Scenic Flight over Great Barrier Reef

There is nothing quite like seeing the Great Barrier Reef from above. 

The colours of the ocean and coral are incredible with shimmering fairy lights on the water.

I had booked an early morning scenic flight with GSL Aviation from Cairns. It was a great choice to take a small plane over a helicopter because I got to see a lot more. The flight was for 40 minutes and travelled out from Cairns over Green Island, Arlington Reef, Upolu Reef, Double Island and Palm Cove.

It was absolutely stunning.

We got down to 150m over the water at some points and flew around islands so both sides of the plane could get a good view.

There isn’t much choice of flight companies in Cairns, but I wasn’t disappointed by GSL. I’m used to flying in small planes because my brother-in-law has taken me up in his planes quite often in the past. The pilot was a young lady called Charlotte and flew perfectly with smooth take offs and landings.

Again, I’d taken my motion sickness pills and skipped breakfast (last time I flew with my brother-in-law I wasn’t well, but that may have been the hangover). I probably didn’t need to bother, because the plane ride was pretty smooth.

I jumped at the chance when the pilot asked if anyone especially wanted to sit in the front, but it didn’t matter too much, because all the seats were window seats.

The greens and blues and stunning shimmers of sunshine on the water were lovely. I can highly recommend anyone to take a scenic flight if you’re travelling to the Great Barrier Reef (and they didn’t give me any discount to say that either)!