Outdoors With Shawn | Bucket List Helicopter Beach Ride On My Birthday #FlyBAMA #helicopter #vacation #beach @OutdoorsWithShawn | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 7 hours ago.
For 35yrs, I've always wanted to fly in a helicopter. Growing up, there was a small airport near my house that did yearly airshow. They would offer helicopter flights, but I was too small. Ever since then I had a small fascination of them and how they operated.
Fast forward 20yrs from then and my fiancé & I saw helicopter tours at the Pensacola, FL Fair. At the time, I wasn't financially stable to be able to afford a flight. So I had to pass.
Fast forward 15yrs from that, to present day... I saw a post on Facebook that there was a company out at the OWA Resort in Foley, AL now doing helicopter rides and tours. From basic 5min trips to an hour (from $35 to $900).
Now, I'm financially stable enough to afford one.l & figured it was time to scratch off another bucket-list item!
I asked the ladies, "Do you want to go fly in a helicopter on my birthday??!!"
They looked at me like I was crazy until they realized I wasn't joking. They agreed, & I started planning our vacation for that week.
I had originally picked out a simple tour, but I kept wanting to see more & ended up picking out their "Tour5 FloraBama Run." That trip is about 30 mins long (46miles) @ $185/person. I picked at date & time, we signed the waivers & paid online... We weren't backing out now!
The closer the day, hour & minute came, I kept thinking of my somewhat fear of heights. In an enclosed space, I'm ok. But how would I/we do in a small helicopter?!?!?!
The day of the trip:
We started our day bright & early at OWA's Tropic Falls Amusement & Waterpark. We rode a handful of rides until it got hot out, then we ventured into their new beautiful indoor waterpark. I've never been in an indoor waterpark, and this one was quite nice! We had a great afternoon there riding slides, floating in the lazy river, catching a few waves in the wave pool etc...
The time had come... 3:30
It was time for us to head over to the nearby FlyBAMA facility and catch our flight. My nerves were now overcome by excitement. We were really about to fly in a helicopter down the beaches of Alabama & Florida!!
We were politely greated by the staff whom gave us some cold water and went over the safety rules for the trip in the comfort of a large shaded seating area.
Our time was here... We loaded up the Raven R44 helicopter, met the pilot and made sure everything was ready to go.
And off we went!!
The first 50ft of the flight was a cool up, over and around type of move we've all seen helicopters do. But being in one while doing it was pretty darn cool!
We rode over the main artery of lower Alabama (hwy59) and proceeded southwest towards the Gulf Shores beach. Along the way, we saw dolphins digging up crabs for food in the shallows.
Once we got more towards the Gulf of Mexico, a bit of my fear of heights kicked in. We were about 400 to 500ft off the water and doing around 90mph... It didn't seem like we were going THAT fast (perspective), but I can confirm we were when I looked at the instrument panel. It didn't take long for my excitement to overcome my fear.
We flew just off the beach and saw everything from cars, people, fish, dolphins, sharks, manta rays, hammerheads, sea turltes... The list goes on and on.
Just the other side of Perdido Pass, we saw well over 150 sharks swimming not too far off the coast. There was enough there, the pilot looped around so we could see them again.
We went over into Florida & saw a giant manta ray just before we turned back.
Along the way we looked for manatees by the docks of the beautiful homes.
Then we came to Barber Marina where we saw Lady In The Lake. My daughter and I have seen her from the Marina pier years ago... But from 500ft up was definitely a cool experience. We flew over Wolfe Bay and saw more dolphins and then we headed back.
But just before we landed, we got a great view of the Tropic Falls Amusement and Waterpark.
We had safe and sound landing, took a few pictures & then headed off to my birthday dinner.
I was on cloud 9000 getting off the helicopter! I didn't know what to say, but how awesome of a ride that was!!
I don't know if the guys from FlyBAMA will ever see this video or read this but:
THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN ENJOYABLE AND MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.
I can't speak enough on how highly I recommend this experience. Whether it's the 5min or the hour long trip, if you get the chance to do it... DO IT!
______________________________________
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer
License code: TH6HSICA6W4BVK4G
youtube.com/watch?v=Qcxnjq-wzLw&t=0s
• 🧑🚀 Synthwave & Electronic (Royalty F... 🔺
0:00 Intro
1:10 Take Off
7:45 Gulf Shores, AL
10:38 Gulf State Park
11:50 Orange Beach, AL
13:20 Perdido Pass
14:15 Hundreds of sharks
16:03 Perdido Key, FL
19:05 Perdido Bay
22:00 Pirates Cove
23:00 Lady in the Lake
24:40 Wolfe Bay
26:15 Graham Creek Nature Preserve
28:20 Tropoc Falls Amusement & Waterpark
29:00 Landing & Final thoughts
For 35yrs, I've always wanted to fly in a helicopter. Growing up, there was a small airport near my house that did yearly airshow. They would offer helicopter flights, but I was too small. Ever since then I had a small fascination of them and how they operated.
