October 2023 – I went to Houston to pick up my Cessna 185 four days before my friend Michael would arrive into Fort Lauderdale where we had agreed to meet up to tour the Bahamas for a week or so before returning to Houston.
Four days to fly a small airplane from Houston to Fort Lauderdale is plenty. So I followed the Gulf of Mexico all the way from just southeast of Houston to Key West (KEYW) before heading up to Fort Lauderdale Executive. I made overnight stops in New Orleans, Cedar Key and Key West.
After meeting up with Michael we headed directly for Bahamas. 72 miles over water before landing at Freeport for a first stop. We ended up landing at Freeport (MYGF), Marsh Harbour (MYAM), Sandy Point (MYAS), Staniel Cay (MYES), Exuma (MYEF) and Nassau (MYNN). It was super easy to fly out of US and into Bahamas, it only requires a flight plan (filed via ForeFlight) and an eApis (sent via BajaBushPilots.com). Upon first landing we had to do a little paperwork and pay some money, and off we could fly on to Marsh Habour (MYAM) where we stayed for the first night.
After Marsh Habour (MYAM) we flew on to Sandy Point (MYAS) for a short stop. A small aircraft (6 seater) was still burning on the tiny apron, we were later told by police that they had an engine fire upon start the same morning, no injuries. After Sandy Point we flew to Exuma (MYEF) with a lunch stop at Staniel Cay (MYES). We stayed three days on Exuma due to high winds and used the chance to rent a car and see the entire islands. And especially its beaches and bars 🙂
On the last day of flying the Bahamas we flew to Nassau (MYNN) where we rented a car to explorer the capital of Bahamas. Our plan was to stay for the night before returning to US, but we ended up flying back to US after a few hours, Nassau turned out not to be a reason to visit the Bahamas (for us). We landed in Fort Lauderdale Executive just before sunset.
Our trip from Fort Lauderdale back to Houston turned out to be as nice as touring the Bahamas. We got a factory tour of Piper Aircrafts at Vero Beach Airport (KVRB). We talked with Nasa Tower (KTTS) on the radio. We were allowed to do a low pass over the Shuttle Landing Facility. We landed and got a tour around Spruce Creek (7FL6), the largest airpark in the world. We had a whole day visit to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. We did a beach stop at Destin Executive (KDTS). We stopped for the night at Lakefront, New Orleans (KNEW). We had an early morning take off out of Lafayette Regional (KLFT). And upon arriving back a David Wayne Hooks Memorial (KDWH) we cleaned my airplane so it will be ready for another adventure (after some service at RiteWay Aviation). And finally we visited an indoor gun range just before heading to Houston Intl. Airport for our journey back to Denmark…
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