This web site will be up-dated regularly to the end of March 2012 and will cover the trip from Brasilia in Brazil back to Orlando in Florida via the Carribean Islands.

The route will take us from Brazil, through the Amazon, Surinam and Guyana and then through the Caribbean and back to our starting point in Orlando Florida.

You can follow us with SPIDERTRACKS in real time when we are in the air, we are identified as P2-TNT on the site, or you can see where we are parked if we are not moving.

Sergey arrived in Brasilia from Russia late in the evening on 10th March and Bob arrived from PNG via Berlin at about 8.30 hrs on 11th March, 2012.

SUN 11 MAR - LUZIANIA (SWUZ) - BRAZIL TO ALTA FLORESTA (SBAT)
As soon as Bob arrived Bob and Sergey took a taxi down to where "My Fair Lady" was hangared at Luziania Airport about 50 km from the main International Airport for Brasilia and departed for Alta Floresta about an hour later.

Todays flight was 612 Nautical Miles and was 4 hours and 45 minutes flight time.

As the weather was good we decided to go VFR (Visual Flight Rules) rather that do what we had been doing and that was to lodge an IFR (Instrument Fligh Rules) flight plan.

Once we were airbourne out of Luziania Airport and had sorted out with the controller what we wanted to do we settled down into the flight with good weather and some conversation as Sergey and Bob had not spoken to one another for about a month and there was much to catch up on. After about an hour into the flight the controller asked us not to talk to her any more and only talk to her if we had an emergency. We of course were the only ones talking to her in English while everyone else was talking to her and between themselves in Portguese and this talk on the radio was incesant. As we moved away from her area and into another control area we tried to make contact with the new controller as a metter of courtesy to let him know that we were in his area as we were no longer under radar coverage. We would call him up on the radio and despite us calling him many times we never received a response. As we approaced our destination airport (Alta Floresta) and after many tries we finally started to get a responds from him it was always in Portuguese and of course Sergey and Bob would just look at one another and wonder what was said. After some time and with responses only being in Portuguese we finally realised that he was saying that as we were going to a domestic airport and then the only language that was to be used was Portuguese!! Portuguese is of course completely foreign to both Sergey and Bob. Fortunately there was little traffic around so we finally landed at Alta Floresta without a word of English being spoken from the tower.

Most people in Brasil only understand and speak Portuguese and do not speak either English or Spanish so it has suddenly become very hard for us to communicate with people in Brazil.

Flying over the Amazon area one could clearly see the areas of Rainforest that had been cut down to make way for cattle farms etc..

MON 12 MAR - ALTA FLORESTA (SBAT)- CRISTALINO LODGE
We had heard some good reports about Chrislilino Jungle Lodge from Margi & Gerard so we decided to go there for two nights. It meant a two hour car and boat ride from Alta Floresta to Cristalino Jungla Lodge located on the Cristalino River.

There were no other guests at the Lodge so we had the place to ourselves. There were only two staff at the Lodge to look after us, and we had our guide, and our interpereter. The lodge was built in 1996 and is located in the rainforest, not unlike Karawari Lodge. The rooms have fans as well as open windows with only fly wire on them. They have an outdoor shower as well as an indoor one. Our guide was Sebastian and our interperastor was "Priscilla, queen of the Jungle".

The Lodge also has a large (in size only) water turbine, Kaplan type, that they can use in times of low water flow to generate electricity. However despite its large size it produces only about 1 KW. It was not in operation while we were there as the river was too high for it to operate.

TUE 13 MAR - ALTA FLORESTA (SBAT)- CRISTALINO LODGE
We were awoken at 5.30 am by the roar of the Howler Monkeys and after breakfast we went for a walk along one of the many trails that Chrtistalina Lodge has through the forest.

The first trail that we went on had a large steel tower, 50 meters high, constructed along the trail and it was possible for us to climb to the top of the tower and view the local wildlife from the "top of the canopy". We saw Macaws, Tucans, and other birds flying past as well as some Spider Monkeys.

In the Amazon Rainforest are huge old (several hundred years old) Brazil Nut trees. Inside each large nut from these trees are about 12 smaller Brazil Nuts as we know them. These nuts are harvested from the forest for worldwide distribution and not grown on "Brazil Nut Farms".

WED 14 MAR - ALTA FLORESTA (SBAT)- FLORES (SWFN) MANAUS
Todays flight was 475 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours and 50 minutes flight time.

