クチコミ

We were on the Eco-Star helicopter and chose the afternoon Big Island Spectacular tour. It was money definitely well spent! I had traveled all over the Big Island and it was amazing to see parts of the island you would never be able to see without being in the air. Our pilot, Toshi, made the tour even better with his knowledge and humor. If you decide to go on this AWESOME tour, ask to see if Toshi will be your pilot. For those who are mildly scared of heights, if my friend who has that fear LOVED the ride could do it, you can too! The location of the helipad is on the Kona side of the Big Island near the Hilton Waikoloa and is approximately 20-30 minutes from the Kona International Airport. So either before or after the ride, you can go shopping and get some food at the Queen's Marketplace on the Waikoloa properties. When you arrive for your tour, they will check you in and weight you. Yes ladies, you will have to be weighed. They need to balance the helicopter and you will be assigned to a specific seat. On our helicopter, all the seats are good, but I think for picture taking, being in any of the side seats, front or back, was better. I got to sit next to the pilot and it was hard to take as nice pictures compared to those sitting on the sides. In any case, after you get weighed, you wait for others who will be joining you. Once everyone arrives, you go through a safety briefing. After that, you walk out in a single file line and head to the helicopters. Our tour took us in between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa and that was awesome! You get to see Saddle Road in another light. The size of these volcanoes is just so magnificent. After you pass that area, you are brought to the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. The park has closed park of Crater Rim Road because of the volcanic activity from Halemaʻumaʻu crater. So for those of you who didn't get a chance to see that cool crater, this is the way to go. There was active lava flowing when we were there, so we got to see that. That was awesome. We could see the vents from the lava traveling underground. You could also see the old lava flows that crossed paved roads. There was one lone house that was surrounded by lava flow. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of it. After breathtaking views of the volcanoes, we headed to the Hilo area. We took a pit stop there so people could stretch their legs and use the restrooms. Depending on the other passengers, you may not have to make this pit stop. From Hilo, the tour continues along the Hamakua coastline. You'll get to see some of waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island i.e. Akaka Falls, Rainbow Falls. The more you look, the more waterfalls you will see. You also get to see some of the beautiful homes and farmlands. As you head further north, you head towards Kohala. The valleys here are just AMAZING. You'll get to see the mouth of Waipi'o valley. They can not fly into the Waip'o valley since the land is considered scared by the native Hawaiians. Plus there are people who live in Waipi'o valley so you don't want to be disrespectful to them either. There are other valleys to the north of Waipi'o valley that the helicopter tours are allowed to enter. Toshi took us into Waimanu valley and WOW. There were SO many waterfalls along the valley walls. It was just breathtaking. Words aren't enough to describe what we saw. The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it was. There's a keyhole in the valley that's in the back and the weather permitted us to go into the very deep aspect of the valley. That part of the valley actually connected to the back part of Waipi'o valley. That was super cool to see. After those breathtaking waterfalls, you travel to the northern most aspect of the island and fly over Parker Ranch. It's quite a sight to see the transformation of the lush farm land to the dry area south of Waimea. After you leave the Waimea area, you're brought back to Waikoloa. If you don't have a lot of time to explore the Big Island, which I think you need like at least 4 days to do, then go for this tour. It was just AWESOME! It's totally worth the money!!!! Start saving!

Blue Hawiian Helecopters specializes in first time flyers. The staff is very savvy gauging the comfortability of their passengers and adapting their style to suit the anxiety level. That said, they are extremely friendly and anenable, as ia the island way. Out pilot, Greg had a expert knowledge of history and terrain, making a point to alert us to the whales that we were fortunate enough to encounter during our 45 minute flight. We had a perfect flight on a perfect day and felt like we had made some news friends as well.

This was the only way that we got to see a lava flow. We had to reschedule our first flight because the VOG was too bad to fly. It is probably best to schedule this early in your trip in case you encounter the same thing. Also: it is best to go first thing in the morning and if you are coming from the mainland you won't mind getting up early. We took the big eco star tour. We saw the island, Valley's whales in the ocean and lava flows. I think that we had an especially good day. It was a lot of money, but worth it. We decided that if we bring our 4 kids back we would save money taking them by leaving from Hilo airport.

This is not a cheap experience. However, you will not see some of these things any other way. The Kohala trip to view the waterfalls is fantastic - and relatively short at only 45 mins (I did this in Feb 2012 because the weather prevented us from doing the BIG Island Spectacular). However, on 3 of my previous visits I did the Big Island Spectacular (all 3 times). Every experience is different and you just cannot get sick of seeing the waterfalls, volcanos and terrain around Hawaii. And, Blue Hawaiian is a top-notch operation. I've also flown with them on Maui.

