The first time I ever flew a drone over the open ocean I was terrified.
My hands we shaking, my gut was churning, and it honestly felt like everyone who was on the pier with me was eagerly waiting for The Fat $2,500 Bird to take a dive into the deep blue.
Back in January of 2015, I was just learning to get off the ground with my custom-rigged DJI Phantom 2 drone, but I was eager to get some footage other than shots of urban rooftops in Downtown Santa Ana.
With a GoPro Hero strapped to the bottom of my drone, my first flight overwater took place from the pier at Newport Beach, CA.
These days I’m flying a much tighter build and more integrated drone–the DJI Mavic Pro. And when I think back to how loosely assembled that Phantom drone was, I’m surprised that it stayed in the air at all!
Earlier this week I had a chance to stop through San Clemente, CA, to grab a fine cup of coffee at Bear Coast, and later walk along the sandy shores…oh yeah, and put The Little Bird up in the air.
As you can see, I’ve definitely gotten more confident when it comes to flying over water (although seagulls can be jerks as they often do fly-bys and set off the drone’s proximity sensors).
In the newly shot video, I was flying about 20-30 feet above water. But with footage on the card from a flight earlier in the week, I was hesitant to dip down any closer.
Drones today are so much easier to replace, footage, not so much.