So there I was up at 6 in the morning and excited as hell because this was going to be my FIRST time to go up in a heli!

Oh hohohohohoho, there was no door on all sides save for the one on my left!!!! What fun! Hughie, gave me some instructions; don't go behind the heli, if the big blades don't get you the back rotor will and it would be a hell to clean up all the blood and guts on the deck; stop and go hand signals; always make sure the pilot sees you.

I clambered into the heli swinging myself up using the hand strap. There I was sitting at the back, bug eyed wearing a head set - the racket from the blades is so loud you needed a radio to talk to the other people in the cockpit who are just centimetres a way. I was totally amazed as we rapidly rose up in the air and I watched down as the Esperanza got smaller and smaller.

It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! My eyes were drinking in everything, to be so high in the air watching the beautiful sunrise, the blue expanse of the Pacific spread out endlessly beneath my feet, spilling over the horizon, the clouds looking like the beginning credits for Paramount films (there's no other way to describe it).

During this time we had been going around slowly in a large circle, looking for fishing vessels. We thought we saw something near an atoll - so we zoomed over there. Unfortunately, it was nothing. By this time, I had the hang of well... just sitting there and alternating my camera from my left hand to my right to take photos.

Before I knew it we were heading back to the ship. There was the Esperanza looming, slowly becoming larger. Suddenly we banked steeply to the left and I thought I was going to fall down like a cigarette being tapped out of a box. I was strapped snuggly and TIGHTLY, and I held on for dear life while pushing myself up towards the opposite direction. I was silently screaming, my mouth moving like a fish gasping out of the water! Before I knew it, Hughie had righted the helicopter and we were back on the deck.

Despite my stomach having fallen into the water and my head having burst prior to landing I was wearing a silly grin when I got out of the heli and went inside the ship.

I would do this again in a heartbeat.