This was a remarkable experience. In fact, I think I need to just sit for a while and consider what just happened. The volcano was amazing. We actually saw lava flowing like a river. Spectacular. After leaving the volcano we saw waterfalls and more amazingness in the Waimanu Valley. Our pilot, Toshi, knew everything about everything and really added an element of humor that made this a fabulous trip. I've seen it all. Time to leave the island.

This was the third time we've done a helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters and will definitely book with them again. The day that we went up there wasn't much to see as far as the lava floes go but it was still a fun trip. The pilots are all very professional and knowledgeable. We had a great time.

Our guide, Dave, was FANTASTIC. Highly recommend the trip - flew from Kona to Hilo and back, took us over 3 hours but it was worth every moment. Amazing views of the live volcanoes along the southern Hilo tip then up along the coast lines to view the beautiful waterfalls.

We flew the full 2 hour tour around the big island in the Ecostar helicopter. The trip starts over the mid part of the desert/lava fields and goes to the active volcanoes, showing active lava if present. Then you take a break in Hilo, and then relaunch up the coast into the steep valleys/waterfalls. The Ecostar is worth the extra money for more room, more view, and quiet ride. The staff are top notch. There's nothing else like it for an excursion on vacation.

Actually I used Hilo location to see lava flows. This is cool attraction but if you plan to enjoy the views it's pretty high and you do not spend to much time at the nicest spots. I'm sure hiking would be much rewarding. Still cool if you wonna spend 200$. We also went to see waterfalls but again to high. Not like they show it in pictures.

My family is visiting me here on the Big Island for a week, and we decided to do a helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian. It was great! Very professional staff, easy-going yet informative pilot (thanks, Ethan!), beautiful cliffs and waterfalls and valleys. Excellent view for all onboard (5 of us), thanks to my Dad splurging on the extra-roomy Eco-Star model helicopter. (My Dad is 6', so the extra space helped!). Be prepared when you weigh in to already have your "dark shirt" on (to avoid distracting reflections), and your purse/backpack OFF, as they don't let you take anything onboard the craft except for: a camera without its case, a bottle of water, and sunglasses. We opted for the Kohala coast tour, as the volcano is not pouring tons of lava right now, and got to see some amazing cliffs, huge waterfalls, and lush greenery. Territory that you can *not* see from a car ride! And we learned a lot from Ethan's interesting narrative... Like, fish and shrimp that live in the fresh-water pools in the waterfalls, and have adapted to climb UP (yes, up) the waterfalls. After the flight, the ground crew even asked us if we wanted a picture of all of us in front of the helicopter. Yes! Thanks to everyone at Blue Hawaiian for a great experience.

We went on a helicopter ride from kona to hilo, around the volcanos and back up the coast of big island and it was truly breath taking. Our pilot was very friendly, informative, professional and I would highly recommend this trip.

Four of us from MI were visiting the Big Island and spent time/money (well worth it) for a 2 hour tour of the saddle, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Kileaua (active volcano), Hilo, and valleys: Waipio and Waimanu , an uninhabited valley. The bird's eye view is amazing; the DVD is worth the price. Our pilot, Scott, was fun, informative and you can tell, he enjoys his "job" which made our flight the BEST.

Picked up at hotel and transferred to heliport Fantastic two hour trip with a great narration by pilot saw lava and close ups of volcanoes Expensive but worth every penny

We weren't going to be on the Hilo side, but wanted a Helicopter tour & to see the volcano, so we went for the Big Island Spectacular. It's pricey (and I'm a big guy, so had to pay the 50% weight penalty), but does give you both the volcano and the coast / waterfalls. Both are really fun to see and worth a helicopter tour, but the ~30m of flying time before getting to the volcano, and then between volcano and the coast, are pretty dull (even with an enthusiastic pilot giving you info on how the island formed, how it's still moving, etc. etc.) I think if I would have taken either the "Kohala Coast" from Waikoloa or the "Circle of Fire + Waterfalls" from Hilo, I would have rated this a 5 star. Eco-Star helicopter is great - we saw in back-seat and still had really good views 90% of the time.

We were originally supposed to go on Monday, March 19 on the Island Spectacular but the weather was horrible and the flight was cancelled. This was disappointing for my mother-in-law because she was leaving the next day. She was fully refunded for her tour and given a DVD of the Island Spectacular. We were rebooked for the following Saturday and it could not have been a more perfect day. Our pilot was Justin, and he is very knowledgeable about the Big Island. Justin encouraged questions and offered up all sorts of information. When we did ask questions, Justin always had the answer. He was very careful to make sure everyone on the helicopter got a good view of all the sights by circling back and around. We did have the opportunity to see the lava glurping away at the volcano, and he showed us where the most recent flows were. Justin also spoke individually to all of the passengers, four in our family and another couple, to make sure everyone was included in the conversations. He was an excellent tour guide/host. This was truly a once in a lifetime, wonderful experience and I highly recommend it.