450 MILES IN 7 DAYS ZERO FEET ABOVE WATER
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- I finally did it, going around south Florida in a boat. Some call it the FLOOP, some call it The Smuggler's Run, I call it pure adventure and fun and all within 2.5 hours drive distance from home. All of it could be done in 2 hours by airplane but what's the point of that when you can take your time and enjoy the best of boating life.
This amazing trip took 7 days, 5 locks to cross Lake Okeechobee and 5 fuel top offs. I hope you enjoy this incredible adventure almost as much as I did.
Special thanks to my best friend Nick for taking time away from everything to come help. I couldn’t had done this without him. Also my friends Bryan and Justin with Five Star Yacht Management for helping with the preparation for this trip and the support along the way. Best team!
EPISODE CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Day 1 Boca Raton to Stuart
03:00 - Day 2 Stuart to Moore Haven
08:19 - Day 3 Moore Haven to Fort Myers
14:50 - Day 4 Fort Myers to Marco Island
19:06 - Day 5 Marco Island to Marathon Key
23:05 - Day 6 Marathon to Miami
26:25 - Day 7 Miami to Boca Raton
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FAQs
- What boat is this? This is a 2014 Prestige 500 Flybridge.
- Do you stay on your boat and sleep on your boat? Yes, when I use the boat for long trips I sleep work and live on the boat. This is a very roomy type of boat that some people use as their house.
- Are you changing the channel to a boating channel? No but it's nice to mix the content up sometimes.
- Do you prefer boating or flying? Flying is my happy place but it's also professional work although I'm not a professional pilot, flying is a serious business. Boating now is fun but it too has its challenges. Being a pilot has made me a better boater with a deep understanding of weather, navigation and logistics.
- What do you use to record your videos? I use 3 GoPro cameras (models 10). I use a Sony FRD-AX53 4K camera with mechanically stabilized optical zoom, my iPhone 13 PRO MAX for many of the video shots you see when the 4K camera is too bulky to carry.
- What software do you use to edit your videos? I use Final Cut Pro on a MacBook and iMac
- Where do you find good royalty free video clips? I use artgrid.io
- Do you do all the editing? Yes, all this work other than some filler video clips and music is my work 100%
- Do you promote products? Never! I keep my videos sponsor free and continue have unlimited and unrestricted fun without a "boss" or watching my words.
- Where are you from originally? I was born and raised in beautiful Greece and came to the US as a College student. Loved the Country decided to stay and build my career here. Best decision ever.
- How do you afford to own a boat like this? Boat ownership can be expensive. It is 3 times more expensive maintaining the boat than the airplane and it loses its value twice as fast compared to the airplane, but it's 100% fun.
Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com)
On this episode you can hear:
- Bones
- Disruptive Storms
- Slow Beginnings
- SunRise
- Ride Baby Ride
- Kasuga Rain
- Hooch
- Indian Summer
- First Sunrise
- Foxtrot
- Power of Freedom
- Open Seas
- No Hay Trabajo
- Tranquility Coast
- Come 2gether
Also follow me on:
Instagram / nikoswings
FACEBOOK / nikoswings
Web www.nikoswings.com
Amazing video. Justin.
Justin!!!!! Thanks for the help and prep for this trip. Five Star Yacht Management rocks!
That really means alot. I can’t wait for the next trip
The vibe on any of Niko's videos, especially this one, is incredibly captivating. His editing is way underrated.
Thank you!
You have a nice airplane and a sweet boat. I have a forklift and a Lincoln welder. We should meet for a beer.
Perfect match
I enjoy the boating vids almost as much as the airplane vids. Hopefully there’ll be more.
Thanks so much for sharing your Life with us! I really enjoy your videos!
Awesome video. Sweet boat. Thanks for sharing the adventure.
Beautiful boat. Love the change up. Great video as always
Looks like a fun way to travel, Niko - though it's hard for me to imagine that it's 10 times more fun than flying! 😎
Best, Martin
Nothing beats flying. Good hearing from you Martin
Man, I enjoyed that as much as the flying vid's. I never would have guessed you could take a boat across the state. Thanks for the adventure Niko
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent video, great adventure. Might want to rename your YT name to something like "Niko's Wings & Fins" or Wings & Water. Whether by air or sea, your videos are top notch. 👍
Restricted Area, surveillance blimp. Nice video.
Correct!!!
Love it Nikko. Right now we are traveling the country in a RV, 4,000 miles and counting. Got about 4,000 miles to go. 3 month trip!
Wow!!! RVing and boating are similar in logistics.
Awesome, thank you for sharing! Enjoyed it all.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic video as always. Enjoying life to its fullest! Thanks for posting!
Thank you for the GREAT tour!!
Great travel time, even on the water. Thank you for this stunning ride along!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video , thank you.
Good to see another great video! Thank you Niko! Safe Travels!
Thanks for sharing! Awesome videos no matter what you are driving!
Beautiful boat. Thankyou for your sharing your successful life. Very motivating
Very nice for a change. Beautiful ...😍
Absolutely always an adventure with every video you make Niko! So happy someone enjoys sharing these epic passions we all dream about!
