A-340 (Air France) over the beach in SXM!

www.youtube.com/v/Dh_CnGX1vIU

Sliding Rock

www.youtube.com/v/DdAlvD2tz7I

I'm using YouTube now!

but now how do i put links in here?

Atlantic Ocean

The other day I was "jogging" which means for me sprinting then walking repeated multiple times...I thought this was a nice picture to take of the Atlantic Ocean.

My 2007 Birthday

Well, today is my birthday and what better way is there to celebrate it than by taking myself on a morning flight in a small Cessna? I am in Maryland right now, so that is what I just did a few hours ago. I was going to take pictures today, but when I whipped out my camera in flight I realized that it had been left on for about a week and a half, so needless to say the batteries had died. But anyway, I would not have been able to take many pictures anyway since the winds were about 25 miles per hour and the small 152 was being tossed all around the air.

Six years ago to this day, I was turning 17 years old and had just gotten the best birthday present in the world...a private pilot certificate. I passed my checkride six years ago at the same time and same airport as I flew at this morning. I would have flown the same airplane as well if it had not crashed since then...

I know that I have a tremendous amount to be thankful for today. Over the past 6 years I have been able to have my dreams come true by flying for fun and also for a living. I spent the last weekend here in Maryland in a flight instructor renewal class, and now my flight instructor certificate that allows me to teach people to fly does not expire until March 31, 2009...at which time I will renew it again. I hope to get back into teaching sometime soon, it was lots of fun.

I cannot even explain on this blog how much I love aviation and having the privilege to fly. America is such a great country, our freedom to fly in this country is not surpassed by any other country in the world...

Underwater Adventures

Ok, I am not usually a procrastinator...but with getting pictures developed I sure am! My sister Moriah gave me an underwater camera as a gift over one year ago and I finally got the pictures today. The pictures are from three locations. Off of Honeymoon Beach in St. Johns, USVI, a beach on the Southwest part of St. Maarten, and also St. Thomas, USVI. Thanks Moriah!

This guy was so friendly! I found him in St. Johns. He was not scared at all until I got within about one foot of him one time and then he took off with amazing speed into the deep!

These pictures were taken for one reason...to identify my dead and bloated body whenever it was recovered. I was actually a little scared at this point. I was snorkeling (alone) in St. Maarten. I swam in one direction for about 30 minutes along these coral walls...well I didn't know that when I turned around to come back it would take over 1 hour and 15 minutes of very hard swimming to make it back...the currents were so powerful. But I finally made it and my freind Randall (who was on the beach) was a little angy with me.

I did not get a picture of it, but I saw a large eel here sticking his head out of his hole. Also to the right of this location was a large rock with a bunch of large Lobsters living under it.

If this thing is NOT a Barracuda please let me know. I saw tons of very sharp teeth and he would not leave me alone. This was in St. Thomas. I was very worried about being attacked but I finally drifted out of his territory and I was not maimed by a Barracuda.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. I honestly love the ocean and am amazed by how little humans really understand about it. There is so much life...and so much more to explore!

Goodbye Caribbean Sun

When I moved to Puerto Rico sometimes I thought that I was working for the wrong company...Caribbean Sun had good service and good schedules. Well, they will be shutting down operations on the last day of this month. This is actually a bad thing for American Eagle since now we will have no real competition at all.

Last night was a huge closing down party at a beachfront house and it was sad to see so many friends who have lost thier jobs.

Many good and fun people have left Puerto Rico already and the rest are on their way out. Adios Caribbean Sun.

Island Living

You all know that I love Puerto Rico, however there are some days where island living is not so easy. Right now I just came back from taking a bath in the pool down the beach because our house has no water at all. Puerto Rico does not have water towers that many people take for granted. So what that means is that every house has a tank on the roof that is pressurized for water pressure. Well...mine blew up yesterday.

I also found some old pictures on my computer of UND flying...here they are.

If anyone knows how to work this stupid thing to really control where your pictures are please tell me how. I have no idea.

Some non-flying pictures

I just got back from Antigua this morning and went to look at apartments...here are the views from the penthouse where I will (probably) be living in one month. The pictures below are of my current "living situation" I like to call it.

And don't you go forgetting that it is January and this is what I do all day!!!

Update

Well, I accidentally left my camera at home but imagine flying through a heavy rain storm with trees/mountains less than a few hundred feet away and landing on a small runway that ends in the ocean that is angry from the storm all around you. (Plus the small ramp is under water!) That was the highlight of my day flying to Dominica...you nature lovers (like me) should really check it out! The place is amazing! Today I had a 14 hour day...started with a St. Maarten turn, then a Dominican turn, then a St. Croix turn...all in all 8 hours of flying. Today I passed the 900 hour mark in the ATR.

I'll bring my camera next time!

Flying pictures from the "ping-pong"

This month I am flying what we call "dailys"...schedules built for the senior people who like to be in their own bed at night. We take off at 8am and do not return to SJU until 445pm. Route of flight: SJU-SDQ-SXM-SDQ-SJU. SDQ being Santo Domingo, DR and SXM being my favorite island...St. Maarten.

1. Picture #1...approach to SXM runway 09, a few days ago a pilot crashed a plane at this exact spot...he lived but got really wet!

Picture #2...Punta Cana from 20,000 feet.