offshore cpa: new vantage point

And now, almost a month after the event, I am pleased to post (a fraction of) the photos from my very first helicopter ride. The delay was due to my parents' same ride this past week - I didn't want to spoil their fun by showing them all my pictures. But I think you'll see that the photos don't spoil anything. The view of the island from the sky is, in a word, breathtaking.

It was MO's birthday, and she decided that, as a new resident on the island, she'd book a helicopter tour for herself and her friends. We signed up without hesitation because 1) I had a coupon for a free tour after my team won the Amazing Race on our firm's Beach Day and 2) it's a helicopter tour. (I love flying. Love. It's in my blood.)

photo credit: our pilot, via MO's camera

As you can see above, our tour was through Cayman Island Helicopters, and as you will see below, I highly highly recommend this tour to everyone.

The tour started out at the airport, where the birthday girl got a front row seat. The pilot made sure RL and I had window seats, as we were manning the cameras.

I really liked wearing the co-pilot (I know I'm delusional using that word) headphones so we could chat amongst ourselves during the flight.

Silly planes. You need a runway. We just lifted right off the ground. I'm in love.

Soon we were on our way and headed for the North Sound.

Stingray City was next. What typically seems like a sizable area where boats and stingrays congregate looked like a tiny white spot in the water from above.

This guy normally jumps out of helicopters, but we strapped him in.

The white caps represent the location of the reef - the water is shallow in the light blue section and very deep in the dark blue section.

We hung a quick left and headed to Barkers, where MO waved hello to her fellow kiters.

We got a terrific view of beautiful Barkers, with its rugged beaches, winding trails, and most importantly, windy conditions:

Here we were hovering over Barkers, looking to the northeast towards the reef:

Next we looped around to the south and captured the views of gorgeous-from-any-view Seven Mile Beach.

I cannot get over the blue colors.
It makes me want to wear "Caribbean Sea Blue" in every shade every day.

It wouldn't be a proper helicopter ride without some tricks. Here our pilot was dipping us straight down towards the water. I was absolutely in my glory for that moment.

Again! The blues! Sorry purple; you might not get to be my favorite color any more.

It's funny how everything looks tiny from the sky. Everything, that is, except for this guy's yacht:

And the cruise ships in port, of course.

That almost concludes it. My new life goal is to fly helicopters. Full-time. Sheer exhilaration.

Later that night we all met up again for dinner at Morgan's Harbour - a great restaurant for delicious fresh fish with seating right on the water (although it was too chilly that night).