I enjoy teaching seaplane techniques, but more fun is to explore and teach.  We did this flight with 3 former students and the second airplane had a former student as the instructor...  We will utilized (2) MAULE 235 HP Super Rocket Seaplanes.  They are straight floaters!!!  Meaning there are no wheels (not amphibian).  What makes this challenging is the fuel stops and night stops are more critical; we cannot just go to an airport and tie down.  

          What really complicated this trip was the poor forecast by the weather nerds.  On the first day of the trip, the forecasters didn't have much except a possible small low pressure system in the Yucatan peninsula which may or may not cause some showers and storms on the 4th day.  When I checked the forecast on the first night, they said it may be a tropical storm or even a small hurricane.  Well, the storm ended up not being small, it was the enormous hurricane Michael (I blame my brother, because his name is Mike and he was the first to mention weather associated with it).  We had planned the route for 4 days and 12 states, however on the first night we decided to cut one day off the route due to the possible hurricane forming.  That took over 800 miles off the route, and also subtracted 6 states off the planned route...  Bummer, but it was still fun!

           We flew mostly over water and at lower levels following lakes, rivers, and the coasts of 2 oceans.  It was a blast!  We also stopped at some waterfront restaurants for lunch breaks.  The clients had a blast and so did the instructors.  I look forward to doing it again soon.

Travelled Thru:    Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North & South Carolina

Actual Flight Path - 6 States and a lot of fun!

There isn't a lot of straight lines because we

flew IFR (I Follow Rivers/Lakes/Water)!