My dad had always wanted a shot in a seaplane, so I decided to get him a couple of vouchers for his birthday. Luckily he invited me along, and I'm so glad I got a chance to do this!
Our first attempt at going at the tail end of 2014 was called off due to weather, so we rescheduled to the middle of March. We managed to totally luck out on the day, and got a lovely sunny day with little cloud and no rain at all. We had booked in for the West Coast Explorer tour (one slightly frustrating thing, you can't buy vouchers for a certain value and leave it to the recipient to choose their tour - you can only get vouchers for a specific tour. Slightly inconvenient, but I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem changing a voucher you got if need be) which covers a good portion of the scenery around the Loch Lomond area.
Based at Cameron House Hotel, there isn't really an office as such that you can mill about in - once you get there you'll see the jetty where the plane takes off and lands, and there will be someone about to meet and greet you. This gives you a chance to have a wander about Cameron House and see how the other half live! In terms of other things to expect, the plane we were one was big enough for 9 passengers; one in the front with the pilot, 3 2-seater seats and 2 seats on their own. While it's pretty cosy, you don't feel overly cramped, and no matter where you sit you get a great view. We were at the 2 seats at the back, and this has the added bonus of essentially giving you 2 windows to look out - the one immediately to your side and the ones behind you. This is handy is you miss something first time!
If you're at all a nervous flyer then I can reassure you that this is one of the smoothest flights I have ever been on: both the take off and landing were phenomenally smooth (so much that it's actually easy not to realise that you've landed!) and we weren't buffeted about at all during the flight. I did feel slightly queasy, but I think that was because I was looking at things through my camera viewfinder a lot, and I don't think that helps! If you have a camera with a big LCD screen or a smartphone I think you'll be fine.
And trust me, you will want to take loads of photos! You get to see some amazing things; from climbers on Ben Lomond, to Oban, Rothsea and the Crinan Canal, you travel a pretty big distance, and get a unique view of some of the best scenery in Scotland (if not the world). My geography is pretty useless, so I wasn't always 100% sure where I was, but it really doesn't matter as everything looks amazing. You get great visibility out the windows (they fog up at the start when everyone first gets in, but it clears really quickly) and you can see both sides - there really isn't a good or bad side to be sitting on. Although the website quotes a 55 minute flight time, we were in the air for closer to an hour and a half. The intercom system that allows the pilot to talk you through where we were wasn't working, and as a result I think they took us out for longer than usual. To be honest, the lack of commentary wasn't a big issue for me (I hadn't expected one to be fair) and it was kind of fun using a map to see where we were, and talk to the other passengers to see who knew what was what. One of the people on our tour lived in Largs, and the pilot even changed the route so we could fly past so he could try and see his house!
If you're a tourist or a local I can't recommend this highly enough. Sure, it isn't cheap, but then some things are definitely worth it, and I think this absolutely justified every penny of its £129 price tag. They are starting to fly out of Skye as well, and I'm now planning a trip to do it. Absolutely fantastic. read more