This was my second big adventure flying my DJI Mavic Pro over Maui. I learned a lot from the feedback from my first video flying over Sydney, and did my research on where I could fly in Maui without breaking any laws or regulations. Always check your local state or city rules for UAVs.
I flew the drone all over the South, North and West side of Maui. I did not go to Hana cause it's a no fly zone because it's in a State Park and... it takes forever to get there too!
I tried a battery/distance test where I wondered if I could fly just north from Oneuli Beach, which is the shortest distance to the Molokini Crater to see if I could make it out there and back. I did too much circling over the kayakers looking for whales, that I turned around as I was not sure I'd have enough battery left to get back. It's approximately 2.8 miles to Molokini from that spot. Factoring in the wind... I was too chicken.
I wanted to test some auto flight modes when we rode bikes down from the Haleakalā crater (Spotlight or Follow, etc) but again, I chickened out as my family was with me and I did not feel comfortable riding a bike down a volcano road while also working about the remote control, trees or powerlines.
I Hope you enjoyed the footage. I was really hoping to see some whales off Makena Beach. I could not spot any while looking at the phone video during the flight, but after I went through the footage, I noticed I actually caught a few shots, but they were too far away and not worth showing here as you would probably miss it. If I would have seen that while flying I could have got some amazing over exposures of the whales. Next time Maui!