Droning America: Oahu Teaser

On the next episode of Droning America, Angie and crew take a trip out to the paradise of the pacific. Tag along and experience breathtaking beaches, explore beautiful landscapes, and take in some local surfing.
Next stop, Oahu Hawaii! VIDEO TRANSCRIPTS: Angie Avestruz: Aloha, and welcome to Droning America. Today, we're on an island known as the gathering place. It's home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and it's a popular filming location for some of Hollywood's biggest movies. Welcome to Oahu, Hawaii. [00:00:30] First we're heading up to the North Shore where our special guest is taking us to an undisclosed location looking over Waimea Bay. To show us all around Oahu, Hawaii, we're [00:01:00] hanging out with local surfer and videographer, Ryan DeSeixas. Ryan you were born and raised in this beautiful place? Ryan DeSeixas: Yeah, so, I was born and raised on kind of on the mountain [inaudible 00:01:10] behind us is like a neighborhood called Pupukea. So growing up as a kid, this was like pretty much my playground you can see over there. Angie Avestruz: What is the beautiful bay we're standing in front of right now? Ryan DeSeixas: So we're standing at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore and it's kind of like the ultimate playground for locals and tourists to come to visit. Because there's so much to do at this [00:01:30] beach, it's like, as you can tell, Waimea Jump Rock, that's what makes this beach like the most famous is you can choose anywhere from like 10 to 30 feet to where you feel comfortable jumping off of it. And we've got dolphins that swim through this bay. A lot of people snorkeling. Today's a flat day, we don't have surf, but when we do have surf, there's waves on the outside and on the inside there's like a shore break over there where a lot of people ride their boogie boards and stuff and like I said, the ultimate playground over here for both [00:02:00] locals and tourists. Angie Avestruz: I mean, we had to do a kind of a off the beaten path walk up to where we are now. Where are we standing? Tell us about it. Ryan DeSeixas: We're standing on a like a heiau, which is considered a sacred place to Hawaiians. Hawaiians used to come here actually. It's kind of like a church. There'd be like offerings and on over here. Angie Avestruz: So are you going to get in trouble for sharing this spot with us, for us? Ryan DeSeixas: No tourists really even know how to get into this spot. Kind of like how you said like you had to go through a little beaten path to get in here, so. It's definitely like a little tucked away, [00:02:30] hidden gem. Angie Avestruz: Now we're off to one of the top snorkeling destinations in Hawaii and while you're sure to see plenty of fish there, you probably won't see the one fish the cove is named after. Ryan, we've made our way down to shore a little bit. Where are we at now? Ryan DeSeixas: So we're at Shark's Cove right now. Angie Avestruz: Are actual sharks here? Ryan DeSeixas: A lot of people ask that question, but I've droned here for 100s [00:03:00] of hours and I've never seen a shark here. Angie Avestruz: So you might not see sharks here right now, but what other sea life you might see nearer the shore? What have you been able to capture on drone right through here? Ryan DeSeixas: So we get a lot of spotted rays over here and dolphins too. And mostly you just see a lot of tropical fish. Angie Avestruz: So people aren't coming out here to see the sharks, what are all the people hanging out here doing? Ryan DeSeixas: So most of the tourists, as you can see, they'll come and just kind of play in this tide pool for a little and it's probably one of the best spots on the island to go snorkeling and scuba diving as well because [00:03:30] there's so many different species of fish over there. So that's why you'll see a lot of tourists over there diving. To the local people, it's more of a cave diving spot. Angie Avestruz: It's a big tourist destination. What are some other places on the island that tourists go to? Ryan DeSeixas: So some of the other places, obviously like Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Makapuu. Not so many locals hike Diamond Head anymore, but definitely if you've never been here it's a cool spot to check out. You get to see all kind of Waikiki and town area [00:04:00] and also it gives you a nice aerial perspective, but if you own a drone you can just launch at sea level and check it out anyway. Angie Avestruz: Finally, we're heading a little further down the shore line to one of the most famous and most dangerous surf spots in the world. Ryan, you can't visit Oahu without checking out the infamous pipeline. [00:04:30] Now what makes these waves so special for surfers? Ryan DeSeixas: So, this is by far one of the best waves in the world and Pipeline is the last [inaudible 00:04:40]. Today it's really small but when this place is on, it's like world class and it's a really dangerous wave too, really shallow. This spot's actually killed more people than any other surf spot in the whole world and it's so dangerous that it even kills water [inaudible 00:04:55] so it's like [inaudible 00:04:56] so, it's definitely a place that needs to be respected and [00:05:00] it's reserved for like the world's best surfers when it's on and it's big. Angie Avestruz: Is surfing just a way of life? Does everyone do it that lives in Hawaii? Ryan DeSeixas: Surfing is definitely a way of life for anyone who like grows up on North Shore. Most people's parents put them on a board with like floaties and you're learning how to surf at like two to three years old, you know. I guess you could say it's just part of like growing up here, you know. You go to school and you're just like itching to get off and go to surf and I guess it's [00:05:30] partly because you have some of the world's best waves right here on this little seven mile coastline. Angie Avestruz: Ryan, so many beautiful locations all over Oahu to drone. Where's one of your favorite places to drone? Ryan DeSeixas: So Pipe and Backdoor is definitely one of my favorite places to fly drones just because they're like ... It's such an incredible heavy wave and the surfers are world class and it's definitely one of my favorite spots to fly drones just for the action. Angie Avestruz: Well, Ryan, thank you so much for sharing your paradise with us and showing us around. Ryan DeSeixas: Thank you for [00:06:00] inviting me to come on the show and glad I could share like a little piece of my home with everyone watching. Angie Avestruz: Time to wash up from the beach and head back down to the south side of the island near the capital of Honolulu. We're so sad to see our trip here in Oahu, Hawaii come to an end, but we hope you've enjoyed checking out the beautiful sights all around this island as much as we have. You want to see where we're headed next? Make sure to follow us on Twitter @ [00:06:30] droningamerica. For now, mahalo.