Had a bit of a shit few weeks lately so decided to take a solo trip to get away from it all for a few days! Quick google and I found cheap tickets and a hostel to Menorca, the smaller less touristy island next to Mallorca. 5 days of beautiful 32°C blue sky weather and I only got a little bit sunburnt. All was well until I went to Punta Prima beach yesterday. On this holiday I brought my drone, baring in mind I’m still quite amateur when it comes to drone flying, photography and videography. This was maybe my 5th time using it.
What looks like a stones throw away from the beach I was on was this small island with a quaint little lighthouse. I thought perfect opportunity to fly the drone over there and take some photos/videos. I set the drone up and start flying over; business as usual. For now… Turns out the lighthouse is about 2km away. But I continued and got some terrible photos but a this decent video. I go to take one more photo but loose connection… instantly shit myself thinking that’s it my drones gone, it’s in the water. A few seconds later the drone reconnects… it felt like hours!
Now a little thing to know about drones; they’re an amazing piece of tech, but their battery life sucks!! They have to make the compromise between battery size, weight, flight time, all that jazz. As they progress battery life will get better but right now you can get about 30 minutes out of one. And they warn you when the battery is low.
Well, I got that warning! Look at the minutes of flight time left… I see 5 minutes. I calmly think okay that should be enough time for me to fly it back to the beach. I turn and head straight for home (the beach I’m on). Then… I forget about a little think known as wind. Apparently that affects flying… who knew wind can slow you down 🤦♂️ The flight time instantly drops to 2 minutes, now I’m shitting myself! I’m heading home, half way there 2 minutes left that should be plenty of time 😬 then it drops to 1 minute… and apparently the drone is programmed to automatically land when 60 seconds of flight time are left! I’m still above the water!!
I turn the camera down and see a yacht, probably worth hundreds of millions! The decision, land in the water to be lost at see forever, or land on this yacht?
I go for the yacht, coming down from 100m (the legally safe distance to fly above people in Spain). 10 meters from landing and I see a man run onto the roof below the drone. 1.5m I see him grab the drone. I loose connection! Im still on the beach looking at this boat my drone has just landed on, waving like a mad man “look over here, it’s mine, I’m so sorry, I had no choice”. Thankfully I said all this in my head rather than out loud!
5 minutes pass I think what the hell do I do?
Just in front of me there are 2 local Spanish guys with a paddle board… thankfully they’re very kind, I speak to them and ask if they can paddle over and retrieve my drone, they’re more than happy to. At this point I’m laughing out of despair and incredibly thankful. Over the next 45 minute I watch them battle the sea and the winds to paddle over there, it’s much further than I thought (the boat was huge, I thought it was closer and smaller) they get back… no drone in hand.
The permanent crew of 5/6 were VERY angry, because they thought I was filming them… (I just wanted to photograph the bloody lighthouse!) I need to go talk to them and show them the footage… how do I get out there? Do I swim? I can’t swim! Do I kayak? Not in this wind, would take me hours. Then I see speed boat approaching the mini dock next to me. I run over, past the family that got off and tried to hail the skipper. The woman who just got off tells me it’s private, I ask is it yours? She says no and points to I assume her very wealthy husband. I explain I just need some help to get my drone from this yacht, can her skipper sail me over to it? Many Spanish words later from her to the skipper, she turns to me and says “okay he’ll help you” and walks away! Thank you, thank you, thank you I say!
I hop on the speedboat, and we race over. My hat blows off but I manage to catch it! The waves are ruff and I’ve never been on on of these mini speed boats before. I’m bouncing all over the place, surprised I didn’t fall over board!
At this point the luxury yacht is starting to leave! But we arrive just in time to intercept them! I see a deckhand on the bow, I shout “excuse me I’m the one who owns the drone, I’m so sorry I landed here, the battery ran out!”. He starts screaming at me “you know that flying your drone is illegal right, and you shouldn’t be filming our boat!” And a myriad of other things I have forgot at this point… I shout back “I promise you I wasn’t, I can show you the footage! Can I come on board and show you.” He just replies “at the port”… great what bloody port, I’m thinking… “port of Mahon” he shouts, “dock E”. I ask what time and he says any time!
Mahon is the capital, not far but not easy for me to get to without a car! And the public transport is the worst I’ve ever experienced! Buses are 1 per hour and often 15 minutes early or late, and they don’t hang around… A 30 minute wait and 30 minute journey later I’m in Mahon! Google maps shows the port is only a 15 minute walk! I walk it in 8! I find dock E… no luxury yacht! All the boats are tiny, and I see no space for it to dock! I’m wondering now how long it takes to sale from Punta Prima to Mahon… obviously I have no idea, I pace up and down waiting for half an hour…. No yacht! I look at maps again… there’s about a 2 mile stretch of docks 10 minutes away from me. Maybe there at one of those! I walk along the water thinking maybe there at one of those ports and if they’re not I will see them sail past me and I’ll walk back to meet them.
30 minutes and 2 sweaty miles later… still no yacht! I see what looks like the end of the ports, I’ve lost hope. I’m thinking okay I’ll stay here as long as I can before the last bus back to my hostel and hope I see them arrive… I round the end of the peninsula; by the gods graces I see the boat! But no one’s on board and the dock gate is locked! I find a bench in view of the yacht and think okay I’ll sit here till I see someone and shout at the top of my lungs when I see someone! 30 minutes later still no one and I’m now debating jumping the fence to get on the dock. When I hear a whistle and a Argentinian man shout “are you the guy with the drone?”
I turn and say yes and I’m sorry a million times, trying to explain my idiocracy. Turns out he’s also a drone pilot which is why he knew how to grab it out of the air and turn it off! He also checked the battery and the footage and found I wasn’t lying, so he was happy to give me the drone back. Thankfully the owners of the yacht weren’t onboard! As if they were they most definitely would have called the police… phew!
Fin
Was it worth it? Probably not
Got some nice video… shit photos though, still need to figure out the camera on this thing! But I can safely say I won’t be flying over water again any time soon! And I’ll keep a keen eye on that flight time for sure!
Made for a very interesting day though 😂😂
