Hidden Courage (Atlantis) (15 page)

As he climbed through 12,000 feet, he started to breathe a little easier. His heart was still pounding but his nervous shaking had subsided.

Twenty-five minutes later, after narrowly escaping death again, Jack approached the saddle. His altimeter read 12,900 feet. As he prepared himself for the inevitable drop over the saddle, he took one last view of Destination B. It was an absolutely beautiful sight. Beaming with pride, he snapped a few more photos, then refocused on his task at hand.

As he crossed the saddle, like clockwork, the altimeter started to unwind. Clearing the saddle with altitude to spare, he headed through the twisting valley between the towering snowcapped mountains. An hour later, Jack landed safely at San Ramon airport. If he never did anything else exciting again, the previous day’s events would be enough to carry him for the rest of his life.

Fortunately for Jack, he would not have to rely solely on the previous day’s events. He still had the flight home to look forward to.

Homeward Bound:

Jack switched from skis back to floats during his stay at the airport. After a few days’ rest and some ethnic foods, a reward to himself for a job well done, he was ready to start back home.

His routing home would take him the same path he arrived from up until he reached
Columbia
. At that point, instead of traveling up through
Latin America
, he would turn east and fly up and along the Columbian and Venezuelan coast line until he reached the
island
of
Trinidad
. From there, he would island hop up through the
Caribbean
Island
chain to
Florida
, and from there he would follow the east coast shoreline home. In all, Jack estimated the route would take more the 6,000 miles and at least three weeks to fly.

He stood in the middle of the airport and snapped some photos. This would be the last time he would ever see that airport again.

“Okay, now the vacation begins.”

After one last look around, he got into his plane and departed, heading west to
Lima
,
Peru
.

Jack spent the next few days working his way up to
Columbia
. He took his time enjoying the barren coastline of
Peru
and the jungle coastline of
Columbia
. With each stop he sampled the local culture and cuisine. At times he slept in the pilots’ lounges; other times he slept in his plane.

Once he made Bogotá,
Columbia
, he headed north to
Santa Maria
,
Columbia
instead of flying northwest, the route he arrived from. This was new territory for him. The coast turned from jungle to rugged mountains. They were exciting to see, but very dangerous and relatively remote.

Over the next few days, from
Santa Maria
he flew east, skirting the coast when practical, traversing inland when necessary. As he entered
Venezuela
, he stopped at several coastal cities along the way:
Coro
,
Caracas
and
Cumana
. The coast changed as he flew. At times it was rocky, at others it was flat farmland with beautiful beaches. Like the other countries he entered, he was inspected by customs, cleared and sent on his way.

Twelve days after leaving San Ramon in
Peru
, he touched down in Arouca, on the large
island
of
Trinidad
at
Piarco
International
Airport
. He was now leaving
South America
. This marked a significant point in his adventure: in essence, the hard flying and hard climbing were now complete. This was the point that Jack felt he could relax. His life would no longer be in danger; danger from flying in hostile countries, danger climbing, and danger being so far from home.

The past two weeks, he’d been enjoying himself at the cities he’d been visiting. It was fun, but there was always an element of danger associated with them. He knew that once he left
Trinidad
, aside from flying over open ocean, he would become a welcomed American tourist, safe on any island he landed at. No longer would he be looking over his shoulder, as he had been in
Latin America
, or worried about the armed soldiers meeting him at every airport. He considered this part of the trip his vacation, free to fully relax.

Jack woke early, excited for the next week’s destinations. He liked
Trinidad
. It was an enormous tourist city with a lot to offer, but it still fell under the influence of a part of the world that was a bit unstable. His research of the area suggested that once he cleared the
island
of
Barbados
, the rest of the island chains north fell under North American influence.

He finished his breakfast, a day old roll he purchased from a bakery at a bargain and some peanut butter. The roll was delicious, but after living off of peanut butter for almost a month, he was starting to get sick of it. Jack couldn’t afford to purchase bottled water, so he filled his empty water bottles with tap water and brought them to a local park where he boiled them with his stove and a large pot to kill the germs. He refilled his bottles and readied the plane for departure. Shortly after, he departed the large airport and headed north over
Trinidad
’s forested countryside. Ten minutes later, after crossing the jagged and rocky coastline, he flew out to sea.

Prior to departure, Jack checked the weather as he always did for the next leg of flight. The weather station in the area reported clear skies throughout the region. As he flew over open ocean, the skies were not only clear, but the visibility was fantastic. He could see thirty miles in every direction, something that he found unusual in areas near water. His route would take him over
Grenada
, the
Grenadines
and
St Vincent
, and he would land at
St Lucia
, about 250 miles away.

