Have you ever ridden in a helicopter? Have you ever been scared to death even thinking about the rotor blade chopping your head off, let alone taking off and landing in what appears to be a toy? Well, me too, but when I've been given the chance to view a volcano erupting up close in a helicopter, all of those thoughts fade away and excitement takes over.
Let's back up a little here. In the eastern part of the Big Island, there is an active volcano that has been erupting consistently since 1983. Here's a little info from nps.gov:
Kīlauea Volcano has erupted lava almost continuously from its east rift
zone since 1983. These lava flows have added about 500 acres of new land
to the southern shore of Kīlauea and covered 8.7 miles (14 km) of
highway with lava as deep as 115 feet (35 m). During the day a robust plume of volcanic gas is a constant and dramatic
reminder of the molten rock churning in a lava lake within the crater.
After sunset, Halema'uma'u continues to thrill visitors and park staff
with a vivid glow that illuminates the clouds and plume as it billows
into the night sky.
We had originally planned to have our helicopter ride on Friday, but due to the inclement weather thanks to a tropical depression passing through, we had to reschedule to Saturday. It was pretty rainy in the morning, which was too bad because we really wanted to do some hiking, but the weather cleared up considerably for the afternoon and allowed us to have a spectacular helicopter ride.
Before our ride Will and I drove up Saddle Road from Hilo, to Waimea. There we had lunch at the Big Island Brew Pub before we drove back down to Hilo along the Hamakua Coast. (Google these two things: Saddle Road and Hamakua Coast for some interesting info and beautiful pictures.)
We made it back to the Hilo airport and got ready for our helicopter ride! Now, rest assured that the rotor blade is at least ten feet high and the pilot is a former military pilot and has been doing these tours for years. It was such an adventure that I thought, if I go now, this will be a good way to go. Ha! But really, it was absolutely amazing. When we took off it felt like the game my dad, sister, and I use to play, Flight Simulator. (We were also lucky to have the front seats which was
awesome.) The only time I felt afraid was when one little dip at the beginning occurred, but other than that it just felt like we were floating!
Will got some fantastic pictures of our ride.
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| The helicopter about to get gassed up. |
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| Waiting to get on board |
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| About to take off - a little nervous! |
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| Steam coming from the Pu'u'o'o crater. |
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| Smoke from the burning trees. |
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| Lava flow! |
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| Lava flowing in the forest |
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| A break in the lava flow that just occurred! |
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| The orange there is a lava fountain. Picture doesn't do it much justice, but it was incredible. |
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| The volcano |
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| Steam coming from the lava tube. |
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| Here you can see the lava flowing through the underground lava tube. |
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| Lava tube |
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| Venturing back toward Hilo, a rainbow to end the trip! It's like they ordered it just for us. |
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| Beautiful coastline. |
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| With the helicopter and our pilot, Kovi! |
Would I go on a helicopter ride again? Absolutely! Who wants to come with me?!
After our ride we went back to Full Moon Cafe for a dinner that was just as outstanding as the lunch we had the day before. Then it was time to go back home. I love that the plane rides are so short between the islands; we were home by 10pm!
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