pepperandchips
[melinda]
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2014
June 3, 2017
The answer to how on earth I took so many pictures on this day, is, of course, that we took a helicopter tour of Kauai. I promise there are LOTS of photos below but a few paragraphs of background first.
A helicopter tour is never something I thought I'd be interested in, but one of the major things I'd wanted to see was the Na Pali Coast, and I'd been doing my research. Your options for seeing Na Pali are limited due to the wild and rugged terrain. You can do the hike that we did, and can go even further with a camping permit; you can explore by sea either on a boat cruise or via sea kayak (no thank you); or you can see Na Pali and the entire island by air on a helicopter tour. The idea of a helicopter tour scared the ever loving patootle out of me, so I started looking at boat excursions. The better rated ones all seemed to be leaving from an area on the diametric opposite side of the island from where we were staying, and with my motion sickness, I don't do all that well on boats anyway. I circled back to the idea of a helicopter adventure. I did more research. I hemmed and hawed. I considered our options and finally came around to the idea that the helicopter tour would be the biggest bang for our buck and the only way for us to see all of Kauai on such a regrettably short visit. I have motion sickness scopolomine patches, I think to myself... surely I will be fine?
Then I got even deeper into the research - which size helicopter is best? Should we select a tour with doors on the helicopter or opt for the (way scarier) doors off version? After reading a LOT of reviews, we decided to go with Mauna Loa helicopters and a doors-off tour. I actually booked this only about two weeks prior to us leaving for Hawaii. We went with a 10:00 am flight and had to arrive 45 minutes prior for "check in".
First of all, I want to preface the experience by saying it was fantastic.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. The staff and our pilot were all VERY kind and professional, but this experience scared me SO MUCH! We arrived to check in at the Mauna Loa "office" which is a BUS next to a run-down looking outdoor mall thing. A nice bus (like Magical Express) but nevertheless a BUS, that they could pack up and drive away. We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30."
I fidget, check my camera settings for the 900th time, watch the pilots come over and text (probably saying farewell to their wives and small children for all I know). Each party is summoned to a helicopter. I somehow, miraculously, maintain clean underpants. We're summoned, given emergency airsickness bags, buckled in, and given headsets. If you do the doors-off ride, everything you're holding has to be attached to your body. You have to tie your hair back and you can't have any loose articles. You are advised to wear tightly fitting clothing so that your clothes aren't flapping around slapping you. So here we are looking extra fly (see what I did there?) with our death mobile:
Then here is the future husband complete with gear:
We lifted off and I am totally white-knuckling it. Our pilot tries to lighten the mood and we test out the headsets (which let you talk to each other and the pilot by depressing a button). The pilot is alarmingly young, and we start off on our journey together with me still certain my death is nigh.
Captain of the death trap, seen from my vantage.
We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)
Then we flew over what felt like a thousand more waterfalls. I'm a bit of a waterfall junkie, so I quickly grew excited and almost forgot about my fear
Soon, the verdant mountains gave way to the Waimea Canyon's majestic red layers. We weren't going to be able to get there for a hike on this visit so I was thrilled to fly over.
Some moisture got on my lens at various parts of the journey but I had no ability to really wipe it off and didn't want to cause a smear on the lens for the rest of the flight, so I just sucked it up and shot through the drops...
The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.
It's hard to believe that some of these photos were taken on the same day, let alone within minutes of each other.
After Waimea, I saw the main event coming... Na Pali was on the horizon, as were some clouds...
Were we really hovering over Kauai or had we found Te Fiti?
Each view seemed more breathtaking than the last. THIS was why I was doing the scary thing!!!!
The gorgeous ocean meeting those sheer green cliffs at stretches of untouched sand beaches was just amazing. I am glad Na Pali has remained untouched. Wild and wonderful, for sure.
The clouds gave the cliffs such an ominous look at times.
If you take certain types of boat tours, you can explore these sea caves
The various colors of the ocean are just mesmerizing to me
Here was a view of the part of the island near where we were staying, from the air.
As we circled back toward the airport, we saw many more waterfalls
Next, our pilot pointed out a large, dormant volcano. WE WERE GOING INSIDE THE CRATER! This was so scary. The walls were sheer up beside us. It felt that one small breeze would smash us against the side of the volcano crater!
I didn't die.
But I've never been more excited to see a tiny little heliport in my life!!!
Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.
I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.
The answer to how on earth I took so many pictures on this day, is, of course, that we took a helicopter tour of Kauai. I promise there are LOTS of photos below but a few paragraphs of background first.
