Return to Diva Resort , Big Sky Shots From the Office and of Course a Plane or Two!

Well hello or perhaps welcome back if you are a return visitor to my Blog!

My weekly posting in the blogosphere contains ramblings of some of the thoughts that have crossed my mind along with some of the images I have captured while flying the mighty Twin Otter seaplane here in the Maldives.

I am glad you have made the time to have look.

All of the images are taken by me and should find one that you would like for your own.... well of course I would be more than happy to figure out how to get a high quality print to you! ; )

I have heard more than a few quotes over the years that have inspired me. Today I would like to share with you one I heard from the movie "V for Vendetta" It occurs when the main character V says to Evey " There are no guarantees in life only opportunity" or at least something to that effect! The point I am trying to make is don't look for a guarantee in order to act upon an opportunity. Clearly not everyone in this universe has the same or equal opportunities in life. I think about how lucky I've been to have stumbled upon or worked hard at to make opportunities in my life. I feel very lucky to this point in my life.

I think that all to often we can overlook the opportunities, beauty, satisfaction, mystery,love and there so much more we can add to the list, that life has to offer. Again, when you really think hard about it not a lot of people on this planet have the kind's of opportunities that have been afforded myself, my family,most of my friends and colleagues.

In most case's I think it is a good thing to take a moment to breath and enjoy the life that you have rather than be envious of the one you don't. There are a great deal of people out there who would gladly change places with most of the people I know.

Now to quote Gord Downey of "The Tragically Hip" (best band of all time!) ,who was quoting some Chinese guy (his words) at a concert in Montreal I believe, " Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get".

I don't have to look to far to realize that I am doing something pretty damn cool. Flying seaplanes has been my dream for as long as I can remember, doing it in my bare feet is a crazy bonus! Now is it perfect, well not always and there are things I would change if I could but I don't know anyone that lives the "perfect" life and really how uninteresting would that be. Much like photography!

All this to say that I feel pretty lucky to have such amazing opportunities. I consider myself a opportunist photographer. Sometimes I have to work pretty hard to create the opportunity other times it as simple as making sure I have the camera with me!

Anyway I digress.....

As it has been with the past month or so my week begins on Saturday. One of this weeks highlights was meeting up with some people from the Diva Maldives Resort located in the South Ari Atoll . Dolores, the PR manager and the resort manager Dominique. Very cool to know my blog is being read and very nice to have had the, word of the blog this week, opportunity to meet them. With that in mind I have posted some images from there as well as some other ones that I have captured during my stay here in the Maldives.

One last shout out if I may ,many thanks to Chris Orwig for stopping by the blog. I have come across Chris through my pursuit of bettering myself as a photographer and I have done several of his courses through Lynda.com . Super cool guy who has inspired me tremendously, "Dream Big!". When you get a chance check his site out Chris Orwig Photography.

A little bit of contemplation as my day, my week , gets started. Another nice sunrise! I have heard people say sunrise photography is so cliche, well to bad for them!

As promised the Diva Maldives Resort. Perhaps you will have seen the pictures from a previous post showing the sand bar that connects to these water bungalows or maybe the one of that shows them on the other side of some very calm water. Here is another angle. I have had the opportunity to stay in one of these and I can tell you the sound of the waves is an amazing way to fall asleep!

I think that photography has inspired me to look at the world in many different ways. Perspective is so much apart of our reality and in many ways our perception is what makes reality. Diva Resort Maldives.


After leaving the Diva a left turn after take off provides me with the opportunity to get an aerial view of the resort. We are flying back to Male' up the Eastern side of the South Ari Atoll . This area also provides the opportunity for Whale Shark watching. I may have actually seen one this the other day but the water was a little rough so I can't say for sure. I spoke to someone just recently who said that a few years ago they saw 18 in one day along this particular stretch!!!!


One last look at the Diva Resort as we make are way back to Male'. The next crew is just taxiing in to pick up some more guests for the trip home.

After spending the night in the Lhaviyani Atoll at the Kanuhura Resort , another lovely resort where we had an amazing dinner, we flew North to the Noonu Atoll to pick up people at Zitahli Resort and Spa (which I have photos form in an earlier post) and then to the Hilton Maldives. After all the pickups were done we climbed to 5500 feet and the morning sky over the Lhaviyani was like canvas waiting to be recorded!


How lucky am I to have an office with a view like this! Captured in the South Male' Atoll.

Same cloud formation from a slightly different angle. The effect that black and white sepia has on this picture I find to be quite captivating.

Time for some planes.

Normally when we shut down for the night we put the plane to bed tied to an overnight buoy that is anchored with a huge piece of concrete. The odd time we will leave it tied to the same floating platform that some of the resorts use to transfer guests, this almost always would look similar to the way we tie to fixed platform that is attached to a larger Jetty. We never leave the airplane tied to a fixed one for the night because of the very good chance the aircraft would be damaged by the rough seas created by a passing storm or storms.

On this night I chose to do something a little more unusually. Because the tide was forecast to be quite low in the morning and this particular resort has a channel that is quite narrow and shallow, not to mention always a big swell that goes through it, I elected to leave it on the floating platform. Now it can get quite rough out here at this particular location even in a 15 knot wind. To avoid damage I "hung it" from the back of the platform. Very similar to leaving it on a buoy, much easier on my baby!