Amazing adventure, your boat rocks !
Your posts are always GOLD!
Always entertaining. Thanks for sharing NIKO. Miss ZOE, she’s a beauty 🙌🏾
Oh Lord, I’ve been there done it. It’s so much fun when the family is young like yours, it will become the money pit of a lifetime eventually so… In the meantime, enjoy every minute of it.
It is a money pit already
@@NikosWings although this year we’re low on rain and the depth across Lake Okeechobee is questionable, if you ever get the opportunity, definitely do the crossing from Stuart to Fort Myers or vice versa. Probably one of the best trips I had, including getting some lock experience.
That’s what this video is all about. Now sure I understand what you mean
Awesome video Niko! What a very cool trip. Thanks for the adventure!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing nice boat looks like a lovely trip to do Yamas
This was super awesome Niko, and fantastic editing! I had no idea you can navigate right across Florida like that. Definitely a bucket list thing to do. 👍
👍✅ Small planes and big boats, my favorites🏝 Tks Niko👏 And the surveillance blimp.
Woooo Nice boat Niko... thank you for sharing... I don't drink however looks good ... nice trip and thanks for sharing.. !! All The Best !!!
Thanks for watching
Nice to see you on a different Adventure. Cool Trip
Great video!! Enjoyed seeing the sights from the ground. Coastal Blimp Radar doing its job.
Buddy you just make great videos! Thank you
Glad you like them!
Love the video and yes I see the tethered balloon 🎈.
What a video! Living the dream. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.
Glad you enjoyed it!
bare hands on ropes can get old quickly - great vid / tour!
Very true! I had a segment when I spoke about that but had to edit it out, didn’t look or sound good
Thanks for the nautical adventure Nico. As a former 24' boatowner, love your boat but all I see is $$ signs when something goes wrong!
You and me both!
Money comes and goes. Happiness and once in a lifetime trips are hard to come by.
Nice boat! I grew up in Jupiter, nice to see the lighthouse.
Very cool!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Keep up the amazing content!
Thank you! Will do!
Awesome vessel Niko! Cheers from North Bay Ontario Canada.
What a lovely vid. So relaxing. You have a great life Niko. So jealous. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fun easy trip. Had my boat in Sarasota going to and from the Bahamas.
Awesome video! I have always been curious to see the "boat's eye view" of going through locks and now I know :)
Nikooooooo,
Beautiful video. It's so awesome to see this side of you. I have been following since the 1st video. I just got the check out on SR22 and will be flying it around for the owner of it. Love flying the cirrus after flying the C172 and C150 for years.😂
I love that you enjoy flying the SR22. Have a great day
Very nice boat and it looks like the great trip.
Nice to see you back Niko!
Hey, thanks!
Loved it
Niko. Freaking sweet video. I would take that up the Mississippi to Chicago for the summer and stay on that when you fly in.
Regardless though epic trip.
Now that’s a real adventure
Janis and I both got our ASA 101-114 certifications last year and we can now Bare-Boat Charter anywhere in the world. We loving sailing as a slower/relaxing method of traveling!
Still love flying but sailing and flying as you know both compliment each other! We post our sailing videos to our channel as well, November we are sailing in Tahiti/Bora-Bora.
Good job, enjoyed the change of pace!!!
That is awesome!
This guy should have wayyyy more subscribers.
Beautiful trip! Looked like a lot of fun!
It was!
Very nice voyage...thx
Many thanks!
Great video Niko, awesome editing!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video Niko, did not know you owned a boat!, Will the channel be now renamed to "Niko's Props" ??..lol
Ha no we will keep it aviation
That’s Fat Albert, it’s part of the TARS recon system for the Air Force and Coast Guard. Radar stretches out beyond Cuba and can see small boats the size of a row boat.
Yessss
That was so incredibly interesting, and impeccably presented. What a beautiful part of the world. Thank you for sharing. Regards from New Zealand
Glad you enjoyed it
Awesome dude great to see you again Niko,i see you living the dream chief enjoying this beautiful planet, greetings from the imperial city the southern hemisphere
Hey, thanks!
@@NikosWings thanks to you we can see the world from up in the clouds and sea ⛵
That was a great video, and to come along with you on your adventure is really nice. I am based in the U.K. however we spend a lot of time in Naples & St Petes
Sounds great!
Very cool, nice boat.
Thanks 👍
Niko it is air radar. When I was at Riddle in the early 90's they were starting to put them up around the keys to track drug runners. I was told, while at Embry-Riddle, that drug runners used to file flight plans out of Marathon. I was advised they would skim the water, come right down the runway, and then pull up into a climb so they would be picked up on radar and then contact ATC for flight following and to ATC it looked as if the plane had just taken off from Marathon. They started attaching radar, that was down-facing, to the blimps, that were tethered to the ground, and they could track those planes. I am sure there is more surveillance on them now. I believe they used to have a couple in the keys back in the early 90's, but I think only one now, R-2916.
