Serenity in the Florida Keys

Serenity in the Florida Keys

A brother, a drone, and nature

I’ve been the owner of a Phantom camera drone for more than seven months. I’ve practiced and crashed and practiced and crashed some more. I’ve gotten excellent at flying and maneuvering this amazing contraption but I felt like something was missing.

I am a drone advocate. I’m actually a huge believer that we should take every opportunity to look up at the sky because it’s changing as we speak. In the not so distant future there will be so many drones in the skies it will be difficult to tell what may be a bird or a robot.

As a result of my love I follow many people on Instagram and Twitter that travel the world taking drone pictures, always wishing I could be doing the same thing. As I scrolled through the feed I found myself liking almost every ocean shot. I would show them to friends and ask them what they thought of it. Of course, I don’t know many people that would say they hated a bird’s eye view of a beautiful island, key, or reef.

That’s when the complete extent of my ridiculousness hit me. I live in Miami, I am where these pictures are being taken. I sat there in total disbelief as I realized the many precious days I had wasted for amazing shots. I made it my mission to head out that weekend and take those pictures in my backyard; a place where others vacation.

It was amazing for lack of better word. Getting up at 0530 and driving down to the Florida Keys with a large Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in my brother’s Civic Si. The sun started peeking through the clouds just about the time we were getting into the first island, Key Largo. In the distance, dark clouds were asking for permission to rain. We didn’t pull over though, I knew where I wanted my first shots to be and it wasn’t here.

Just as the sun officially rose at 0640 we were pulling up to the Whale Harbor Inn at the start of Islamorada. I launch my Phantom 3 after it warms up and the result was breathtaking. It was a level of serendipity I can’t remember ever having experienced. All I could think about was why I hadn’t done this before.

There was so much peace that morning. No one bothered us; the only sounds you could hear were birds starting their day and some soft waves coming up though the rocks.

My brother and I were those birds in that moment and it was hard to leave. If it wasn’t for the fact that I ran out of charged batteries we would have stayed longer.

There is so much beauty in nature and in my opinion so much healing power in the ocean. When I was a teenage cancer patient I remember my father taking me fishing in Key Largo as a way to distract me from reality. Maybe its left over memories of those days that make me long for more. I don’t know what it is but I felt like I was home. Not in the Keys but in the air over the ocean.

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