From Cristalino Jungle Lodge/Alta Floresta we flew north to Manaus on the Amazon/Rio Negro Rivers. The flight was over Rainforest for most of the way. On arrival at Flores, a small general aviation airport near the centre of the city of the city we were met by Carlos Probost, who has Mr Walkabout (Andreas Bender) as a mutual friend of ours. We stayed with Carlos in his house in Manaus. Carlos operates a company called Amazon Clipper Cruises which has three "Sepik Spirits" that operate on the Amazon.

Manaus is a suprisingly large city with tall buildings and a populiation of about 2 million people..

Manaus also has a very distinctive opera house. It was built in 1896 from materials that were shipped out from Europe more than 100 years ago.

THU 15 MAR - MANAUS (SWFN)- AMAZON
Carlos was kind enough to arrange a cruise for us on the Amazon. In Brazil they consider that at Manous the Rio Negro and Solemoes Rivers join to form the Amazon. The cruise took as down the Rio Negro to where it joins the Solemoes River. The Rio Negro is quite black water while the the Solemoes is a muddy brown. Where they join to form the Amazon these rivers do not mix and there is a very distinct division between the two rivers and this point is know as the joining of the rivers and many ships come to this point each day with tourists on them.

The cruise also took us past the main city on Manaus and to a floating restuarant where we had lunch.

FRI 16 MAR - MANAUS (SWFN)- BOA VISTA (SBBV)
Todays flight was 365 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours flight time.

Carlos in his ever helpful mannaer took us to the Flores Airport in Manaus and saw us off for Boa Vista.

During the flight we again crossed the equator, only this time heading north so we are back in the northern hemisphere. The only indication that we had was a 00.00.00.0 reading on our GPS as our latitude readout changed from South to North.

On arrival in Boa Vista we were confornted with our usual problem of not having anyone to communciate with in English and all, including the people at the hotel, they only spoke Porguguese. We sure had some fun in restuarants trying to order food!!

SAT 17 MAR - BOA VISTA (SBBV)- BRAZIL TO GRENADA (TGPY) - GRENADA
Todays flight was 602 Nautical Miles and was 4 hours and 55 minutes flight time. We were advised by people living in adjacent countries to Venezuela that Venezuela was not user friendly to light aircraft nor were they friendly to foreigners and that the local government official generally made his own rules. As a result of this advice we tracked around Venezuela by going through Guyana and then over Trinidad to Grenada.

As soon as we left Brazil Airspace we were handed over to Gerogetown in Guyana and they were English speaking controllers, the first that we had experienced since leaving Jamacia in early January. Trinidad and Grenada were also English speaking and that made it so much easier for us, the weather was also reasonable, but quite cloudy, but we still had head winds which we have had since we started and we have kind of got used to them always being there, so they are just an accepted part of the flight.

SUN 18 MAR - GRENADA (TGPY) - GRENADA
Grenada is famous for its sugar-white sand beaches and it has 45 of them. The best of them are located in the south west corner where we also stayed in a hotel on the beach.

It was a Sunday when we were in Grenada and we took the day off and did little. Sergey went for a swim in the warm blue water while Bob stayed under a tree on the beach in the shade.

The capital of Grenada is St George and is located on a small harbour which is actually a deep crater of a long dead volcano. In 1955 Grenada was devastated by a hurricane and fortunately most of the charming Georgian colonial buildings are still standing.

MON 19 MAR - GRENADA (TGPY) - GRENADA TO ST JOHN'S (TAPA)-ANTIGUA
Todays flight was 328 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 50 minutes flight time.

It was great flight today. We left Grenada and Island hopped over St Vincents & the Grenadines, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe and onto Antigua & Barbuda. We could look down and see all the islands clearly as well as seeing all the yachts that were sailing between the many islands of the Caribbean.

The Australian's played the West Indies a one day cricket match in Antigua yesterday and the Ozzies lost. It was the first time they had been beaten by the west indies since 2006.

Not only is Antigua famous for its white powerdy sandy beaches but in the 1700's it's coastline was ringed with British forts. It also has Nelson's Dockyard National Park, one of the world's most visible symbols of the once formidable power of Englands navy within the West Indies.

TUE 20 MAR ST JOHN'S (TAPA)-ANTIGUA TO AGUADILLA (TJBQ) PUERTO RICO
Todays flight was 318 Nautical Miles and was 2 hours and 50 minutes flight time.

