HOT NEWS! I'm pleased to a announce the launch of a new YouTube channel called "Art of Virtual Flight",
with flight-simulator videos that are somewhat longer and more elaborate than most of the short clips featured in the early entries of this blog. Typically 1-2 mins long, from a number of scenes, with cuts matched to a musical score that I apply. I had edited video professionally for years – so, time to put that skill to good new uses!
A little down the line, I will open the channel to guest submissions; I'll post guidelines as soon as the direction of the channel is more established...
Heading Inland to the North Coast
Having reached the south coast of Dominican Republic after crossing southern Hispaniola in part 4, I turn north and slightly backtrack westward (into Haiti) to reach the north coast of the island, the 2nd largest one in the Caribbean.
For an overview of the journey, including the passage over the large southern lakes covered in part 4,
here's a video from the new YouTube channel:
Bahia de Neiba upon taking off from the town of Barahona, on the southern coast of the Dominican Republic
Pic la Selle is Haiti’s highest peak at 2,680 m (8,800 ft), and is located in Forêts des Pins (“pine forest.”) According to this source, “The surprising smell of fresh pine might motivate you to question whether you are actually in the Caribbean.”
Revisiting Lake Azuéi, first explored in Part 4, just crossing over back into Haiti
Crossing over Haiti's mountains on the way to the north coast (Map source)
Crossing the Montagnes Noires
Over Haitian mountains on the way to the north coast
In the Massif du Nord one finds the Citadelle Laferrière. With 40-meter high walls, it's one of the largest fortresses in the Americas. Built in the early 1800's by 20,000 men (source)
A guard house just outside the Citadelle Laferrière (source)
Also in the Massif du Nord (near the coast) is the Sans-Souci Palace, a 19th century Haitian version of the royal residence of Versailles. Here's a good pictorial article about it. Destroyed by a large earthquake. (source)
Approaching the north coast
The North Coast of Haiti
Finally reached the north coast! Just west of Cap-Haïtien
Rounding the Baie de l'Acul, on the way to land in Cap-Haïtien
Imagine there existed a way to get pleasantly surprised , over and over and over again... all day long... every day of the year... every year... Fantasy-land? No, it's called my music collection on random play! 👀 My music collection, lovingly curated by me for over a decade, is now standing at 11,500 songs after an exciting series of additions over the years, and continuous paring down. My musical tastes are hugely eclectic, and from many genres, countries, languages, and periods. I appreciate a broad variety - EXCEPT American "country music" and rap (unless rap is in Russian, which is absolutely hilarious!) Not surprisingly, most songs that aren't instrumental, are in languages that I speak - "more or less" in some cases, lol - or that I would like to learn, namely English, Italian, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian. That's not a coincidence! Some of those languages got me interested in learning them because of my bond wit...
See the above region on Google Maps After our landfall and initial exploration of the western tip of Haiti in part 3 , it's time to cross the southern part of Hispaniola , the second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba; on the west side of the island, where we landed, is the country of Haiti , while the eastern side is occupied by the Dominican Republic . Hispaniola was the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, founded by Columbus on his voyages in 1492 and 1493. Large Caribbean islands provide a fantastic mix of tall mountains and a lot of coastline: excellent flight-simulator locations, as far as I'm concerned! Hispaniola also offers large, gorgeous lakes! Topographic map of Haiti : map Crossing Over to the South Coast For starters, I re-cross the western tip of Haiti, this time south-bound. An excuse to re-visit the very scenic "Pic Macaya" National Park that I first visited in...
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