Friday the 30th of March – First flight in Cuba!!!

Friday the 30^th of March

First flight in Cuba!!!

Words cannot express our feelings of utter relief and joy this morning!

We have finally done it! 30mins over the skies of beautiful Vinales here in the World Heritage area of Pinar del Rio. Country number 115 for Phil and 86 for myself.

Years of planning, worries, hundreds of emails, tons of frustrations and set-backs, lots of patience and money – but ALL 100% worth for this unprecedented experience!

Both Phil and I hardly dared to stick our head out of our rooms this morning in case it was windy and cloudy again, but no, the stars were bright,  the near full moon shone and winds were calm. Let’s go!!

And indeed suddenly everything goes like clockwork: we arrive in the darkness at 6.40 to the field. Hand-carry the balloon to the field, restrain it by a tree and teach our driver and Flippie how to hold the mouth and Daniel the crown line. Then Phil carefully starts the inflation of our light-weight Cameron O-56.

cold inflation

In the meantime we are surrounded by curious neighbours of our local farmer and a massive press team from the region arrives with several film cameras to document this historic and unique event.

final photos before the take off

At 7.30 local time – just before sunrise - Phil and I lift off heading towards the north-west. Looking at each other, we cannot believe that we are finally in our balloon and flying in Cuba! We manage to find good steerage with upper winds heading 330degrees at 6-7kt whilst the ground layer suggests a turn to 040 at 2-3kt. Perfect!

G-DKGM in the skies over Cuba - finally!!!

John and Flippie, Iseult and Jorge, Daniel and all our other friends are following us on the ground in separate vehicles. Many of the photos that you see today on this blog are by John Herbert who might have found his second calling in becoming a press-photographer! Thanks a lot John for doing this.

The balloon is finally flying over the town of Vinales

After 15minutes Phil hands the burners to me and I fly the balloon over one of the Magotes descending into the side valley on the east of the main road. Local people everywhere stop to wave at us. The only creatures that probably don’t enjoy us flying over them this morning are the many tethered horses and cows. Sorry guys!

a late sunrise at about 7.45am over the clouds

For a brief moment we discuss the option of flying through a narrow gap between two massive mountains following the main road into a second wide valley, but we decide not to take any risks.

Happy Allie in the air over Vinales

Phil lands the balloon in calm conditions not far from a tobacco hut and our team arrives shortly after.

The clear blue skies, our shiny balloon and bright sunshine cry for plenty of photos. 

After the balloon is safely packed away the local press team wants to interview us on our story. 

We are delighted to sing the praises of all our Cuban friends.

deflating G-DKGM

Capt. Flippie Vermeulen and the balloon

Indeed this historic flight wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless efforts of Iseult van den Hove from the Belgian Embassy and her ever so helpful husband Jorge Laffita and all our other aviation friends. We cannot THANK YOU enough for making this possible!

We also thank John Herbert for flying us safely across the Atlantic last year and down here to Cuba and to Flippie Vermeulen for taking us further along our route! Thanks also once more to the tireless Roger Shepherd who has spared no effort in keeping the aeroplane in good shape and to many of Phil’s contacts who helped with sorting out licences and other difficulties. I am sorry if I have missed someone now, but I am rushing the finishing of this section as a new family now moves into the house and I have to get out!

Let’s hope for one or two more flights here in Vinales before we will finally head back to Varadero on Sunday the 1^st of April. Flippie and John are busy planning the next sector into Central America. 

we couldn't be more happy than today!!

Watch this space and keep following us www.gonewiththewind.uk.com / www.onthebeech.blogspot.co.uk and www.springbokclassicair.co.za 

Once more a reminder about the internet: I have only access to internet at the house of Iseult and Jorge which is now occupied by a French family. No access to wifi on my mobile.