Before this trip, I had never ridden in a helicopter. It might be the opportunity never arose, or it seemed too expensive, or the right location did spark my desire, or fear I wouldn't like it.
I loved it! I have already told Don if he is out of gift ideas, sign me up for another helicopter ride someplace else. He was not as enamored by it.
When it was our turn we met Cedric, the crew member who put us on a smaller boat to the heliport. We had assigned seating. There was another couple. As they were led to the backseats I knew we had the front row with the pilot. I was in the center. Windows covered most of the helicopter giving us phenomenal views. Though the ride was supposed to last 10 minutes, ours was closer to 15 minutes. I wish I brought my notebook to record information, instead I sat with my eyes wide open, my cell phone snapping away, and my head nodding in agreement with everything Max the pilot said.
My notes say we wore small life vests that did not make me feel all that safe. We wore headphones, which blocked out most of the chopper noise and let us hear the pilot's monologue. The reef is about the size of Germany, or Japan, or half of Texas. The darker color indicates reef that is closer to the surface -- about 1.5 to 20 meters down. The bright blue patches are spaces without reef. We could see the waves breaking on the reefs. We circled a couple of times and could see the snorkelers way down below.
When we got back, we only had 20 minutes to snorkel. We quickly got into our snorkels and flippers and jumped in, only to realize we forgot our life vests and we are not strong swimmers (though it is hard to sink while wearing flippers). Other people saw the sea turtle, which had we been in the water longer, we might have seen. That would have been amazing! I also wanted to swim out to see where they are growing new coral (which our pilot had told us about). Coral is a living thing. I always thought of it as pretty rocks. Marine biologists snip parts of the thriving coral off and grow it in metal boxes. We couldn't see it from above.
The second round of snorkeling wasn't going right. I had more water in my snorkel and my goggles this time. Like with many things in life, sometimes it is best to quit while you are ahead rather than do something dangerous.
Back in the boat they brought out the alcohol since everyone was done diving for the day. They also gave us cheese and crackers. Amazing how much of an appetite you get spending a day outside on the water.
On dry land we showered and returned to the tourist district for dinner, gelato, and a walk on the beach. We ate Vietnamese food for the first time.
We were up at 4 am the next day for our 6 am flight to Brisbane where we will be staying with friends and living like locals.
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