Our second day at Airlie Beach and it is an extra special one as we take to the air flying over two famous landmarks and the possibility of sighting whales.

Wasabi

Flying from Whitsunday Airport, just 8-minutes from Airlie Beach, our flying adventure is onboard the Australian designed and built GippsAero GA8 Airvan delightfully named ‘Wasabi’. Unlike commercial passenger planes, Wasabi is designed for short flights with maximum visibility for those onboard. Little legroom, noisy, a low ceiling and certainly no reclining seats on these flights but that just adds to the experience of the real sensation of flying in small aircraft – turbulence and all. As with all aircraft, though, safety is the priority and our pilot Sam took us through the emergency procedures including wearing and operating our life jackets as we were to fly over water.

Turbulence

It should be noted that the location of the airfield in a narrow valley is known to experience strong and gusty winds and that was certainly the case as we took-off and made our first turn. It soon settled, though, as we headed out over water with great views along the coast to Airlie Beach and the islands that make up the Whitsundays.

We were soon flying past Daydream Island and south along the tip of Long Island with the largest of the islands, Whitsunday, to our left. Then passing over Hamilton Island known amongst others riches for the famous Hamilton Island Race Week, which attracts ‘yachties ’ and spectators from all over the world. Next was one of the main sights we were looking forward to on this trip, Hill Inlet, surely amongst the most spectacular views in Australia if not the world. The weather wasn’t quite on our side, though, with some low cloud and rain in the distance but it was expected to clear further off the coast.

Throughout the flight Sam gave us a comprehensive commentary about the European’s first discovery of the Whitsundays and the Ngaro people’s 9,000-year history of the region. The Ngaro, also known as the ‘Canoe people’, travelled between the islands using sturdy canoes made from lengths of Ironbark timber held together by fibrous roots. In addition to the myriad forms of tropical reef fish calling the waters of the Whitsundays home, sharks, manta rays, stingrays, dolphins, migrating humpback whales and Dugongs* can also be sighted. The dugongs take advantage of the sea grasses that grow around the islands and protected marine parks.

Whitehaven Beach

A very popular day trip from Airlie Beach is the 7KM long Whitehaven Beach. Known for its 98% pure silica bead sand, which has the advantage of staying cool even on hot sunny days and so fine it can be used as a polish.

It can get busy at times and especially during peak season when multiple day trips coincide. However, with such a long beach it’s easy to find a patch of your own to just sit and watch the gentle lapping waves and remind yourself what a magnificent place you are experiencing.

Whales!

Our flight continued further out to sea and we were now spotting numerous humpback whales breaching and ‘fin slapping’, several appearing to be mother and newborns. It wasn’t that long ago that the hunting of whales had reduced the humpback population to the low hundreds. Now protected, recent observations show a dramatic increase and it is now believed 30-40,000 humpbacks populate the migration route between the Antarctic and far north Queensland.

Over the Reef

Five minutes later, just as the sun appeared through light cloud, we were flying over the inner reef and dropping to 500ft tracking the most stunning coral formations surrounded by clear turquoise-blue water.

Then came a countdown from Sam with cameras ready as we were about to fly low over our target – the perfectly descriptive Heart Reef. First sighted in the 1980’s the reef has become the emblem of the Whitsundays and is now probably the most photographed coral formation in the world. And finally, there it was.

Not wanting to miss getting the photograph during our fleeting path over the reef I opted to record video and grabbed the best frame. To ensure passengers on both sides of the plane got a good view Sam did a second pass in the opposite direction.

Climbing once again we headed back to the airport spotting further migrating whales along the way. Final approach to the runway presents just as much of a challenge as takeoff and sitting right behind our pilot it was clear just how much counteracting the gusty wind was required to bring the plane safely onto the runway.

A fantastic trip and scenery we will never forget. The highlight of our trip… so far.

For more information and booking options, checkout Ocean Rafting Scenic Flights

*Also known as Sea Cows or Manatees in other countries.