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The WRONG way to get to Virgin Gorda #46535
03/19/2015 12:34 PM
03/19/2015 12:34 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
tpcook Offline OP
Traveler
tpcook  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
THE WRONG WAY TO GET TO VIRGIN GORDA
3 Am tues morning, get up and drive to JFK for a 8 AM departure. Have breakfast at 7AM Get on the plane at 7:30AM. Plane takes off around 8:30 AM. We are in the air about 15 minutes, when we hit a flock of geese. Pilot levels the plane off, engines seem ok. He declares an emergency, which clears him to land back at JFK any way he can . Runway is full of fire trucks, ambulances, police. Plane lands great and we go back to the gate. While we were at the gate I asked the other passengers who wanted to get to the BVI, so I could figure some arrangements The plane wing is damaged and many rivets pop off. Now we look for a new plane. The first one available is enroute from Madrid, Spain and eventually we get back on board the new plane around 1:30PM. At 2PM they announce the catering has not brought the first class food. Now people are yelling to get this flight going. Eventually they took off at 3PM and we land STT around 6:30PM I had already called my STT taxi driver Kevin and told him to get 2 private boats to transport the BVI passengers to West End. Customs at West End could not have been more accommodating, getting a taxi for us which we loaded up with people and the baggage. (REALLY FULL). The lady taxi driver took us to Trellis Bay and we took the 11:15PM Speedy ferry to VG. In the meantime I had called Bitter End to arrange for a ferry but they informed me of the speedy ferry. I also called Mahogany car rentals and they told me the license plate of the rental car at the ferry dock.

Bottom line is I was able to get 10 persons to their destination that tues with the help of Kevin at STT He was great and took charge, arranging taxi's, boats and red cap at the airport. Thanks also to customs at West End for understanding our problem and helping us get transportation.
For me it was a 22 hour trip from Ct to the villa. By far the longest ever. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

Last edited by tpcook; 03/19/2015 12:43 PM.

tpcook
BVI Sponsors
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: tpcook] #46536
03/19/2015 12:40 PM
03/19/2015 12:40 PM
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
GeorgeC1 Offline
Traveler
GeorgeC1  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,993
GA/NC
Just curious, why not just spend the night at STT and head over the next Morning? American might even have paid for the room.
G

Last edited by GeorgeC1; 03/19/2015 12:41 PM.
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: GeorgeC1] #46537
03/19/2015 12:43 PM
03/19/2015 12:43 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
tpcook Offline OP
Traveler
tpcook  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
I had some guests at the villa so wanted to get to the villa ASAP. They left this morning.


tpcook
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: tpcook] #46538
03/19/2015 01:01 PM
03/19/2015 01:01 PM
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,861
Bradenton, FL
Winterstale Offline
Traveler
Winterstale  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,861
Bradenton, FL
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> Glad it was a happy ending!!!


[Linked Image]

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: Winterstale] #46539
03/19/2015 01:43 PM
03/19/2015 01:43 PM
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 414
Memphis, TN
beerMe Offline
Traveler
beerMe  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 414
Memphis, TN
Glad to hear the rest of your story/adventure.


Life involves risks, take some prudent ones (NOT with the BVI ferries)!
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: beerMe] #46540
03/19/2015 03:41 PM
03/19/2015 03:41 PM
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,766
Med/ Caribbean
sailbynight Offline
Traveler
sailbynight  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,766
Med/ Caribbean
You are very fortunate you all landed okay, considering past flock of geese encounters haven't always ended so well.

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: sailbynight] #46541
03/19/2015 04:27 PM
03/19/2015 04:27 PM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
tradewinds Offline
Traveler
tradewinds  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
Quote
sailbynight said:
You are very fortunate you all landed okay, considering past flock of geese encounters haven't always ended so well.


Like having to land in the Hudson River <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: tradewinds] #46542
03/19/2015 06:32 PM
03/19/2015 06:32 PM
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,999
Macon, Georgia
GlennA Offline
Traveler
GlennA  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,999
Macon, Georgia
Well Thorny, you may think you had a bad day but consider it from the standpoint of that goose... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />


Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. - Mark Twain
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: GlennA] #46543
03/19/2015 07:49 PM
03/19/2015 07:49 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
tpcook Offline OP
Traveler
tpcook  Offline OP
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 4,266
Vero Beach, Fl and South Sound...
Standpoint of the goose;

Big silver bird attacked me and beat me up. Apparently another goose hit the pilot windshield but did not break IT.


tpcook
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: tpcook] #46544
03/19/2015 07:57 PM
03/19/2015 07:57 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 17,029
Tortola/ Sonoma, California
Manpot Offline
Traveler
Manpot  Offline
Traveler
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 17,029
Tortola/ Sonoma, California
Indeed.good going T!!

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: Manpot] #46545
03/22/2015 01:44 AM
03/22/2015 01:44 AM
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 653
Lutz, FL
tangerine3 Offline
Traveler
tangerine3  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 653
Lutz, FL
liat in disguise?


[Linked Image]
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: tradewinds] #46546
03/22/2015 12:18 PM
03/22/2015 12:18 PM
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 201
SF Bay Area
O
OneEyedJack Offline
Traveler
OneEyedJack  Offline
Traveler
O
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 201
SF Bay Area
Quote
tradewinds said:
Quote
sailbynight said:
You are very fortunate you all landed okay, considering past flock of geese encounters haven't always ended so well.



Like having to land in the Hudson River <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />


Not to put too much of a fine point on it, but planes "land" at an airport, they "crash" into the Hudson River. Scully saves the day on that one! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virgin Gorda [Re: tpcook] #46547
03/22/2015 03:06 PM
03/22/2015 03:06 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,557
Toronto, Ontario
gordaguy2 Offline
Traveler
gordaguy2  Offline
Traveler
Traveler
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,557
Toronto, Ontario
Sorry that your trip was so bad - every once in while you need to pay for living in paradise.


GordaGuy2
Re: The WRONG way to get to Virgin Gorda #46548
03/24/2015 08:43 AM
03/24/2015 08:43 AM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 35
PA
fins Offline
Traveler
fins  Offline
Traveler
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 35
PA
Glad you made it! How do I get in contact with Kevin, your STT taxi driver? He sounds like a gem !

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virgin Gorda [Re: fins] #46549
03/24/2015 08:46 AM
03/24/2015 08:46 AM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
tradewinds Offline
Traveler
tradewinds  Offline
Traveler
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 5,675
An island state of mind
Kevin's # is 340-643-0025. It's good to give him a couple days' notice.

Re: The WRONG way to get to Virign Gorda [Re: GeorgeC1] #46550
03/24/2015 11:00 AM
03/24/2015 11:00 AM
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,049
S
StormJib Offline
Traveler
StormJib  Offline
Traveler
S
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,049
Quote
GeorgeC1 said:
Just curious, why not just spend the night at STT and head over the next Morning? American might even have paid for the room.
G


That is the problem with the whole plane to ferry debacle. We contract or ticket with AA or the airline to get us to STT. Once they drop us at STT they are done and we are on our own. We are on our own with a system of ferries not intended today to support or coordinate with the airlines bringing passengers to St. Thomas. Unless we are coming in a day early and leaving a day late. We no longer put our holiday in jeopardy with the ferries as the weak link in the chain to our destination.


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