Finally finished compiling and editing all the footage I took while in Isla Mujeres, Mexico a couple of weeks ago. Isla Mujeres is a 4 mile island about a mile off the coast of Cancun, and one of my favorite places on earth.
I was NOT preparing for this, but in order to avoid a No Fly Zone at our end of the island, I had to get in a kayak, paddle out into the ocean a few hundred yards, and hand launch from the kayak - very nerve-racking to say the least. Even more frustrating was that there were 2 other guests there who were able to fly their Phantoms around the hotel just fine (on an earlier firmware, I assume?) I also saw someone else flying a mavic right from our hotel. Of course my wife was like: "How come THEY can fly their drones and you can't?" ARRRRGGHH! I even tried going to a local Mexican "internet cafe" to downgrade my firmware and try that, but the Internet speed was too slow for a successful downgrade. I spent most of my week in paradise being pissed off at DJI.
Unfortunately, our hotel, the Mia Reef, was on the very edge of a No Fly Zone, because of a tiny runway nearby that is sometimes by used some private pilots there. During the 8 days we were there, we saw 1 small plane fly over. This is a TINY island - No cars (except a few small local taxis) Golf carts are the primary transportation. There is no "airport", no tower, no one to call, and needless to say I was extremely frustrated with the fact that I couldn't even launch my mavic at our end of the island (after spending weeks preparing: extra batteries, new nd filters, extra SD cards, etc.) I could fly (and did) at the other end of the island, which is also beautiful, luckily.
Forgive the sometimes choppy footage - I'm not very good with any of the special filming features of DJI GO 4 yet, so all of this footage was taken while flying manually - most of it from a moving kayak.
I used the PGY-TECH CPL ND filter for all of the drone footage. The mavic handled the high winds effortlessly - even by the steep cliffs and over the ocean.
Hope you enjoy - feel free to comment. I HIGHLY recommend Isla Mujeres as a vacation destination. We will be back next year and I will be better prepared to handle the NFZ next time.
I was NOT preparing for this, but in order to avoid a No Fly Zone at our end of the island, I had to get in a kayak, paddle out into the ocean a few hundred yards, and hand launch from the kayak - very nerve-racking to say the least. Even more frustrating was that there were 2 other guests there who were able to fly their Phantoms around the hotel just fine (on an earlier firmware, I assume?) I also saw someone else flying a mavic right from our hotel. Of course my wife was like: "How come THEY can fly their drones and you can't?" ARRRRGGHH! I even tried going to a local Mexican "internet cafe" to downgrade my firmware and try that, but the Internet speed was too slow for a successful downgrade. I spent most of my week in paradise being pissed off at DJI.
Unfortunately, our hotel, the Mia Reef, was on the very edge of a No Fly Zone, because of a tiny runway nearby that is sometimes by used some private pilots there. During the 8 days we were there, we saw 1 small plane fly over. This is a TINY island - No cars (except a few small local taxis) Golf carts are the primary transportation. There is no "airport", no tower, no one to call, and needless to say I was extremely frustrated with the fact that I couldn't even launch my mavic at our end of the island (after spending weeks preparing: extra batteries, new nd filters, extra SD cards, etc.) I could fly (and did) at the other end of the island, which is also beautiful, luckily.
Forgive the sometimes choppy footage - I'm not very good with any of the special filming features of DJI GO 4 yet, so all of this footage was taken while flying manually - most of it from a moving kayak.
I used the PGY-TECH CPL ND filter for all of the drone footage. The mavic handled the high winds effortlessly - even by the steep cliffs and over the ocean.
Hope you enjoy - feel free to comment. I HIGHLY recommend Isla Mujeres as a vacation destination. We will be back next year and I will be better prepared to handle the NFZ next time.
