Luxury Seaplane Trips

[JMcRae]

Hi Everyone.
I was just wondering if anyone offers luxury seaplane tours in the Carribean. If so, can anyone give me a phone # or website. Another question I have is would anyone be interested in this if offered. A 10-14 day trip with 20-30 dives at the best dive spots anywhere in the Carribean (you can pick 'em or the company can do it for you) while be transported in a flying luxury motorhome and staying in the finest resorts around that part of the world. The trip would include limo service beginning at your front door, a commercial flight or private jet (depending on your budget) to Miami, limo to the seaplane, a flight to your destination resort (or first resort as you can choose to resort hop or stay at one) to check in and then have a seaplane with the interior size of a bus fly you anywhere you wanted for 10-14 days. With a cruise speed of 190 MPH you could go anywhere and get there fast yet you would only be 200 ft above the ocean so you wouldn't need to worry about the bends. You could get two to three dives a day and there would be no limitation as to where you could go (except for a few No Flight area's I'm still looking into). The interior of the seaplane would exceede the qualities of even the most luxurious motorhomes. A private stateroom with a queen size bed, full entertainment center with large flat screen TV's, CD, DVD, Satelite phone, a galley capable of exquisite meals, a chef/pilot/dive instructer with over 5k dives (seriously), 2-4 bunks, seating for 6, a stewardess (or flight attendant as they like to be called now), mini bar, a private head with a fresh water shower, and even a couch. You could even have a romantic candlelight dinner on the wing as it's as wide as a two lane city street. Price would be pretty steep though, around $20-30K depending on the level of accomodations (i.e. private jet, honeymoon suites, etc.) Just an idea I have. Hope you can give me some feedback so someday in the near future I can provide you with this spectacular trip. If I can get enough customers (10-20 trips a year) it will be a go and we'll be offering this soon. Thanks for your time.

 

[tvictory]

Most Caribbean islands prohibit seaplanes. They assume you are a drug dealer.

 

[Damselfish]

where all to I don't know. I would think something regularly scheduled or pre-cleared would be ok.

Some aspects of this sound cool, and I'm willing to spend a fair amount for special travel, but not that much. Especially for carribean diving.

Why would you need a stateroom or major food on the seaplane, if you're talking about staying in resorts?

Seems like you'd be doing alot of packing and unpacking of gear and stuff. How about a fast liveaboard that ranged more widely instead?

 

[JMcRae]

Thanks for your replies. Many of the islands are extremely leary of privately owned aircraft of this type because of the affore mentioned problems. However aircraft and charter companies operated under Federal 135 operations have a much easier time with clearances. We're definately not going to get shot at by the Jamaican government like Jimmy Buffet. Just as you said the seaplane would be fully capable of being stayed on although it would only be comfortable for 4-6 people. This would drasticly reduce downtime by packing and unpacking but there is always much more of a security issue when berthed in open water. Staying on the plane also has some limitations with fresh water showers but were looking into a fresh water system. Also, without the costs of a resort , the trip cost would be reduced by several thousand dollars. Of course you can go cheaper by reducing the range you wish to travel. The $20k-30K mark was for a top of the line, 5 star flying cruise including resorts and airfare on a commercial airliner. We are planning on working with each individual to tailor to their needs and budgets on every trip. We're not planning on being like a cruise line and only offering a few packages. What would you estimate a competetive price would be while still taking into account that you are flying around in a million dollar aircraft? Thanks.

 

[Doc]

You've floated (or "flown") this idea previously on other newsgroups. :flyer:

Or maybe it was some other investor previously interested in this fabulous idea. The operative word here being, "fabulous".

As in, "Jules Verne had fabulous space ships".

A flying boat doesn't do either very well. That is "fly" or "boat".

Designs that begin to fill the bill might be a Catalina PBY or, since Pan Am went into bankruptcy, maybe you could pick up the Panama Clipper at the bank sale. Whoops- too late, pieces are at the Air & Space Museum. Take a shot at acquiring the Spruce Goose, Long Beach is pretty well strapped for cash.

All the flying has to be done during daylight hours. Unlighted runways and all of that. there goes dive time! :lilangel:

Then, you'd have to land in a safe harborage, if the weather was appopriate on that specific day, otherwise you could just alight somewhere else. (can't call it "landing", after all?)

Jimmy Buffet didn't plan to get shot at either. Why, hell, most pilots never even plan a crash--- very much, anyway.

The pre-arranged dive boat with the lead, tanks--- and BC, Regs, etc. (not only as a weight saving measure due to the marginal lift capacity of an airplane that is first trying to make a pair of canoes hydroplane) but due to the fiddle faddling of divers, the gear would have to be all rentals. What are you going to do? Let them rig their weight belts and BC's in the dive boat? That would be a fluster cluck. Now- how many 15k/week divers are you going to get?

Truth be known, if divers have reached that level of expertise, there's maybe three widely seperated places in the Mar Caribe that any of them would really care to visit--- fresh water showers aboard an airplane--- errr Seaplane--- or not.

I used to read a lot of Tom Swift Jr. books in the early 60's. Maybe you should consider a submarine, instead.

Or how about a DC3 and taking 10 divers :balloon: hopscotching across the islands, landing on the Earth. That, at least, is indeed a possibility.

 

[Scubaroo]

Have you looked into how much sufficient scuba gear, tanks, weights and compressors weigh?

You should also approach board management before soliciting commercial postings here.

 

[parrotheaddiver]

oking: Roatanman,you always say what I am thinking I love you. :sunnyday:

 

[DennisS]

In the early 70's the Cousteau folks had a PBY seaplane rigged up for diving. They had a compressor and manifolds for filling tanks and would launch an inflatable as a dive boat. They would stay on land when they could. It crashed and killed Phillipe Cousteau in the late 70's.

 

[ggunn]

RoatanMan once bubbled...

... That would be a fluster cluck. Now- how many 15k/week divers are you going to get?

You mean "fuster cluck", don't you? Let's keep our spoonerisms accurate, shall we? I know, "fuster" is not a word... ;^)

Seriously, when I read the part about airborne fresh water showers, I thought pretty much the same thing.

 

[jbm]

JMcRae once bubbled...
. . Price would be pretty steep though, around $20-30K depending on the level of accomodations (i.e. private jet, honeymoon suites, etc.)

A Beech 18 on floats...........I'll pitch in for gas money and pump the floats. Let me know......


jbm