I always avoid to spend to much money with tourist activities because they consume good amount of the travel budget. But sometimes I treat myself with some unique experiences and leave aside my stingy hand. The seaplane flight over the Great Barrier Reef was definitely worth the money.
The normal price for the one hour flight with a seaplane plus two hours in the whiteheaven beach was 330 AUD, but since I was traveling out of the season I got a promotion for 249 AUD. I flew from Airlie Beach Airport with the company Airwithsunday.
The Flight
The airplane, a censna 208 caravan has a capacity of 10 passengers and I was lucky enough to sit in the front and see also the plane features. My girlfriend was in the best spot, the copilot seat.
After doing the check-in we got our sits and started the flight. Our first sightseeing was Hamilton Island that is the largest inhabited island of the Whitsunday Islands with a population of over 1000 people.
A few minutes after we were crossing the Great Barrier Reef, that is the largest living thing on Earth, and even visible from outer space. The 2,300km-long ecosystem comprises thousands of reefs and hundreds of islands made of over 600 types of hard and soft coral. It’s home to countless species of colourful fish, turtles, dolphins and sharks.
After 45 minutes in the air the exciting moment of landing in water was about to come. White heaven beach was just in front of us and ready to welcome our plane.
Such a unique experience for me because I’m fascinated by planes and boats. The water was not completely still, so it was a turbulent landing, but fun.
The swim
After landing and parking the plane in white heaven beach, the pilot offered us sparkling wine and cheese. I had a long chat with him, a Japanese that got his pilot license in Canada. We spent 2 hours in the beach and had plenty of free time to swim and enjoy the sun.
After that we head back to the Airport in a 15 minutes flight. I totally recommend this trip!