Lots of Coconuts Between Us and the Beach

Day 86 - Yesterday, when I had the drone up inspecting bananas, I took it higher. It was a pretty windy day, especially at high altitudes. However, I wanted to go high enough to see the sea.

When looking westward from here, I should be looking north of Seeduwa, Sri Lanka.  If I had gone up high enough, I'd have been able to see the Negombo lagoon and the Indian Ocean beyond. Obviously, I wasn't high enough.  

I lost my EXIF data when I copied this photo to my phone but my flight software indicates I was up around 38 meters (125 ft).  I estimate it's only about 12 kilometers to the sea.  I had no idea the picture would look so forested from the air.  This area is quite densely populated.

 

Drone Recon: Are the Bananas Ready for Cutting?

 

Day 85 - There are always a number of bananas growing at the Minuwangoda house.  As a youngster born at higher latitudes, I thought bananas grew on trees, but they don't.  

Each banana stalk can have a single banana bud. If the flower grows, then that entire stalk will dedicate its existence to one bunch of bananas and then die.  New shoots grow around that finished one and the plant grows more stalks outward in a ring around the original plant. We always cut and move the dead stalks and use them as compost. Sometimes the baby shoots, of a foot or two in height, can be transplanted in a better location.

 

I took out the drone today to do a little investigation on a bunch.  Do you see the one banana that is ready in the photo above?  Another thing about bananas is as soon as just one of the bunch ripens, wild creatures, birds, and bats will come to feast on it.  They're fast. So as soon as a yellow one is spotted, a human better strike quickly!

Jay thought he noticed the yellow one from down.  Yet, it was hard to tell in the sunlight as they were growing about three meters off the ground.  So, I opened the case containing the DJI Mavic Mini.  The photo above was proof that it was time to cut the large stalk.  

On closer inspection, in the image below, it is pretty obvious that something had a snack last night.  Getting this bunch was, in fact, great timing.  If it had been left for another few days, much of the top of the bunch would've been eaten.

By cutting this morning, Jay got these bananas for us to eat later in the week.  They ripen fast once cut.  This is the third bunch that has become ready in the last few days.  Sometimes, weeks can go by when we have to rely on store-purchased bananas.

It's As If I Were a Hawk

Day 35 - A couple of days ago, I charged my drone's batteries and removed the 'Mavic Mini I' from its tiny case. I carried it from New Westminster but didn't take it from the luggage during our recent month in Dubai. It flew. I got around to posting the following two photos on Facebook last night.

 

My drone map was updated and the device recognized our proximity to the Bandaranaike International Airport.  The house is in a circular zone outside of the restricted area. However, I do have a maximum altitude limit.  In all honesty, I have never ever flown my drone at the permissible maximum of 400 ft (or 120 m).  If one gets too high, it's hard to pick out unique things to discover.

Interestingly, I did most of the research on drones in Sri Lanka during our 2019/20 stay.  I even passed my Canadian online drone license test from this very table!  My drone skirts many regulations as it weighs in at a meagre 449 grams.  I purchased the Mavic Mini upon our return that spring.  So, it was, indeed, satisfying taking it up over the house.  There are so many trees and wires around here though!

Today, I went out in the yard again.

Today, I went through more than one battery.  It is so interesting to discover one needs to go up very little to get a completely new perspective of one's environment.  In the image above, my drone, was, at maximum, a mere 24 meters above the ground.  

Yet, I had never seen this area quite like this in my visits spanning 35 years!

Some Clear, Blue Sky for My Drone

Summer is off to a great start.  In fact, the forecast says the end of the week might get too damned hot.  The problem for us is when it's too dry for an extended stretch, the province experiences severe wildfires.

As the weather looked gorgeous, I took out the Mavic Mini early.  I love my little drone, but don't pilot it nearly as often as I should.  Today, I simply crossed the road to fly through a twenty-five-minute battery at Westminster Pier Park.  I could probably take right off from my balcony and do the same, but I'm much too timid to attempt drone stunts.

Towards the Pacific

 

A Very High-Elevation Selfie

Westminster Pier Park Amenities

Our Tower is Taller One w/ the Green Balconies

Pedestrian Access Bridge and Elevator to Pier Park

Looking Up the Fraser River along Front Street

Nice Weather Makes for Nice Flying

It's time to charge up the drone batteries for my first-generation, DJI Mavic Mini.

 

Flying a drone is restricted in crowded Canadian airspace without an advanced operations certificate. There are a number of local smaller airports as well as a large international airport in Richmond, BC  and these affect the places where an ordinary drone is permitted to safely fly. The National Research Council has an online tool to help small operators choose a safe location. These two maps were copied from their site. 

Fortunately, I live in downtown New Westminster and have a lot of open space nearby.  As you can see, I'm most affected by Royal Columbian Hospital, due to BC Air Ambulance's helipad. In Canada, flying within one nautical mile of such a facility is not permitted.

 

COVID-19 Testing for the Trip Home

Today, I asked our Airbnb host about getting our COVID-19 tests before our return flights on April 1st. In order to get on an airplane nowadays, one has to show a negative test within 72 hours of departure. We could present a simple antigen swab to get on a flight but entry to Canada requires a molecular test. 

Alma didn't think much of the clinic we suggested. She didn't believe they were very reliable. She said she got a false positive when tested there once. The hospital she does recommend charges 2600 Mexican pesos (about $US 130) for a rapid PCR analysis. At least the 24 hour waiting period ensures we can test closer to our flights and still have valid results if we cross into Canada by land.

