Until we discovered that our afternoon would consist of watching an Airbus AS350 ‘A-star’ helicopter land on a 143ft yacht named Leight Star.

At first, we questioned whether the heli would land safely atop of the moving vessel, until we learned that Ara was the pilot. Ara is highly experienced, and has been flying for an extensive amount of years so we have all the confidence in the world with him, especially after he flew us to Malibu when we covered the Extraordinary Date feature in Nobleman Magazine.

And not only did we get to watch the helicopter land safely on the yacht, but we then found ourselves boarding the yacht and spending the night on the ocean to put together a little video.

The yacht was luxurious, modern and sophisticated to say the least, where no detail was left untouched. With 143 feet of contemporary external lines, four levels of spacious deck space, modern luxury interior and professional crew, the vessel is surely something special.

After soaking in the sun and lounging around the top deck with a glass of Rosé in one hand, and our cameras in the other, the A-star took off to give a 15 minute tour of the island, before the sun descended past the horizon. It was the perfect way to end the day.

It can be hard to visualize Catalina Island’s sheer beauty in its entirety until you see it from up above.

This was definitely one of the more unique experiences we’ve been a part of, and it wouldn’t have been possible without IEX Helicopters.