Amateur/Home Built/Experimental
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50; Flight Crew Total 1300; Flight Crew Type 900
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
I was flying a personal recreational flight alone in my Experimental aircraft over the [shoreline]. I saw a stunning 'infinite stretch' of miles and miles of continuous [sea animals] on the beach shore from a half mile away. Excited to [view] this amazing never-seen before sight; I descended to about 250 ft over water and then came very close to the shore. A few times during this I turned inward over the beach and then back over water. [Later; I discovered] that I was in violation of the National Seashore altitude requirements; and after checking the fine print of the chart; it turns out that a little dotted line has 2000 ft limits! The bottom line is that I had absolutely no plans beforehand to fly that close to the shore and over the beach edge of this uninhabited area; and did so without being aware of any specific limitations.
The pilot of an experimental aircraft reported unknowingly descending below National Seashore altitude restrictions while observing sea life.