Captain Hamdhon and his crew landing at the Hilton!


Not sure who is at the controls for this one but they are landing on the North Right water back at the float base at the Male' airport.

The other guys! Here is the same water way being used as my colleagues from the other company land back in Male'

I think that most people know who is in the other plane when they see a telephoto lens out the window of an airplane taxiing down the water beside the water way!

Last day of the work week!

We scheduled to be done at 1645 but as it happens from time to time we were tasked with one more trip that would have us coming back close to sunset. We don't fly these seaplanes at night so at times it can be a race with the sun to get home. On this night we had 25 minutes to spare before dark. This last trip did provide me with the opportunity to get this image though!

Seems like a great place to end it. I am traveling home to Canada soon. I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to spend time with my family! I will be back again though, a couple of months from now. None the less I have a great deal of images to publish here and I am really going to try hard to keep this blog updating once week. Though the next post might be 10 days from now.

I hope that you enjoyed this last post and my other ones. I am glad to have had the opportunity to share it with you!

Cheers, Dream Big!

Rob

Sunrise,Sunset and a Little Night Life of Male'

Hello and welcome to the Barefoot Pilot Blogosphere! My weekly posting of the images I have captured while flying around the Maldives.

As I develop this blog I experiment with the design of the site as it relates to font,links and photos etc. I include links to maps , the official web pages of the resorts as well as links for some of the words I use. So if you see a coloured word in the text give it a click and see where it takes it you. Just make sure you come back to my site when your done! ; )

So this week was a great one for the weather. I would like to say that the perhaps we are seeing the the doldrums approaching but that may provoke the Western Monsoon to spank me when I go to work tomorrow!

My week starts on a Saturday and last week though my first trip was not until around 10:00 I was scheduled for the 5:00 Dhoni (this definition has pictures but the one we ride on ,I can assure does not have a sail! If you review a previous post you will see a few pictures of the ones we ride on) Anyway the day started early but with my camera in hand I took advantage of the early wake up call. Or at least I think I did, you be the judge.....

Such an amazing sky to wake up to. Getting up at 3:45 is more than a little bit hard to do for me but my reward was being able to capture this shot. The shutter was open for 30 seconds for this one


Getting a chance to get these images are priceless to me. I feel so lucky to do what I do and the changing scenery that being a pilot as provided me.

I still remember the anticipation I felt after taking a photo with my Minolta SLR using film. Having to wait until it was developed before seeing the result.

I can tell you I sill feel that anxiety wondering if the shot worked, only now I get the results so much faster. Many thanks to the technicians behind the development of digital SLR's and computers!


As I mentioned I had a later departure, actually only the one trip and that was straight to Soneva by Six Senses , Soneva Fushi. Located in the Baa Atoll Northwest of Male.
A beautiful resort with an inspiring environmental message. For more information on that aspect please check out there site.

As for the plane you will notice the custom paint job. Wait till you see the interior!


Cadillac! Not many Twin Otters look like this inside. We have two!


Watching a sunset by myself is a strange experience. I can't ignore the beauty it offers, the changing colours mixing up the sky. At the same time it does cause me to miss the ones I love at home.


Here I have a shot of the Soneva Fushi resort island in the foreground and the next lagoon over is our landing/taking off area.


Now we have left Soneva Fushi behind and in this picture we have Four Seasons Maldives
at Landaa Giraavaru . Another resort in the Baa Atoll Northwest of Male. I love this picture. I normally keep the engine out of the frame but I thought that this angle and the gold contrast was quite appealing.

Now it is time for some pictures around Male and Hulhumale. First up I have a picture of the Presidents Jetty on the Hulhumale side. Located just beside the area where we pick up the Dhoni to go to Male.


At their request I took a picture of Azmeel and his lovely wife just before we boarded the Dhoni. I lost his email address so he may have to wait a few more days to get a copy. Sorry as Azmeel!


On one of the rides back to Male I got on the roof of the Scope 5 Dhoni in order to get some pictures of the sunset. I missed the best part of the sunset but none the less I think I got some good shots. This was is one of my favorites with the subject not only being the sunset but also the fishing Dhoni that us by.


On the the North side of Male there is the Golden Mosque.


Male is a colourful city. Very densely packed with narrow and at times chaotic streets. But there is symmetry in the chaos.


Walking home can be quite an adventure but if you learn to use your peripheral vision effectively then you will do just fine! The cars and motorcycles will drive around you, just don't stop in the middle of the street once you start to move, that will throw the timing off all together!

Those who have and still do walk the streets of Male will know exactly what I am talking about!


So nice to walk when the rain isn't falling!


As I stood on the corner of one of the busier intersections and opened the shutter for 20 seconds and caught this scene.


As I end this post I leave you with this picture I got right by the flag pole you saw in a earlier photo. 30 seconds caught in one image.

Hey I hoped you enjoyed your visit. I am leaving soon but I have so many pictures I do plan to update when I back in Canada. Though no guarantees as priority number one will be time with my wonderful and very supportive family.

If you like any of the images you see here please comment and let me know. Actually even if you don't like them or have some constructive criticism that could help me as a photographer then please make those known as well.

So long.......