This tour was amazing!! It was once in a lifetime. Spend the money!

The opportunity to visit idyllic Vlasoff Cay is wonderful, however the reality of this happening seems incredibly slim.

We booked this trip based on the plan fuelled by many lovely photos of visiting Vlasoff Cay, however we ended up on Turtle Beach. The tour company are thorough from every angle to ensure you understand that if Vlasoff Cay is occupied, then landing on Turtle Beach is the alternative - they make you sign numerous disclaimers agreeing you understand this. However, what they failed to do was advise from their experience, how unlikely it is that you will land there. We emailed quite a few times beforehand asking for the odds and even asked for photos of Turtle Beach so we could make an informed decision it's a lot of money! but didn't receive anything useful back. We even suggested leaving earlier in the morning to ensure we'd be able to land, but were told that we couldn't due to tides - our pilot on the day said the tides wouldn't have stopped us flying early.

On the day we flew it seemed like they already knew we couldn't land there. This meant we flew out for 15mins over the reef and then landed on Turtle beach. The beach is lovely, but exactly like all the others along the coast. The 'champagne' was sparkling Jacobs Creek and the picnic was squashed sandwiches, they could do a much better job of this. It's also worth noting that the pilot stays with you, which isn't explained in the description.

This trip has the promise of being amazing, but for us it didn't get anywhere close to that, and ended up being one VERY expensive helicopter ride and average picnic.

We wouldn't recommend this trip.

It's really worth the money. The entire small island was completely for us only! How great was it! Everyone we met was friendly and very knowledgable. I definitely will recommond this tour to my friends.

I would give a three and a half star review. The Nautilus Helicopter staff were fabulous. The only downside was the flight was quite short and although the trip did go to the reef we all thought it would be further out where the day trippers go. Having said that the snorkelling was enjoyable, the little island we landed on was lovely and we had a delicious lunch. So well worth doing.

Amazing!! We ended up on Turtle beach, had our breakfast there and went snorkeling a bit.

It was super nice and relaxing. The pilot was great and amazing she took us for a tour around the reef, just beautiful.

Fantastic way to see the reef!

Just do it
5 of 5 stars Pending review
Nautilus helicopters excelelnt trip out to the reef, what else can I write, you own little part of the Great Barrier Reef for two and a half hours.
Both ground staff and our pilot Jenna provided excellent no hassle service, from check-in, to both the out-bound and in-bound flights.
The condition of the helicopter look new, fresh out of the box so to speak very clean.
Jenna provided a running comentry concerning the reef on both the outbound and inbound flights and answered any questions.
Being educated in England with we know little or nothing of Australians geography or history.
Food hamper was again excellent, nice to sit back, eat and watch the world go by on your own little atoll.
The helicopters arrival temporary disturbs the resident birds who return minutes latter.
The snorkling was just enough, you have to go to the edge of the sand bar in order to see any local inhabitants.

Well worth it, excellent staff unlike those I encounter at offshore check in's around the world.
Get your money out, just do it you will not regret it.

The weather was the problem, the pilot did all he could to make the most if it but we couldn't have the picnic. I was dissapointed but it couldn't be helped. Wish I had more days there so I could have rescheduled in better weather.

The people at the tour company were very friendly and comfortable to be around. The food was fantastic! We weren't exactly sure what we expected, but this experience far exceeded everything we could have imagined! Highly recommend it to anyone wanting a "private" experience on the Great Barrier Reef. Much better than riding 2 hours each way in a boat and having to spend 4hrs on a pontoon with numerous other vacationers.

For a special occasion, or even just because, this is a sensational trip to do. On time, professional pick up from our hotel, followed by a required safety information session, but it wasn't long til we were in the sky. Landing on Middle Cay just as the tide was receding was fantastic. While we snorkelled, our pilot laid out a picnic rug and champagne brunch - a very generous offering compared to others we have experienced! Having two hours to snorkle, swim, lie in the sun and just enjoy the reef was wonderful. An experience we couldn't recommend more highly!