Correct
Good video! I think flying is easier than piloting a boat that big!
Piloting is easier once you build the time and confidence
G'day Niko! Ahoy Mate!! Pleasant change of viewpoint to the flying bridge to the cockpit! Great video Captain!!!
Glad you enjoyed it
Nice Niko! Great change, love your content 🎉 awesome boat 🛥️ I have a 42 foot power cat.
Very cool!
always love the aviation content but just another great adventure gday from Australia
Glad you enjoyed it
Loved the trip Nico, thanks! Love the boat! Greetings from Waterford Ireland where the crystal glass comes from.
Would love to visit. It’s one of my dreams and I want to do it soon. What a beautiful country
@@NikosWings Come and see us sometime!
My parents undertook the same journey in a 28 foot Silverton flying bridge in the early 1970's, except they started and finished in Key West where we lived. Thanks much for helping me see what they saw!
Next time I’ll do it the other way and include Key West as well. Thanks for sharing
Nothing compared to cruising the Greek isles! 😀
The Greek isles are great but unorganized in terms of marinas, you have to be ready to spend time anchored out or must go early enough to bribe the dock master to get a spot, and services are non existent like water etc. fuel is also not widely available and expensive and the season is very short. The Aegean is almost impossible to cross in the windy summer months. Trust me I’ve done it all.
Really enjoy this video. but you need to smile more :)
😀
I will try my best
The Object you saw the morning in Marathon looks like a Coastal Blimp Radar watching for Drug Smugglers.
Yes
Balloon? Restricted Area 2916 (R-2916) SFC-14000 MSL. Really cool you included that. 😉
Exactly, it’s one of the first things I learned when started to fly down here in FL 11 years ago
that is a nice vessel must be fun to captain it and here your tender is about as big as my flatbottom i run around on
no doubt a fun way to spend a week
It was a lot of fun
Different but real good video!
Appreciate it!
Nice yacht
Nice.
Very nice addition to the usual (outstanding) aviation mix! Have you ever disclosed your occupation? Just wondering.
Yes typically in the description. I’m the founder of a payments processing company.
Echoing a comment below. Your visual story-telling (ex ad agency creative director, here) is outstanding!
Thank you, I appreciate that coming from you
Pretty awesome Niko...planes, boats....any Hot Rods?
Love my Porsche
This was so cool Niko, only issue was bringing Bannana's on the boat.... That will bring Hard luck.... Stay safe and as always "Clear Prop"
Haha the bananas thing must not be true in my case
Now,the Great Loop
We parked the airplane and have been sailing the last 6 months from Miami through the Bahamas, and all through the Caribbean on our 55' sailboat "Airspeed".
I want to be like you one day
In Florida they're always talking about the "Lox".....but nobody ever mentions the bagels!
It’s all about the bagels in my book
highest obstacle rounded up +1000 feet. OROCA
Hey Niko if you anchor away from a marina like you said you dont sleep well you might accidentally drif off during the night or have some pirates come on board or just any weird unexpected thing happen.I here you loud and clear on that one I wouldnt feel to good on that either.
Pirates maybe not, but down here in the intracoastal with the shifting flow of water every 6 hours you will swing plus you’ll rely on your generator running constantly. You can do it but I prefer to sleep well at night and I’m glad I did because I got the best sleep every night.
23:20 Fat Albert!
That’s right lol
I'm starting to realize us Greeks just are naturally drawn to planes and boats haha
So true
Weather ballon!
Thanks Niko
its the teather ed weather ballon that they tell you to be careful not to fly into it.
That’s right
Jabadabadooooo
You need to come to Maryland for a really good crab cake.
Oh I’ve been… it’s out of this world
The northern-est I've been in a boat is on a ferry transport into ENEV. You would have enjoyed it. Pro tip, if you're trying to come top up the anti freeze even in the summer it can get pretty crazy.
Good to know!
I have a Grumman AA-5 Traveler and a 40’ Carver Motor Yacht in Charleston SC. I’d love to give you a ride on either or both if you’re ever back in Charleston.
That sounds amazing! I’ll go with both!!! How’s the boating there?
Much like what you went through. You have to follow the channel markings with the bigger boats. Especially in Charleston harbor.
The tethered blimp I would assume is some type of radar. There used to be one near where I live, but the tether broke and dragged along the ground breaking things. They didn't replace it after that.
Correct
I went around the ICW in the early 1970s on a US Army LCU from FT Eustis Virginia to Mobile Alabama
I bet that was amazing
thats not a airplane lol but none the less still a great video keep up the great work brother
Thanks 👍
I take allllll my Tax Advice from Niko. Adding my boat to the next video I do for my channel…aint givin nothing I have to to the Tax Man.
Hehe
More fun than the pane? I don’t know about that but definitely more relaxing. It’s quite likely more expensive to operate hourly with regards to fuel consumption.
It totally is very expensive to maintain and operate, burns 30gph vs 16gph to go 10 times slower. But as you said very relaxing.
Smiles per mile.
We need a Nikos Cruiseariera channel
👍