On June 3, 1920, several thousand Hong Kong residents made their way to Repulse Bay, where five rickety seaplanes of the fledgling Macau Aerial Transport Company (MAT) had assembled to offer five days of 'plain and safe seaplane flying' to those who could afford it.
A promotional venture to lure passengers to the new airline's route between Hong Kong and Macau, it was reportedly a great success, with more than 100 people willing to don oilskin overalls and leather goggles in the summer heat for a scenic flight around the bay. One of them, a Hong Kong Telegraph reporter, described how 'with Repulse Bay and the hotel at a far distance on our stern, the panorama of the beautiful stretch of land and water to the south of the island was unfolded like a map before the gaze of the passenger'.
Although MAT soon folded, thanks largely to Macanese government red tape, seaplanes and amphibious aircraft were for many years a common sight in Hong Kong, with services operating to mainland river towns and sea ports, and from as far afield as the US. Nowadays there are none, and although thriving fleets exist in the Caribbean, Greece, Canada and Alaska, opportunities for seaplane flights in this part of the world are rare.
However, travellers can experience the thrill of seaplane flying around Thailand's Andaman Coast, where a new company, Destination Air, provides scheduled services and sightseeing flights. Based at Phuket International Airport, the North American outfit has a small office just outside the perimeter fence, beside which is its outdoor passenger lounge, comprising four wooden chairs and a simple white coffee table in a small bamboo grove.
As I sit eyeing a nearby five-seater Cessna 206 seaplane (although sticklers would call it amphibious, because it has retractable wheels) through the wire fence, I feel at least something approaching the excitement of those Hong Kong residents who queued at the Repulse Bay Hotel reception desk almost 90 years ago with their sweat-stained HK$20 notes in hand.
Three other passengers and I are eager to embark on a demonstration flight of Destination Air's regular afternoon scheduled service. The route will take us about 60km southeast to Koh Mook and north to Krabi then we'll loop up around Koh Yao Noi before returning to Phuket. No passengers will be collected or dropped off, but no matter: we will land at each place for a look.
The Cessna 206 has two floats and four wheels - two front and two rear - and we take off from Phuket along the airport's single runway in the shadow of a sun-baked Air Asia Boeing 737. Not long afterwards, following a low-level aerial view of Koh Phi Phi, an automated female voice reassuringly confirms that our wheels are up for a water landing and we skim the ocean for a sea-level look at Koh Mook before turning around and landing just offshore from the Central Krabi Resort.