I'd love to hear more of the logistics of this and what kind of drive you are specifically cutting from 8h --> 2h, I thought most Cessnas cruise at like ~150MPH which when you combine with driving out to the field and taking off didn't seem to make the numbers that great. Alas, irrelevant for me as I wouldn't get a license for medical reasons.
Getting myself & my kids SCUBA certified, it's great.
We go to Hilton Head Island for many of our vacations. The drive down is about 8 hours. If we were to fly in a rented Cirrus SR22 (assuming 170 knot cruise) it would take about 2 hours. A rented SR20 would be about 2:20. Of course headwinds, tailwinds, and weather all play a role as well. We would have to drive to the airport (in the direction we'd be going anyway), load the plane, preflight, etc. Maybe add 30-40 minutes to all of it. My wife HATES long road trips, gets too antsy. The sound of cutting travel time by 50-75% is music to her ears.
What would renting the Cirrus cost you for the week or so that you're there? Including fuel, hangar fees etc etc.
Yeah, that's sort of what I figured. So on the cheapy cheap, you're looking at at least $600 for the rental (2 hrs each way), plus fuel and whatever other fees there are. Upper end more like $2600 + fees.
My flight club just bought a SR20 G3 that rents for $195/hr wet (ie includes fuel). I'm new to the club and not sure yet what the rules are going to be yet for long term rentals. Generally speaking, they charge a minimum of 1.5 hours per day if you are gone for more than 3 days. A 7 day trip is not something we would do, but for overnighters or even 2-3 day trips there's definitely an upside and can open up a lot of options for exploring places you wouldn't otherwise likely get to due to the distance. It's not something I'd recommend just to save time though. As hoot504 said, get-there-itis causes a lot of general aviation crashes so for longer trips you have to have time and be willing to push your return trip forward or back to accommodate bad weather.
I agree and disagree. There can be a considerable time savings if planned correctly and when using a capable airplane in the right conditions, but yeah you're going to pay for that convenience. I do not even take into consideration the cost-benefit of it. It costs much more than traveling by car and there's no way of getting around it. I fly because there's nothing like it and that's the main draw for me. It's an expensive, weather dependent hobby. If someone is getting their pilots license for any other reason than they just love to fly, I'd discourage it.
The only part of BVI I’ve seen is this 3 square mile island called Jost Vandyke and it’s been great. But from what little I’ve seen, compared to USVI, British Virgin Islands have been better. The official currency here is the US dollar, which surprised me. Still need a passport, though.
Congrats! I've been building my own PC since I was a kid (nerd alert) and I still get slightly trepidatious when powering a new build up for the first time. Just makes it all the more satisfying though when it eventually works.
The BVI charters are awesome. Traditionally, the best one was done by the Bad Kitty 1&2 with Calypso charters. They'd make a whole day of it with Virgin Gorda, soggy dollar bar at JVD, snorkeling, etc.. Then COVID hit and it was more difficult to travel between USVI and BVI, so they stopped which was a huge bummer. I just checked their website Home - Bad Kitty & Calypso Charters - St. John, USVI and it looks like they are doing the BVI charters again which I STRONGLY recommend if you guys head back. It's so much fun. We're going back next Feb and will prob plan on chartering it again.
I saw Bad Kitty! They were anchored here every day. lol. Awesome. I didn’t see a single unhappy face come off or get on that boat.
I went to St John one time as a brief stop on a catamaran day-cruise. It was great. We stayed on Jost this time, precisely because there isn’t much to do but soak up sun, decompress and relax, repeat. But I definitely would like to do a longer stay on St John and if so, I’ll hit you up. Thanks, man!
I am. I highly recommend it but also, don't overestimate your skills. I have seen many people try to hang with the big dogs just because they have good equipment and get themselves into seriously unsafe situations. It's also annoying to rescue someone in these situations while trying to race because ethically and by rules you have to even if they did it to themselves.
Aye, definitely gonna practice and not do anything crazy, if we do the race were just doing the first leg from port townsend to victoria. R2AK is a mix of canoes, kayaks, sailboats, rowboats and heck even a standup paddleboarder did it last year. Anythint wind or man powered is pretty much a go. So its not too hardcore of a “sailing” race.
If you get that BQ, are you going to run it?
BK is actually called "Hungry Jack's" down there.
