and the azure blue waters, wow what a sight.

I’d received a full-route clearance before departure and it took me a while to check the charts and get everything entered. Nice tailwinds, at least early in this flight, so should be less than 6 hours. I’ve left Freeport behind, things are smooth and I’m headed for Nassau.

Time to get the HF set up for my noon, 16z, schedule. I guess the propagation wasn’t very good. I checked in and told K9UA the net controller that I’d try to check in every day at 16z as I traveled south. I heard him talk with Wes, but I couldn’t hear Wes. It was nice to know that he was there and listening. At least he knows the HF is working and I’m past Nassau.

Just talked with Wayne on frequency 123.45. He’d had his volume turned down, so hadn’t responded to my earlier calls. Anyway, he’s 80 nautical miles behind and 30mph faster. Of course, he’s burning 4 gph more than me. Lunch time. Mmmm oatmeal bar and raisons. Yummy. Three hours and 20 minutes to go, plenty of gas and I’m finally relaxed. There’s a high overcast which is keeping the cockpit cool; that’s a good thing.

I took lots of pics of the islands and azure blue waters. Some are shown above.

As I pass close to Crooked Island, I look out the the furthest point I’ve been in the Bahamas. It’s all new territory from now on.

I’m over the Turks and Caicos. They are more populated than I would have thought; some areas look like Nassau, very conjested. Less than ½ hour to Grand Turk, then 45 minutes to overflying the coast of the Dominican Republic and less than an hour to Punta Cana. Almost there. There are some buildups ahead, but widely scattered, so we will be able to deviate around them.

OK, we’re down and at the hotel. I had to do a VOR DME approach through rain. They kept Wayne around the coast and he went in visually. Oh well. It was VERY hot on the ramp; we just had to gas-up for the morning. Customs was easy, just five copies of the General Declaration. I only had two copies, so I had to return to the plane to get three more.

Getting a hotel was next to impossible. We finally got one night at a resort $75 with a $40 cab ride each way. Oh well, we’re here and I’m going to have a beer. There’s no internet in the rooms, so this won’t get posted until tomorrow when we arrive in Barbados.

2010-04-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Loading is almost complete. Camera is IN. Ditch bag and life raft are IN. Tools, oil and spares are IN. Clothes are packed. Charts, paperwork and flight plans are packed. Wes installed the HF radio two days ago and we tested it in flight. Great reception and transmission.

Think I'm almost ready. I'll fly to Ft. Pierce early Thursday morning, April 29th, and meet Wayne there. He should have arrived today, from TX, in his Bonanza. We'll finalize flight plans and depart at 10am. EApis is filed... I won't say more about our customs and immigration requirements or I might start swearing.

Tomorrow's flight should be about 6 hours from Ft. Pierce. We're going into Punta Cana on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic. I'm going to be on HF radio, 14,300 at noon eastern time, 1600 zulu, each day that I fly.

Map of the route

2010-04-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Some friends, Chip, Jan, Nancy and Rusty, gave me a kick in the pants and I finally produced a map of the route. You can click on the map to zoom in and see more details. Here's where I plan to fly:

April 30th Dominican Republic

May 1st Barbados

May 2nd Boa Vista, Brazil

May 3-5 Alta Florista

May 6th Brazilia, Earthrounders' meeting

May 11-12 National forest

May 13-16 Pantanal

May 17 Foz de Iguacu

May 18-19 Buenos Aires, Argentina

May 20-23 Coronel Suarez, with Eric

May 24 not sure yet

May 25-26 Lencois, Brazil

May 27 Belem

May 28 Cayenne, French Guiana

May 29-30 Caribbean and return

Planning: the major stops in South America

2010-04-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

We're almost off again, me and my Mooney. The planning is reaching it's final stages and we're headed to Brazil and Argentina. We'll head to the Dominican Republic in late April. I should be meeting another Earthrounder, Wayne, in the Dominican Republic and we'll continue together from that point. We'll fly to Barbados for a quick stop and overnight, then go around Venezuela and into Brazil at Boa Vista, in the north.

After passing through customs and spending a night at Boa Vista, we'll overfly Manaus, where the two main rivers join to form the Amazon and continue to Alta Floresta. In the planning stages we found this to be an interesting eco-tourism place in the rain forest, so we've planned two extra days here to learn about this ecosystem. Leaving Alta Floresta, we have a 4-hour flight to Brazilia to arrive on May 6th for the start of a five-day Earthrounders' meeting. See www.earthrounders.com for more information.

Following the meeting, several additional earthrounders will join together in our two planes to visit Alto Paraiso, the Pantanal and Iguacu Falls (on the border with Argentina) over the next seven days. The we'll each head our own direction.

I'll continue south into Argentina where I hope to do several stops, including visiting a friend, Eric, who is doing a year abroad, following graduation from high school and prior to starting university this coming fall. I'm looking forward to staying with his family, trying to speak Spanish and taking his new friends flying in my Mooney.

Leaving Argentina, I'll return north following the coast of Brazil, making several stops in Lencois, Noronha and Belem before visiting Cayenne in French Guiana then proceeding around the Caribbean for my return home. Overall the flight should take five weeks and about 80 flight hours. I'll keep you updated on my progress.