Cairns Seaplanes

After booking our seaplane aerial tour of the Great Barrier Reef weeks in advance, my wife and I were met at the Shangri-La Hotel on November 1, 2009 by Cairns Seaplane representative, Taiki.

He was very cordial and thorough in his safety briefing (life jacket procedure) and showed us a laminated map showing the route we would be flying from Cairns harbour via Green Island and some of the outer reefs for a total of 40 minutes. So far, so good.

We jumped in a Zodiac (30 minutes late) and were zipped out for the short 5 minute boat ride to the two anchored vintage Beaver Float Planes. The pilot (never got his name) was on one the aircraft waiting for us. He helped us board, reviewed the emergency exit procedure (two doors front and back), and then started up the engine and taxied for take off. Up to this point, I was pleased. As a rated float plane pilot (C-172), I was pleased to be in a classic Beaver and thrilled to the throaty rumble of the radial engine. However, from here on the quality of the tour went down hill.

The only communication was through some vintage David Clark headsets. This is not so bad; however, ONLY THE PILOT HAD A MICROPHONE! We heard him make occasional comments but were NOT able to consistently hear him. He had his window open and the airblast past his boom mic caused static and noise making his transmissions almost incomprehensible. When I tapped our pilot on the shoulder to tell him we couldn't understand him, he pulled the headset away from his ear and gestured for me to talk to him from the back seat. I shouted that we couldn't understand him; But he couldn't hear me over the drone of the engine.

We were forced to simply sit back and watch the reef scenery pass by without understanding a single thing about what we were seeing. More frustrating; we were not able to ask questions or carry on any kind of two way conversation with our guide/pilot.

The pilot was clearly experienced (as a pilot) and did a good job of flying a figure-8 pattern over each (unknown to us) feature so that both sides of the airplane had good views and photo ops. However, the experience was very disappointing and NOT worth the price of admission.

This is a pity. The classic aircraft, the scenery, and the flying experience are a huge draw. However, the operators are either operating on a shoe-string and can't afford any upgrades, or are clueless, or don't care because they feel they have a captive market. With an upgraded intercom (even a battery operated portable system), they could bring this up to standard service. Add a little romantic music (Chariots of Fire) and they become excellent; add some t-shirts and digital photos and they become outstanding.

As it is, it is Bush League; and that's not a compliment or a pun on the Australian back country.

Doug & Nancy
Bainbridge Island, WA