1st island: Rasdhoo
After arriving to Male, the capital of the Maldives, we took a speed boat and in about 1 hour and 45
minutes we arrived to Rasdhoo.
There we were welcomed and introduced to our guest house. Of course the first think I wanted to do
was to film the island with my drone! ;)
After the 1st sunset in the Maldives, the sky looked like this.
1st day: snorkeling trip. Boat organized by our guest house.
2nd day: diving.
Rasdhoo in its beauty: viewed from North-West.
Rasdhoo viewed from the South: Bikini beach.
East from Bikini beach: no bikinis allowed here.
Next to Rasdhoo: Kuramathi island resort.
2nd island: Daravandhoo
We had to take the speed boat to the capital and from there we took a domestic flight to
Dharavandhoo.
The domestic flight took about 30 minutes. An island with an airport... is it allowed to fly a
drone there you may wonder?
I asked and everybody said yes, but in any case not in front or behind the runways.
1st trip: a few kilometers North-East from Dharavandhoo.
Dhonfanu island.
Hanifaruah island.
Kihaadhuffaru: Kihaad resort island.
After the 1st boat trip, back to the guest house it was windy, but I wanted to make a short flight and film this area...
...bad idea: the drone was facing me and I was ready to make it ascend and backwards for a
nice flyaway sequence.
I was focusing on the app and didn't notice that the wind was moving the drone towards the
palm tree.
When I realized it I paniced and instead of making flying backwards (to fight the wind),
I moved the throttle down: so the wind pushed the drone to the tree: it collided and felt in
the sea.
All of this happened just a few meters from the sore, so I jumped in the water and took the
drone out.
I tried to switch off the battery by pressing its button, but it didn't switch off.
I heard some "bzz" sounds and felt some smell of burnt stuff. At that moment I removed the
battery.
Later I actually discovered that removing the battery while it's still switched on it's not
a problem at all.
At that moment begun my nightmare: checking in the drone forums what to do in a salt water
crash...
Before attempting anything again: I had to dry it.
Even better: in the forums everybody recommended to let the drone sit in some rice for a few
days.
Rice absorbs water very well. The sun helps too. I let it dry for 48 hours.
The staffs were very helpful and found a kit to disassemble the drone, so I could dry it
better.
I really appreciated their compassion and they kept my mood positive even after the
disaster.
After a few days in Dharavandhoo a drone pilot showed up for a production and he helped as
well.
He tried to insert his battery into my drone, just to see that one motor seemed toasted.
I could definitively not fly anymore. At least I didn't lose the footage I took!
Back at home, at a hobby shop an expert working there could see that 2 ICs were toasted
(see red circle in the picture). So even if I would change the motor, the electricity
would go there all the time and toast it again...
As it's not really possible to change ICs on the Phantom 3 board, I'd have to replace the
board.
But I'd need to replace also the Phantom identification chip. And maybe the camera would not
work.
That's it, the drone was totaled. I decided to stop flying and to create an awesome
video.
The production of "Maldives" took about 1 month in my spare time in the evenings after work.