It was another great day flying over the Caribbean Islands. Today we left Antigua and flew over St. Kitts & Nevis, St Martin, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico.

Flying over Puerto Rico we noticed this huge dished antanae set into the ground. We later found out that it was a radio telescope and that it was 305 meters in diameter and that it was a circular mirror rather than a parabolic one.

The western side of Puerto Rico was almost devoid of tourists, we stayed in a 100+ room hotel on the beach and the receptionist told us that we were the only guests in the hotel. We certainly saw no other guests. We even tried to get breakfast the next morning in the many resturants between our hotel and Borinquen Airport and most of the resturants were closed.

Entering Puerto Rico was just the same as entering the USA. You needed to fill out the same documents, you need to be fingerprinted, have your photo taken and the officials had the same attitude.

WED 21 MAR AGUADILLA (TJBQ) PUERTO RICO TO PROVIDENCIALES (MBPV)-TURKS & CAICOS
Todays flight was 375 Nautical Miles and was 3 hours flight time.

Our flight today took us across the north coast of the Dominican Republic and onto the Turks & Caicos.

On arrival at Providenciales Airport it was obvious that there was money around by the number of private jets that were parked on the apron. We look rather insignificent beside them.

This place is really expensive. When we first checked out the rooms on the internet they ranged from anout USD$650 to USD$2,300 per night with some of them requiring a min of four nights stay. This almost caused us to give the place a miss, however we finally found a place to stay away from Grace Bay Beach for about $200 per night.

The waters around the Turks & Caicao were an Azure blue, quite unlike anywhere else in the Caribbean that we had seen.

THU 22 MAR - PROVIDENCIALES (MBPV)-TURKS & CAICOS

We stayed on in the Turks & Caicao for a second night but had to change hotels as the one we were in was full for the next night. The woman at the desk of the ground handler at Provo airport managed to get us a $900 per night room at the Seven Stars Resort on the Grace Bay Beach for about a third of the normal price so we took it. However there are some rooms in the hotel that go for $5,000 per night including a continental breakfast.

Sergey had to work hard and had a very busy day today as can be seen in todays photograph.

It is thought that Christopher Columbus' first landfall in the new world was at Guanahani Beach on Grand Turk which is one of the eastern islands in the group.

FRI 23 MAR - PROVIDENCIALES (MBPV)-TURKS & CAICOS

We are staying in the Turks & Caicao now for a third night, and we are at the Seven Stars Resort for a second night.

Space pioneer, John Glenn, after becoming the first American to orbit the earth in 1962, and his Mercury capsule friendship 7 splashed down in the sea off Grand Turk.

Since the early 1980's an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolfin has been swimming with visitors to Grace Bay, apparently preferring swimmers to his pod. He is sighted on an almost daily basis as he follows sail boats, playing in their wake. Jojo as he has been called for the past 30 odd years has his own web site that you can check out.

SAT 24 MAR PROVIDENCIALES (MBPV)-TURKS & CAICOS TO FORT PIERCE (KFPR) - USA ORLANDO (KORL)
Todays flight was 560 Nautical Miles and was 5 hours and 40 minites flight time.

The flight took us over Stella Maris and Nassau in the Bahamas before landing at Fort Pierce in the US for customs and immigration. The flight over the Caribbean must have been just as spectacular as going underwater and exploring the underwater world. The different colours were simply amazing. This was one of the best flying days we had as all the cloud was beneath us, however we still had the head winds. We had head winds almost continuoulsy since day one and they were always against us despite all the initial investigation work that Sergey had done to try to determine which was the best direction to fly around South America. We apparently made the wrong choice and it cost us about an additional 10 hours of flight time.

On landing at Orlando Executive Airport meant that we had completed the flight that we had set out to do with some adjustments for weather and local conditions. The total distance that we covered was 12,160 nautical miles since we left Orlando on 12th January. A distance of about half way around the world.

It was indeed a great trip we both felt that it should not end but just keep going on. We met up with Big Bob at the Chalet Suzanne near Orlando after we arrived and will visit the Fantasy of Flight Museum as well as the Sun n Fun air show before we head back to Russia and PNG respectively.

SECTOR 1. ORLANDO-USHUAIA-BRASILIA (12th JANUARY 2012 TO 9th FEBRUARY 2012)

HOME