Today after almost three weeks as contributors to the hurricane Irma relief effort in Puerto Rico, we get back to recreation as we make
a much earned trip to the Dutch island country of Sint Maarten, one of two countries on the Island of Saint Maarten in the leeward islands
east of Puerto Rico.  Saint Maarten island was also badly hurt by Irma and we picked it for one of our winter vacation stops to help build
back its critically important tourist trade.

We plan some sightseeing as part of this flight, so we will cross the mountains to the north of Ponce and fly over San Juan. 
Then our flight will continue along the north coast of Puerto Rico and out over the British Virgin Islands.  From there we turn southeast
to the island of Saint Maarten, where we will land at Princess Juliana International Airport.

 

Waiting for an east  departure on Rwy 12 at Ponce.

 

Off of 12 on the way up to 7,000.  Have to clear mountainous terrain not far into the flight.

 

Nice view of the Caribbean off the right wing.

 

Turning to 080° to continue on course to my first fix, CLAYO, then on toward San Juan. Cloudy again! That has been the experience
so far this trek. Looking for it to clear up soon.  Want to see some open blue sky and clear views of the scenery.

 

Here in this cockpit view you can see the trusted RXP Garmin GNS430 showing me the terrain out in front that  I need to navigate.

 

Nice view of Lago Toa Vaca (Lake Toa Vaca), an elevated lake in the Sierra de Cayey mountain range.  The lake provides water to
the municipalities along the southern coast of Puerto Rico, and provides much needed irrigation for agriculture.

 

Almost clear of the mountains I am able to start a descent to 5,000 to grant us a better look as we will soon overfly San Juan.

 

San Juan from 5.000 ft, with Bahia de San Juan (San Juan Bay) and the Port of San Juan in the distance.  If this scenery was
somehow real-time there would be numerous large ships coming and going as relief efforts continue in earnest.

 

Another look at the city of San Juan and the coastline as we pass over the city’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

 

The view as we get close to the northeast corner of the island of Puerto Rico.  Note the short distance from the mountains to the sea. 
That characteristic of the terrain contributes to the disasters related to tropical storms and hurricanes when torrential rains fall
on the north faces of the mountains as the counter-clockwise circulation of approaching storms gather moisture from the sea
and expel it onto those mountain faces.

 

Finally our weather and sky is clearing and we can enjoy the water and islands.  As we leave the main island behind we see
Isla de Culebra, the Puerto Rican island of de Culebra ahead.

 

With the greater visibility we now enjoy we also see the long narrow Puerto Rican island of Isla de Vieques off to the south. 
It is considered part of the Spanish Virgin Islands.

 

With a closer view of de Culebra Island we can see Benjamín Rivera Noriega Airport.  These islands have some airports with
very interesting character, shall we say.  Fun to explore!

 

Here we can see Cyril E. King Airport on the island of St Thomas, extending out into the sea near the picturesque town of
Charlotte Amalie West. Yet another Caribbean airport to explore,

 

Here is a nice view of the “Little Sisters” islands of the British Virgin Islands.  They are also referred to as the “southern islands”.

 

Ahh! A nice shot of our leased “Island Hopper” Grand Caravan with a backdrop of textured cumulus separating the contrasting
blues of the sky above and sea below.

 

Weather is back with us as I turn to final approach to Princess Juliana International Airport on the leeward island of Saint Maarten
in the Lesser Antilles, the outline of the island and of ship traffic just now visible through the late day haze.

 

OH Boy! Luck is with us as I start down at the FAF! I get to buzz not only the sunbathers on the beach just outside the airport threshold!
I also get to buzz that commercial ship crossing our approach path!

 

The roll out after landing shows a very nice Princess Juliana airport scenery…..

 

Which offers nice details on both sides of the airport.

I believe I found this as freeware and it is contained within a more general Virgin Islands scenery. 
The readme file indicates it was done in 2010 by STARSEED. I found it at FlyAwaySimulation.com.

 

Found wonderful food this evening after arrival.  There are over 400 places to eat on this small island, so we decided to hop from
place to place, trying whatever we found interesting.  Here were my choices this evening, clockwise from top left:

Red Snapper prepared with a French flair. Fish prepared with tomato is not my favorite!
(there is an abundance of French prepared cuisine on the island);
Accras, or cod fritters, are a Saint Maarten/Saint Bart tradition! Oh my were they good!;
Johnny Cakes, a flattened white-flour version of hush puppies;
and finally, Seared Ahi Tuna Strips!

 

For anyone wondering about the color of tropical water in these scenery sets, here are a couple of real-world
views from seaside condominiums on Saint Maarten Island.

 

Edited March 20, 20188 yr by fppilot

Great looking scenery and flight plan...love the beautiful beaches on the islands!

HLJAMES

Very informative and tasty story. Great shots!

As usual, I hung around til the end for the food!

John

6 hours ago, HLJames said:

love the beautiful beaches on the islands!

Yes. But I need to keep more of an eye out for that! Thank you!

 

16 hours ago, John F said:

As usual, I hung around til the end for the food!

It's fun hunting down the local fare, as well as learning more about each location.  Will have to take a trip somewhere from St Maarten today. Getting a major snowstorm here on the east coast today.