Flying around Paradise

Eco-blue helicopter

Gill, Ela, Ros and myself rose early this morning and we were on the road by 7.15 am to drive to Lihue for our Helicopter tour of Kaua'i. After arriving and being kitted out with a life-jacket and having watched the mandatory safety video, we were shuttled out to Lihue Airport to board our aircraft. Blue Hawaiian Tours use the new Eco-Blue helicopter, which can seat 7 passengers plus the pilot, with very good views for most of the passengers. Unfortunately we are all seated according to weight, so I scored the middle back seat with the worst view. Gill and Ela scored the prized front seats with superb views!

Jurassic Falls

After a very smooth takeoff, I was on my very first helicopter ride. We all had noise-cancelling headsets which made it easier to listen to the pilot's commentary. As we took off, they played the theme music to Hawaii-5-0, most appropriate. Pretty soon we were zooming across the landscape at around 200km/hr and seeing all the varied and interesting landscapes unrolling before us. The pilot (Steve by the way) then steered us to Manawaiopuna Falls, but more famously known as Jurassic Falls, as this is where Steven Spielberg filmed his famous helicopter waterfall descent in his film, Jurassic Park. They built a helipad at the bottom of the falls just for the movie and dismantled it afterwards. Needless to say, the music was the theme from Jurassic Park.

Waimea Canyon

After that we flew to a destination we had visited yesterday by car, Waimea Canyon, better known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We could see much more via helicopter than we could ever see by car. The canyon is 10 miles long, 2 miles wide and 4,300 feet at its deepest point. Today the mist that we had experienced yesterday was gone and everything was crystal clear. I had booked this tour 4 months ago and 12,000 miles away and still managed to jag perfect weather. Even Mount Wai'ale'ale, the tallest mountain on Kaua'i, which is usually shrouded in cloud, was perfectly clear and the pilot took us to the very top, something he can rarely do as the mountain receives over 11 metres of rain per year, or 470 inches! It is literally is the wettest place on Earth!

Na Pali coastline

After the wonders of Waimea Canyon it was off to the north-west of the island to the Na Pali coast, inaccessible except by boat, helicopter or hiking. National Geographic declared it the most spectacular coastline it has ever photographed and I would have to agree with them. Apparently an ancient civilisation, dating back to the 6th century AD, used to live here and you can still see the walls they built to create terraces to grow crops on. Unfortunately, due to my position in the helicopter, I was unable to secure a picture of them, but I did see them, believe me.

Mt Wai'ale'ale crater

Finally we turned inland to Mt Wai'ale'ale, a dormant volcano which created the island of Kaua'i millenia ago during its eruptions. We descended into the crater, again only accessible by helicopter, and it was a verdant green due to the aforementioned 470 inches of average rainfall it receives annually. Even the walls are carpeted in green vegetation, such is the amount of water it receives.

All too soon it was all over and we were heading back to Lihue Airport for a smooth landing and obligatory photos posed in front of the helicopter. A magical experience indeed and I recommend that anyone who comes to Hawaii to visit Kaua'i and take the helicopter tour, it is worth every penny.

Tonight we are off to Kaua'i Beach Resort to see the musical South Pacific, which has been performed for many years here as the original film was filmed here.