Cancelled Flights

We had planned on taking a seaplane to the Great Barrier Reef this morning. The tour consisted of an aerial view of the reef followed by a landing at a pontoon where we would have gone for an assisted scuba dive for a closer look. The whole thing had been planned to perfection; we would have come back to Airlie by 11:30am, well in time for a boat we were due to board at 1pm.

We arrived at Airlie Beach airport (even smaller than Proserpine, the domestic airport we arrived at on our way from Brisbane) at 8am, where we were told that the flight had been delayed due to the bad weather. It had been pushed forward to 10am and since that would leave no room to return for the boat we had to cancel it altogether.

We were gutted, especially since it had been so meticulously planned. I don't see any way of seeing the Reef now; it's way too far away from the Whitsundays to see by boat, and we won't have much time on our return to Airlie Beach.

We hung out on the beach, grabbing a proper breakfast and drink waiting for our 1pm departure. The rain was gushing down, British style but had fortunately cleared up by lunchtime. It may have even been good enough for a flight to the Reef, not that it mattered any more. Perhaps we'll arrange another flight after our return from the sea, but I doubt it.