Our first photography mission was to Marathon, Florida in February 2013.  We had recently purchased new camera equipment and were looking forward to capturing gorgeous sunrise and sunset photos!

As this was our first trip we invited  two friends, Michelle and Steve to come with us. The plan was to shoot pictures  in the morning and evening and then spend the rest of the time touring Marathon.   Additionally, we planned to swim with the dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon.

We took a Cessna 172 from Gainesville to Marathon.  With four adults and fuel, the airplane was close to its maximum weight capacity, so we shipped all of our clothes and equipment to Marathon ahead of time.

We left Gainesville approximately 10 AM on Friday, February 15. It was clear and a little chilly when we departed.

However,  the conditions began to deteriorate approximately an hour into our flight.  Rob ended up flying the RNAV approach to Runway 5 in Naples and we broke out of the clouds just above minimums. We then refueled and filed IFR to Marathon and we were in the clouds the whole way.

It had just finished raining when we landed in Marathon. It was cold, cloudy and windy for the next several days; not exactly ideal conditions to be taking sunrise and sunset photographs. I guess the approach into Marathon was a little dicey and the passengers were glad to be on the ground.

After ensuring the airplane was tied down and covered, we retrieved our rental car and proceeded to rent the wetsuits for the next day’s dolphin encounter.  It was too rainy for sunset photos.

I awoke early the following morning and tried to capture sunrise photos, but it was still too cloudy.

We spent the remainder of the day at the Dolphin Research Center. The clouds finally began breaking up later that evening, but by the time we returned our wetsuits there wasn’t time to find a good location to shoot the sunset.  So, we ate dinner instead and slept soundly.

The clouds broke the following morning and I finally had a chance to shoot a sunrise.

We departed Marathon after breakfast.  It was clear, cold, and very windy, yet gorgeous and perfect for taking pictures from the airplane.

We arrived safely in Naples and after refueling we took off for the final leg back to Gainesville.  It was a very satisfactory first outing. Many lessons were learned and we are looking forward to our next photo shoot.

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