   

I took this drone shot over a week ago but as I didn't use it here in my blog, I thought it was a good representative photo for the weather today. Nights have seemed pretty cool to us this week. My Mavic Mini shot looks back over Centro Mazatlán towards the Pacific Ocean. Olas Atlas Beach lies to the right of the image; whereas the mouth of the port is featured on the other side. On top of the sort-of-pyramid shaped hill is where the famous lighthouse sits.

No Walking Up a Hill for These Pics!

I wondered if we'd be a little sore this morning. Yesterday's hike up to the lighthouse included a lot of steps using many unexercised muscles. Neither of us were bothered but we didn't go far today either. 

It was a degree warmer today as the temperatures creep up at this time of March. The sky looked a lot like yesterday though. No clouds hid the sun. 

I didn't have to climb a big hill to take pictures from a higher elevation. Instead, I unboxed my drone. I stayed right on our terrace and let the Mavic Mini climb about 35 meters.

   

The top picture shows the area towards the South and North Beaches. Next, the middle picture shows the pilot. The last photo is looking over the Centro area towards the beach at Olas Atlas.

Piloting Close to Home

My poor drone had been sitting in its case for a very long time.  I knew that I had to give it a little exercise today.  The first of November seemed to provide me with a great day for a little flying.  I walked up a few blocks to the Tipperary Park, near our City Hall.

My Mavic Mini was in the air for a total of 58 minutes.  However, I had to use all three batteries as a single one lasted only for about 23 minutes.  The controller starts complaining through annoying beeps when low.  All lasted a few minutes less than usual. I'm thinking the lithium batteries were reacting to the outside temperatures of only 10°C.

I removed the micro-SD card and uploaded 30 images to Flickr after lunch.  I've chosen just ten of those for inclusion here.  If you wish to look more closely at any individual image, clicking one here will load it directly from the Flickr website.

These are basically views from the hill in my neighbourhood although we live closer to the Fraser River.  Our apartment building can be seen in the next to last image.   We are the tallest building of the cluster to the right of that picture.  Our windows face the Fraser though.

    

 

Smile for the Birdie

The stars have not aligned for drone piloting lately. One thing or another has prevented me from getting up in the sky. The smoke from the west coast wildfires kept me inside for days. When the weather turns poor, I don't feel like flying either. I just looked at the app which helps me keep the little drone in the air and the last flight occurred on September 3rd. Wow, it's been more than a month!

 

This photo was taken on July 28th. I was waving from the current, west end of Westminster Pier Park. Behind me, several towers will rise, one to a height of 52 storeys. Now, a great portion of the area has been prepped for construction. I wonder how much will be built when we return after the winter.

The Far End is Gone

With the recent smoky days and now the fall storms and wind, I've not flown my drone in weeks.

   

I did find this drone photo and I uploaded it just today. It was taken near the end of July. Now, the far end of Pier Park, the bit with the sand on original piers, is history. It burnt down on the evening of September 13th. The cranes have pretty much dismantled the old part of the park. Barges have been taking away much of the remains this week.

Spectacular Summer's Still Staying

Today, our little section of crown moulding wasn't installed. Andrey was pretty booked up and won't be able to come back until after the long weekend.

We did a bit of uptown shopping.  Later, when Jay went for a little exercise in our building's gym, I walked up 4th Street to our city hall.  I had the drone bag over my shoulder.    I used two batteries and flew for about 45 minutes.

First, I stayed in Tipperary Park, one of my favourite places near the apartment.  In fact, from the air, I took a photo of my most favourite park bench in the whole world.  The area is quite tiny but the trees and gurgling streams block the city and the fact it is sitting in the middle of New Westminster.

I also hovered over the City Hall Community Garden plots.  I will forward copies of a few more pictures for the New Westminster Community Gardening Society to use.

   

THREE DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS FROM 14 METERS UP

East and west on Royal Avenue, and south down Fourth Street.

 

 

The Church is a Good Neighbour

We have pretty good people next door. Our condo buildings sit beside the The Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral in downtown New Westminster, BC. We never hear wild parties and the folks who visit generally seem of good character.

   

A little while before lunch, I took the drone out for a one-battery flight. I just went to the path that connects Carnarvon Street to Church Street and prepared for a mini flight. I had on an orange shirt.  The drone was in the air about 25 minutes just hovering between the trees in a very small area. I am getting pretty good at navigating in small spaces now. I love this drone and consider it one of the best toys I've purchased this year.

 

Flying Over New Westminster's Simcoe Park

This morning I wanted to go droning.  There's a little downtown park near the Fraser River Middle School.  A large sports field takes up a majority but there's also an off-leash dog area and a large area for community garden plots.

Were it not for my search for new locations to fly my drone, I'd not have visited here.  I have lived in downtown New Westminster for coming up on a quarter of a century, but never walked here until this morning.  It's a bit hidden on sloping land tucked off the main streets.

Over Albert Crescent Park for 26 Minutes

This morning we did go uptown, mostly for some bananas.  However, as the car was down to a 60% charge, we knew we could easily spend twenty minutes walking in Queen's Park.  One of the DC chargers can easily get Kimchi, our EV, back up to a comfortable 80% in that amount of time.

That meant plenty of time before lunch.  I really wanted to get the drone out.  I had charged up the three batteries in my pack when we went up Grouse Mountain last Sunday.  The great thing about my Mavic Mini is that it's so small, it's not a problem carrying it around.  I wear a laptop bag over my shoulder from teaching days.  We didn't actually even take the drone out on the mountain.

So, I just got back from walking past the end of our street to Albert Crescent again.  It was easy to burn up a 30-minute battery just flying around the turn from Columbia Street to the Pattullo Bridge.