Around the World in a (Simulated) Airplane, Part 6 : Turks & Caicos Islands
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As I expected when I started this round-the-world blog, flight-simulator technology would improve remarkably along the journey...
This entry is a re-issue of an earlier post, introducing the photo-realistic add-on Ortho4XP (which existed before, but I hadn't started using.) In the next blog entry, I'll also introduce the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.
I ended up pausing this blog throughout 2020, hugely distracted by Covid and, even more so, pulled into many directions, evaluating Ortho4XP (leading to this with/without side-by-side comparison video), other add-on's, and the new Microsoft simulator. But, now, finally back in motion!
Flying over the island of Tortuga. In the background, across the channel, is mainland Haiti
After leaving behind the relatively large Tortuga island, it's 100 Km (60 miles) of open Atlantic Ocean, and then a series of very flat, oddly shaped small islands, starting with Inagua Island, which is the southernmost (and very easterly) part of the Bahamas.
Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands in the western parts, and the smaller Turks Islands in the east. They comprise 8 main islands and more than 22 smaller ones.
In case you wonder what's with the "Turks" in the name, given that this place is a world away from the country of Turkey – I had the very same question! According to this article, one theory is that the name originates from “where the Turks gather” : in those days, Turks was a reference to pirates, because some Ottoman ships were involved in piracy. Another theory, disputed by some, is that Europeans first sighting the islands saw on the horizon what seemed to be red Persian turbans – but in fact were a red-capped cactus, whose common names include “Turk’s Head Cactus.”
Celebrities in the Turks & Caicos Islands (Source)
After a stopover on an aircraft carrier, my initial landfall is in the Caicos Islands, which constitute the western part of the archipelago. From there, I visit the rest of this island nation proceeding eastward.
The island of Providenciales, in the western part of Turks and Caicos Islands. This is WITHOUT the Ortho4XP add-on: the color of the water is rather uniform. Notice the small airport near the center. Contrasted with Google Earth, below
Trying to approximate the previous view in Google Earth (live map)
Exploring the island of Providenciales, in the western part of the Turks and Caicos Islands
Some time after my initial exploration of these islands, I returned – this time with the power of the add-on Ortho4XP, which makes beaches more beautiful with realistic colors based on aerial or satellite images.
The images in this section make use of this add-on. Notice how the water color is no longer uniform, and also the lines are softer and more realistic-looking.
Notice any difference from the previous image?!
One flight, 10 emotions! Done with the Ortho4XP add-on. Best watched full-screen, at high-res. I put to good use my music collection!
Back to Hispaniola: to the North Coast of Dominican Republic
Time for another ocean crossing, 160 Km (100 miles), back to the island of Hispaniola, this time on the Dominican Republic side.
Note that we're now back to images WITHOUT the Ortho4XP add-on. From height, the difference is nowhere as pronounced.
A lot of open sea around Salt Cay (triangular shape, center) and Grand Turk Island (right), part of the Turks Islands, at the eastern end of the island nation
Leaving behind the Turks and Caicos Islands
A lot of open Atlantic ocean, heading south back towards the Dominican Republic, on the large island of Hispaniola
Catching sight of an aircraft carrier
Don't try this with a real airplane!
Briefly catching a ride towards the Dominican Republic on the aircraft carrier
In part 4 and part 5 we explored the western side (mostly Haiti) of the large island of Hispaniola; in the upcoming part 7, we will cross the tall mountains on the eastern side, in the Dominican Republic.
AIRPORTS: Cap Haitien, Haiti (MTCH) ; West Caicos (MBWC) ; Providenciales, Caicos Islands (MBPV) ; Osvaldo Virgil Airport, Dominican Republic (MDMC)
COMING SOON! Part 7 : Crossing the Mountains of the Dominican Republic.
UPDATED May 2021. Several people asked me... so, I quickly put together a brief description. COMPUTER A fairly high end desktop that I put together myself. Details . GPU I splurged on a high end GPU in Dec. 2018 : Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming OC 8G Manufacturer's page I have been quite pleased with it. Yoke and Controls Quite pleased with the all-in-one " CH Products Eclipse Yoke with 144 Programmable Function ". Available from Amazon . I actually like having thumb-controlled rudder pedals.... Tons of handy programmable buttons. Software XPlane 11 . Be careful not to accidentally get the DVD version, unless that's what you want, because it does NOT include a license for the downloadable version. (The manufacturer of XPlane 11 was of zero help, and I had to re-buy the software!!) Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 . Will start to make an appearance in an upcoming blog entry. Add On's for XPlane 11 1) Airspaces
See the above region on Google maps HOT NEWS! I'm pleased to a announce the launch of a new YouTube channel called "A rt 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 pass
It was a magical time for me, when I was 16 1/2, to go on a 3-week summer study program on the island of Malta - a pivotal moment towards my eventual bilingualism . My first time abroad on my own. To the astonishment of friends who have grown up in a world of digital cameras, I didn't take a single picture at that time. Ah, the days before handy digital cameras! Hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived thru them! Teenage me didn't feel like lugging around a heavy, pricey camera that needed expensive film - film to carry, safeguard and later spend more money I didn't have on developing... Assuming that my dad would have loaned his camera to me in the first place! So, how to illustrate this grand adventure? Well, I managed to pull off the Internet a number of images that adequately match my memory of the place. Theses are NOT generic images - they are images that best approximate Malta, as close as possible to the way I remember it. The capital - Valletta I arr
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