A helicopter tour is never something I thought I'd be interested in, but one of the major things I'd wanted to see was the Na Pali Coast, and I'd been doing my research. Your options for seeing Na Pali are limited due to the wild and rugged terrain. You can do the hike that we did, and can go even further with a camping permit; you can explore by sea either on a boat cruise or via sea kayak (no thank you); or you can see Na Pali and the entire island by air on a helicopter tour. The idea of a helicopter tour scared the ever loving patootle out of me, so I started looking at boat excursions. The better rated ones all seemed to be leaving from an area on the diametric opposite side of the island from where we were staying, and with my motion sickness, I don't do all that well on boats anyway. I circled back to the idea of a helicopter adventure. I did more research. I hemmed and hawed. I considered our options and finally came around to the idea that the helicopter tour would be the biggest bang for our buck and the only way for us to see all of Kauai on such a regrettably short visit. I have motion sickness scopolomine patches, I think to myself... surely I will be fine?
Then I got even deeper into the research - which size helicopter is best? Should we select a tour with doors on the helicopter or opt for the (way scarier) doors off version? After reading a LOT of reviews, we decided to go with Mauna Loa helicopters and a doors-off tour. I actually booked this only about two weeks prior to us leaving for Hawaii. We went with a 10:00 am flight and had to arrive 45 minutes prior for "check in".
First of all, I want to preface the experience by saying it was fantastic.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. The staff and our pilot were all VERY kind and professional, but this experience scared me SO MUCH! We arrived to check in at the Mauna Loa "office" which is a BUS next to a run-down looking outdoor mall thing. A nice bus (like Magical Express) but nevertheless a BUS, that they could pack up and drive away. We check in and meanwhile I am thinking "What are you doing? This is how people die...." So they weigh us and have us sign all our papers saying we understand we're probably going to die and what-not, and we sit and wait and eventually everyone who's checked in and is waiting piles into a shuttle and we drive to the airport. Except instead of going into the regular airport, we pull onto a janky little air field with next to no security and all pile out of the bus and go under this... temporary car port type structure with a picnic table and some plastic chairs. Meanwhile I am thinking, "Okay, this is my last day on earth, it's been nice and I almost made it to 30."
I fidget, check my camera settings for the 900th time, watch the pilots come over and text (probably saying farewell to their wives and small children for all I know). Each party is summoned to a helicopter. I somehow, miraculously, maintain clean underpants. We're summoned, given emergency airsickness bags, buckled in, and given headsets. If you do the doors-off ride, everything you're holding has to be attached to your body. You have to tie your hair back and you can't have any loose articles. You are advised to wear tightly fitting clothing so that your clothes aren't flapping around slapping you. So here we are looking extra fly (see what I did there?) with our death mobile:
Then here is the future husband complete with gear:
We lifted off and I am totally white-knuckling it. Our pilot tries to lighten the mood and we test out the headsets (which let you talk to each other and the pilot by depressing a button). The pilot is alarmingly young, and we start off on our journey together with me still certain my death is nigh.
Captain of the death trap, seen from my vantage.
We started out by seeing the waterfalls that were used in Jurassic Park (the original, not sure about World)
Then we flew over what felt like a thousand more waterfalls. I'm a bit of a waterfall junkie, so I quickly grew excited and almost forgot about my fear
Soon, the verdant mountains gave way to the Waimea Canyon's majestic red layers. We weren't going to be able to get there for a hike on this visit so I was thrilled to fly over.
Some moisture got on my lens at various parts of the journey but I had no ability to really wipe it off and didn't want to cause a smear on the lens for the rest of the flight, so I just sucked it up and shot through the drops...
The above photo is perhaps my favorite photo I've ever taken, though this trip (and this day) produced some good ones.There were rainbows everywhere during the flight as we flew through clouds and mist.
It's hard to believe that some of these photos were taken on the same day, let alone within minutes of each other.
After Waimea, I saw the main event coming... Na Pali was on the horizon, as were some clouds...
Were we really hovering over Kauai or had we found Te Fiti?
Each view seemed more breathtaking than the last. THIS was why I was doing the scary thing!!!!
The gorgeous ocean meeting those sheer green cliffs at stretches of untouched sand beaches was just amazing. I am glad Na Pali has remained untouched. Wild and wonderful, for sure.
The clouds gave the cliffs such an ominous look at times.
If you take certain types of boat tours, you can explore these sea caves
The various colors of the ocean are just mesmerizing to me
Here was a view of the part of the island near where we were staying, from the air.
As we circled back toward the airport, we saw many more waterfalls
Next, our pilot pointed out a large, dormant volcano. WE WERE GOING INSIDE THE CRATER! This was so scary. The walls were sheer up beside us. It felt that one small breeze would smash us against the side of the volcano crater!
I didn't die.
But I've never been more excited to see a tiny little heliport in my life!!!
Overall, this tour is my favorite thing we did in Hawaii, and that's saying a LOT. We saw some magnificent sights, ate some great food, and lounged on gorgeous beaches, but the helicopter tour was the single most worthwhile hour we spent. Bang for your buck? This is it.
I highly recommend Mauna Loa. The pilot was fabulous, friendly and a good host, their helicopter fleet allowed us to be certain we'd have two window seats and no other passengers, and we were able to get the doors off experience I was looking for. It was $287.00 per person, so definitely a splurge, but so very worth it.