St. Kitts

This morning I woke up in St. Kitts, and for the first time in about 8 months I was able to see the entire peak of the St. Kitts volcano that created the island. It is beautiful! Normally there is a cloud over the top of the last 1,000 feet of the mountain that covers the crater. We flew just over the peak and I was able to peer down into the lake. I was not able to take a picture down due to the shape of the windows and glare in the cockpit. Plus I was supposed to be flying...

I am off from work until Thursday night when I will meet my new Captain and flight attendants for the month of June. I had a good month of flying in May. I was supposed to fly 86 hours in May, but due to one day of vacation, the volcano, and other cancellations, I ended up only flying 60.3 hours in May. I just had overtime approved for June, so I am scheduled to fly 98.6 hours in June. It will be a busy month, but I will drop a few flights from my schedule to do things I am sure.

The power is out in my apartment so I am going out to the ocean and pool now.

Loco Tiempos

I just came home from work because our last flight of the day to Punta Cana, D.R. was cancelled. Sadly one of the reasons that it was canceled was because one of our flight attendants found out when we returned from the overnight in Canouwan Island that her boyfriend had been killed in a car accident while we were away. It is pouring rain today and a little dreary mood is around the area. We had a near collision yesterday with an aircraft over St. Vincent. The airplane was at the wrong altitude and the entire area is a non-radar ATC environment. I spent my break today for lunch filling out a report with the captain since the controller may be filing a report as well...even though it is her fault what happened, without TCAS we may or may not be here today.

I am about to change a wheel on my Pathfinder to hopefully stop the shaking. It will take my mind off of things. Lots is on my mind these days.

Gotta change out of my dirty and wet uniform...I only meant to check my email anyway.

Monserrat

Yesterday I had to work all day while my family was here. I started with a flight to St. Thomas at 0645. My dad was onboard the flight and it was nice to get to fly in an ATR together. I had a brand new crew that morning that I didn't know. They were nice and friendly to me so it was a good two day trip.

It was an interesting day of flying because the Island of Monserrat (the Caribbean's most active volcano) chose to erupt that day. We had to make a two hour flight into a three hour flight to avoid the ash cloud that rose to 60,000 feet! Guess what...I have only forgotten my camera one day when I fly and that was yesterday. The picture right here is one I took just a week or so before the big eruption. This morning on the way home the volcano was back to its normal state of throwing ash to 8,000 feet.

I came home tired today because my crew and my friends in Canouwan Island went out for pizza then commandered kayaks to go try to steal sailboats. I fell off my kayak when a flight attendant hit me with her paddle. That is why my shorts were hanging up in the cargo bay the whole way back today. I was out in the ocean during shark feeding time. It was pretty fun to be the only one in the water at night. Let me tell you...

Ok, I'm going to try to sleep since tomorrow we supposedly are going on a sailboat to islands or something.

Family Arrives

Well...I got a phone call this morning from my father...at 6am! My whole family got on the plane to SJU and they will be here in two more hours. It was a nice surprise to be informed that my Trek mountain bike is in the airplane too! Now I will have an SUV, Surfboard, Mountain Bike, Raft, and Snorkling gear in Puerto Rico. I'm set up!

I plan to have a nice week with my family. I will meet my little Nephew (I forgot his name) for the first time today! I can't wait to be the world's best uncle. I plan to find out what he really wants to do (and not allowed to do) and do it with him! Of course this will be behind the back of my sister. I consider this the notification on this blog....so I'm really not hiding anything.

Ahead this week...Luquillo beach, El Yunque hiking, Culebra, and more!

ATR

Mi Encanta!

Super ATR72-212

This is the airplane that I love to fly. When you strap in and takeoff towards a mountain or the ocean, or land with 3200 feet of runway before a dropoff into the sea it makes you feel alive. Flying is definately a gift from God.

I'm gringorican!

Well yesterday was one of the best days that I've had in Puerto Rico so far. Let's go back in history to explain why this day happened....

I have had the opportunity to meet many Puerto Ricans, not so few of them girls. I'll keep my comments about gringas in general to myself, but I will just say that if I marry, it will be to a Puerto Rican.

Anyway, the other week I was walking Chocko the dog down the beach and I was just trying to escape for awhile and think about my life. As always happens to Chocko, about 100 yards down the beach he had three girls wooing over him and his blue eyes. I heard comments in spanish about perros and gringos and azul eyes...I ignored these girls and kept walking....Chocko is muy intelligente tambien so he ignored them just as I did. About 45 minutes later in a place called Pinones, we got in trouble with the policia. A large police truck started to follow us on the beach and over the loudspeaker I heard, "Mira! Senor, no perros en la playa aqui!". So whatever after getting in trouble with the law, we start the return trip home...

After walking for almost an hour home, we passed by the spot where the girls still were (after Chocko met about 5 girls on the way back, I met one.) Anyway, I had the day off work (as usual) and was feeling a little more up on life and was more awake since it was still morning. So when the girls wooed over him again I let him go talk to them and lick them and eat ice from their hands. I found out that one girl spoke english and that they were all nurses at the Centro Medico hospital...ER nurses for that matter.

As it turns out me and Chocko spent the whole day on the beach with those girls and also to the pool at my condo. It was a fun fun day with new friends. This post is already too long so I'll skip over the past few weeks to yesterday....in short I spent the day on the Luquillo beach with 7 nurses that mostly only spoke spanish all day and we went riding on a banana boat and then went up to El Yunque to hike down to a mountain waterfall and river where we could swim. It was so much fun!

I have a new beautiful friend in Puerto Rico named Keyra who's new mission in life is to show me Puerto Rico and make me learn espanol. My old life in Puerto Rico was wonderful...no it just went up a notch. More updates later, but I'm going out to the pool. Adios.

First Post!

I am not quite sure why I am wasting my time on this but let me tell you about my day. I woke up in Canouwan Island, which means Turtle Island in ancient island language. Or so I'm told. I flew home and flew some more. After the flying was over...I have been sitting by the pool and swimming in the ocean all afternoon. For the first time in San Juan history...I am staying in tonight! No friends, only a few phone conversations, and no roommates home. So I am starting this blog. We'll see if I ever make any more posts.