Renting in Bahamas?

Anyone know of, or have experience with, renting a plane and instructor from
any of the northwest islands in the Bahamas?

I'm planning on being there in July and would like to do some sightseeing &
flying (I'm PPL/IA). Would rather do typical "FBO-style"
instruction/checkout, but if there are none like that, would do air tour
hoping to at least get right seat view.

I was just in Marsh Harbour, which is a non-towered field served by
three airlines and about the same number of air-taxi commuter
services! I was astounded by the number of GA operations--half a mile
of hangars, including one east of the terminal and at least three to
the west. A lot of the planes on the tarmac (and it was tarmac!) were
twins.

The runway is in fairly rough shape, pavement-wise.

Have a great time! Won't the sand be bloody hot in July?


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

The FBO where I rent in South Florida has a lot of pilots who fly to the
Bahamas. So many they have a 'Bahamas' ground school course. You may want to
just fly into West Palm Beach, hang out a few days, then fly yourself to the
Islands.

In my experience, the Bahamas is very expensive (fuel, food, rentals, etc).
It may be worth your while contacting Premier Aviation in Florida and
exploring the idea of flying yourself, or having a CFI fly over with you.
It's a very short, pleasant hop over the ocean.

I rent from Premier frequently and the equipment is always in great shape!
The owner's name is Michael, and the office has a real 'down south' flavor,
even though half the crew are transplants from NY.

FWIW,

Marty
ps. Their website is http://www.beanewpilot.com




"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

I was just in Marsh Harbour, which is a non-towered field served by
three airlines and about the same number of air-taxi commuter
services! I was astounded by the number of GA operations--half a mile
of hangars, including one east of the terminal and at least three to
the west. A lot of the planes on the tarmac (and it was tarmac!) were
twins.

The runway is in fairly rough shape, pavement-wise.

Have a great time! Won't the sand be bloody hot in July?


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

"Marty Ross" wrote in message
Anyone know of, or have experience with, renting a plane and instructor
from
any of the northwest islands in the Bahamas?

It's slim pickings as there isn't a lot of demand for rentals. I suggest
calling Capt. Steve at Freeport Flight Center (apologies- i don't have my
library available to supply the phone number right now). Just per chance, do
you plan to overfly a certain wedding for papparazzi photos?

D.

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
The runway is in fairly rough shape, pavement-wise.

Shucks, that runway is good compared to some others. It's the pine trees
surrounding the runway that kill people.

Won't the sand be bloody hot in July?

It depends on the content of the sand. Some beaches are very low in silica
content and high in calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate beaches don't
heatsoak near as much as the silica beaches. Your head will burn before your
feet will.

D.

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
Cub Driver wrote:


I was just in Marsh Harbour, which is a non-towered field served by
three airlines and about the same number of air-taxi commuter


Does Marsh Harbour still have that strange old sign about
your "Sufficiencies Will Be Surfancified"? (Yes, I spelled
that the way the sign did.)

Todd, any more information or specifics about that sign? That saying is often
repeated in my wife's family and is attributed to her grandfather. I've never
heard or seen it in any other context. Interesting.

Dave

"Marty Ross" wrote in message
ink.net...
Anyone know of, or have experience with, renting a plane and instructor
from
any of the northwest islands in the Bahamas?

I'm planning on being there in July and would like to do some sightseeing
&
flying (I'm PPL/IA). Would rather do typical "FBO-style"
instruction/checkout, but if there are none like that, would do air tour
hoping to at least get right seat view.




I just went to BIMINI (MYBS) on the 5th of Feb. I say rent a plane in the US
then fly over be prepared to deal with US customs service on the way home.
The Bahamas customs is not that bad at all $15.00 per head departure fee and
a small survey.

See Photo,
http://www.warflying.net/meatmybs.jpg

Bimini Airport
http://www.warflying.net/mybs.jpg

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
news:1108406279.716029@sj-nntpcache-5...
Todd, any more information or specifics about that sign? That saying is
often
repeated in my wife's family and is attributed to her grandfather. I've
never
heard or seen it in any other context. Interesting.

Dave

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-suf1.htm

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
Dave Butler wrote:


Does Marsh Harbour still have that strange old sign about
your "Sufficiencies Will Be Surfancified"? (Yes, I spelled
that the way the sign did.)

Todd, any more information or specifics about that sign? That saying is often
repeated in my wife's family and is attributed to her grandfather. I've never
heard or seen it in any other context. Interesting.


Well you have now given me the only other context for the
saying I've ever run into. It was on a faded sign when we
flew a Cherokee in there in the mid to late '70's. We were
bareboat chartering from Green Turtle Cay and would take the
water taxi over. The sign was there the three times my
girlfriend (wife now) and I flew in there. I remember going
over close to it just to make sure I had the
wording/spelling right. It was something like: "Marsh
Harbour - Where Your Sufficiencies Will Be Surfancified"
Stuck in my mind (and my wife's) like no other sign I can
recall (except some Burma Shave signs :-) I might even have
an old photo of it somewhere.

Did your wife's grandfather have any connection with Marsh
Harbour/Bahamas? What does your family think it means - I
took it to mean you'd get everything you need and more, but
the 8" thick pedestal dictionary I consulted doesn't even
list the word "surfancified."

Thanks for responding, Todd.

AFAIK her family has no connection to Marsh Harbour. I think the posting from
Trent Moorehead (thanks, Trent!) must be hitting pretty close to the mark. In
case that hasn't hit your server, he refers to
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-suf1.htm which has some interesting
background information. That web site notes that the origin may be in North or
South Carolina. My wife's grandfather would have lived in North Carolina, so
that makes sense. Amazing the knowledge you can glean from these newsgroups.

Dave

Marty Ross wrote:
Anyone know of, or have experience with, renting a plane and
instructor from any of the northwest islands in the Bahamas?

I'm planning on being there in July and would like to do some
sightseeing & flying (I'm PPL/IA). Would rather do typical
"FBO-style" instruction/checkout, but if there are none like that,
would do air tour hoping to at least get right seat view.

All the other answers set aside, nobody mentioned a rather obvious problem:
Apparently you don't have a pilot license of the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas. Do you know for certain that your license from whatever country
(your didn't say) will be accepted by Bahaman authorities and in turn by the
FBO?

I know for certain that you cannot operate an airplane with US registry in
the US unless you have a US pilot certificate (FAR 61.3(a)(1)) and I assume
that other countries will have similar regulations.

jue