We pulled up to the Paradise Helicopters office at the commuter terminal of the Kona Airport at 7am sharp. When I woke up I was not as tired as usual, I popped out of my sleep thinking of nothing except for the fact that today was the day that I was going to go on a helicopter flight over the erupting volcano. Being from Maui I have not had a tremendous amount of opportunities to do these flights so every time I get to go it's very exciting.
Related Activites
|
Hawaii Experience
|
|
Travel Blog - Home
|
|
Tom Barefoot's Travel Blog - Home
|
|
Related Information |
|
All Hawaii Helicopter Tours Blog Articles |
Hawaii > Helicopter Tours on Hawaii > Paradise Helicopters > Hawaii Experience - Paradise Helicopters Hawaii
Travel Blog #140 - Volcanos & Waterfalls With Paradise Helicopters
The experience that my Dad and I had on our Paradise Helicopters flight this morning is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life. We did the complete island trip that departed from the Kona Airport. It was a clear day so we got to see the summits of both the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the way over to the volcano.
After watching a safety video in the check in office we made our way out onto the tarmac where our pilot stood waiting for us. As we boarded the helicopter he greeted us and introduced himself as Koji. Once we got on the helicopter I observed that the seating configuration was a bit different from most helicopters I've ridden on in the past. The front seats faced forward and then the back rows were arranged towards each other like they are in the back of a stretched limo.
As the motors reached full speed Koji gently pulled up on the control stick and the helicopter gently lifted up off the ground. Within minutes we were far away from the airport and there was nothing but rocky, desolate lava fields for as far as the eye could see. After 15 minutes or so we came up over the ridge and we could see the mountains of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the great rift zone.....and far off in the distance we could begin to make out the plume of gasses coming out of the volcano.
As the minutes passed the plume of gasses got larger and larger as we got closer to the volcano. During the whole flight I had my window open enough to be able to stick the tip of my lens out the window for better shots. As we got close to the volcano and began to circle it I could actually feel heat coming into the cab. On our first pass the whole top of the crater was crusted over with a black crust, hiding the molton lava. Then as we made our second pass it became very apparent that a crack was forming in the crust that was allowing the glowing red lava to seep out. Then when we came around for our third and fourth pass there was actually a fountain of glowing lava pouring up out of the crack in the surface of the crater. I was exactly what I was hoping to see!
As we continued passed the volcano towards Hilo town I couldn't help but smile about the experience we had just had at the volcano. As the foliage underneath us transitioned from a lava field to a rainforest Hilo Bay became visible off in the distance. Eventually we passed over Hilo and veered left up the Hamakua Coastline. We began seeing waterfalls and eucalyptus forests all over the place until eventually the topography of the land underneath us began to get extreme as we got to Waipio Valley. Cliffs covered in dense jungle with water falls flowing off of them stretched thousands of feet into the sky. We explored the coastline and then worked our way up into the back of the valleys where we passed by the largest waterfalls on the island. I had an 18mm lens on my DSLR and the waterfall was so tall I could not the whole thing into one shot. As we came up over the back of the valley we found ourselves near the town of Waimea and the resort community of Waikoloa. As we passed over the resorts I admired the stretches of stark white sand that stretched out infront of them. The water was a rich blue color that tapered into a lighter aquamarine towards the shore. It was all absolutly beautiful.
A few minutes later we touched down back at the heliport in Kona. When we landed I looked around the inside of the helicopter and saw that everyone has ear to ear smiles stretched across their faces. Our flight with Paradise Helicopters was great, and to get to see the erupting volcano was a truly unforgettable experience. I can't wait to do it again.
User Comments are a new feature: Be the first to submit a Comment!