Fast forward 20yrs from then and my fiancé & I saw helicopter tours at the Pensacola, FL Fair. At the time, I wasn't financially stable to be able to afford a flight. So I had to pass.
Fast forward 15yrs from that, to present day... I saw a post on Facebook that there was a company out at the OWA Resort in Foley, AL now doing helicopter rides and tours. From basic 5min trips to an hour (from $35 to $900).
Now, I'm financially stable enough to afford one.l & figured it was time to scratch off another bucket-list item!
I asked the ladies, "Do you want to go fly in a helicopter on my birthday??!!"
They looked at me like I was crazy until they realized I wasn't joking. They agreed, & I started planning our vacation for that week.
I had originally picked out a simple tour, but I kept wanting to see more & ended up picking out their "Tour5 FloraBama Run." That trip is about 30 mins long (46miles) @ $185/person. I picked at date & time, we signed the waivers & paid online... We weren't backing out now!
The closer the day, hour & minute came, I kept thinking of my somewhat fear of heights. In an enclosed space, I'm ok. But how would I/we do in a small helicopter?!?!?!
The day of the trip:
We started our day bright & early at OWA's Tropic Falls Amusement & Waterpark. We rode a handful of rides until it got hot out, then we ventured into their new beautiful indoor waterpark. I've never been in an indoor waterpark, and this one was quite nice! We had a great afternoon there riding slides, floating in the lazy river, catching a few waves in the wave pool etc...
The time had come... 3:30
It was time for us to head over to the nearby FlyBAMA facility and catch our flight. My nerves were now overcome by excitement. We were really about to fly in a helicopter down the beaches of Alabama & Florida!!
We were politely greated by the staff whom gave us some cold water and went over the safety rules for the trip in the comfort of a large shaded seating area.
Our time was here... We loaded up the Raven R44 helicopter, met the pilot and made sure everything was ready to go.
And off we went!!
The first 50ft of the flight was a cool up, over and around type of move we've all seen helicopters do. But being in one while doing it was pretty darn cool!
We rode over the main artery of lower Alabama (hwy59) and proceeded southwest towards the Gulf Shores beach. Along the way, we saw dolphins digging up crabs for food in the shallows.
Once we got more towards the Gulf of Mexico, a bit of my fear of heights kicked in. We were about 400 to 500ft off the water and doing around 90mph... It didn't seem like we were going THAT fast (perspective), but I can confirm we were when I looked at the instrument panel. It didn't take long for my excitement to overcome my fear.
We flew just off the beach and saw everything from cars, people, fish, dolphins, sharks, manta rays, hammerheads, sea turltes... The list goes on and on.
Just the other side of Perdido Pass, we saw well over 150 sharks swimming not too far off the coast. There was enough there, the pilot looped around so we could see them again.
We went over into Florida & saw a giant manta ray just before we turned back.
Along the way we looked for manatees by the docks of the beautiful homes.
Then we came to Barber Marina where we saw Lady In The Lake. My daughter and I have seen her from the Marina pier years ago... But from 500ft up was definitely a cool experience. We flew over Wolfe Bay and saw more dolphins and then we headed back.
But just before we landed, we got a great view of the Tropic Falls Amusement and Waterpark.
We had safe and sound landing, took a few pictures & then headed off to my birthday dinner.
I was on cloud 9000 getting off the helicopter! I didn't know what to say, but how awesome of a ride that was!!
I don't know if the guys from FlyBAMA will ever see this video or read this but:
THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN ENJOYABLE AND MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE.
I can't speak enough on how highly I recommend this experience. Whether it's the 5min or the hour long trip, if you get the chance to do it... DO IT!
______________________________________
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer
License code: TH6HSICA6W4BVK4G
youtube.com/watch?v=Qcxnjq-wzLw&t=0s
• 🧑🚀 Synthwave & Electronic (Royalty F... 🔺
0:00 Intro
1:10 Take Off
7:45 Gulf Shores, AL
10:38 Gulf State Park
11:50 Orange Beach, AL
13:20 Perdido Pass
14:15 Hundreds of sharks
16:03 Perdido Key, FL
19:05 Perdido Bay
22:00 Pirates Cove
23:00 Lady in the Lake
24:40 Wolfe Bay
26:15 Graham Creek Nature Preserve
28:20 Tropoc Falls Amusement & Waterpark
29:00 Landing & Final thoughts