A half hour after losing sight of land, he picked it back up again in front of him. Fifteen minutes later he was flying over the large forested
island
of
Grenada
. With an altitude of 10,000 feet, Jack couldn’t determine the terrain, but assumed that it was jungle like he had seen in other countries at that latitude. Once he made land, he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that from there on out his flights over water would always be in sight of land. He had read about storms that could develop quickly throughout the
Caribbean
chain, so it came as welcome relief that his high risk flying was now behind him.

As Jack flew over the
Grenadines
, the chain of islands between
Grenada
and
St Vincent
, he could tell they were relatively flat and surprisingly populated. Being a pilot, one of the first things he looked for were airports. As he flew, he noticed very large airports on every island. It was comforting to know that at his altitude, he could easily glide to safety in an emergency.

Jack saw beautiful vacation spots all along his flight. He was getting excited by the thought of spending some time on beautiful white sandy beaches and great surf. As he flew over
St Vincent
, he considered landing and starting his ‘vacation’ early, but decided to press on to his stop for the day,
St. Lucia
.

Twenty minutes later, he landed at the
Hewanorra
International
Airport
in
Vieux Fort
,
St. Lucia
, on the southernmost end of the island. After a brief discussion with customs, he refueled, then prepared his backpack for an overnight stay on a lonely stretch of beach just beyond the end of the runway.

Instead of heading into town and sampling the culture, Jack was intrigued by the bay; he’d crossed it while landing. The water took on a wonderful green-blue color and the waves looked inviting. It looked to be a short hike to get there, instead of a long, expensive ride into town. For Jack, the decision to spend time there was an easy one to make.

Two hours after landing, Jack was swimming in the warm clear water, enjoying the waves and relaxing. This was the memory he had longed to build since seeing tourists on the beaches in the
Gulf of Mexico
and beyond. He ate when he got hungry, drank water when he was thirsty and rested when he felt tired. He unsuccessfully tried his hand at fishing, not being phased at all when he came up empty. He was just happy to be there.

As night fell, he broke out his sleeping bag and fell into a sound sleep, soothed by the sound of the pounding surf.

The following morning, he woke fairly well rested. During the night, he experienced some visitors: sand fleas. After some careful application of bug repellent and zipping up his bag all the way to his nose and mouth, he managed to rid himself of the pests. He ate some bread and peanut butter, drank some more water, then took one last swim. By
9am
, he was back at the airport and ready for departure.

Over the next six days, Jack created similar experiences on each of the islands in succession:
Martinique
,
Dominica
,
Guadeloupe
,
Montserrat
and St. Kitts.

Each island had its own personality. In
Martinique
, it was obvious that it still had a good deal of French influence. It also had an extinct volcano that produced black sandy beaches, which were in complete contrast to the white sandy beaches in the south.

In
Dominica
, Jack hiked to the second-largest boiling lake, essentially a volcano cavity that was filled by the frequent rain. He also visited the various areas of rainforest and, of course, he enjoyed the surf.

The beaches of
Guadeloupe
caught Jack’s eyes as he flew overhead and circled the island. Just as he had done on
St. Lucia
, he packed his backpack for an overnight stay at the nearby beach and enjoyed himself in the sun and surf.Jack marveled at the beauty of the beach. It looked like a picture taken straight out of a magazine, replete with palm trees that came right up to the water and beautiful fans and ferns that punctuated the white sand.

Montserrat
was easy to spot with its smoldering volcano: it left a trail of smoke for miles, a sight easy to see from 8,000 feet. While there, he hiked to a couple of ancient monasteries that were perched on rugged mountain cliffs.

Jack landed at
St. Kitts and Nevis
later in the week. Just like the other islands in the chain, he visited the beaches, hiked the rainforests and meandered through a couple of the tourist traps, happy to sample some of the indigenous foods. He stayed for a couple of days, then departed to the west for the
Virgin Islands
.

The flight over water was the last big open water crossing he would make on his way home, the distance being about 140 miles. Even with the weather relatively clear, Jack still flew for nearly an hour before he caught sight of land. With land in sight, he relaxed, knowing that he had made it. He decided to spend his first night in
St Croix
. Over the next couple of days, he bounced from St Croix to St Johns and then to St Thomas, each time trying to experience something unique about the culture or geography.

As Jack headed west from the
Virgin Islands
, he flew to the
San Juan
International
Airport
in
Puerto Rico
, his next stop for refueling. As always, he landed, checked with customs, sampled the local culture and color and was
on his way, his next stop:
El Portillo airport in the
Dominican Republic
.

Flying along the coastline, he
observed the beautiful beaches
that held sprawling vacation resorts. He envisioned himself swimming in the luxurious pools and sipping unique tropical drinks while lounging under one of the many colorful umbrellas. He reached down and jingled the change in his pocket and quickly remembered his slim budget for spending.