Flying the beach...

I had good intentions this morning of getting some sunrise photos.  Mother Nature had other plans.

When I woke up, just before 7:00, I thought I heard the wind blowing... nope, it was pouring down rain.  The rain didn't let up until well after the sun was up.  I decided to go for a slight change (after the rain quit), and took the quadcopter out.  I haven't used it since before we left for the summer; pretty much like starting over with the learning curve.

I had the batteries charged up, so it was just a matter of where to go.  On the way across the swingbridge, I got another sign from Mother Nature...

Read it any way you want, I came up with: off to the beach.  If it isn't too crowded, I'll give it a try on the beach.

At the first parking area, there were a handful of cars, mostly surfers.  At the next parking area, only one other car... I should be able to fly this without an audience or concern that it would bother anyone.  I fired up the controller, then the quadcopter - it still works!

First shot, looking out towards the Gulf...

There were no seagulls nearby when I first launched - I think they were curious.  Looking up and down the beach...

I made some landings and take-offs to re-acquaint myself with how it all works, took a few more photos...

Then, called this stop a success.  On the way home, I decided to stop by our swingbridge; I've photographed it from the land and the water, but it is a more interesting perspective from the air...

Just west of the swingbridge is our boatramp...

For liability sake, it isn't open to the public.  You pick up a key from our guard shack when you want to launch or retrieve.  There is a chain-link fence around it... I did consider what I'd do if this thing ran out of juice and decided to set down behind that fence.  No problem.

With some juice left on that battery, I went to the far side of the developed part of the island, to take a photo towards the Port Isabel Turning Basin (the end of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway)...

There are two drilling ships (the taller structures) moored there, and one smaller oil platform (on the left) in the turning basin.  The wind began to get a little gusty - I took a quick photo down the Sea Cottage canal...

You can see there is no development beyond the Sea Cottages.  No seawall on that far side.  This is the canal where we enter to head towards our canal, when arriving by boat.  Oh, and that wind I mentioned: I had launched between a palm tree and one of the Sea Cottages - probably 25 feet between them.  On the flying instructions, it is recommended that you stay at least 100 feet from anything tall where you launch.  When I got the drone out over the canal, it was swaying in the wind... I slowly maneuvered it back between the tree and the house to get it back over a tall curb where I could land on something reasonably level.

Still some battery juice left, didn't break anything... I'm calling this a good start to relearning to use this thing.  :-)