I had never been in a helicopter before so i was rather nervous about this trip. My hot air ballon experience in Queensland didn't go so well sothis was a biggy for me. Marty the pilot made us feel very secure and before he could say Aloha we were up, up and away. Driving a round Kauai is a beautiful place,however from the air it's simply amazing! We flew over every beach and visited up close the canyons and craters. Words fail me to describe the awesome sites you will see. Definatley worth the experience. Happyily I didn't need the comfort bag! Thanks Marty
My husband's family and I went on the early morning helicopter tour of the big island and that early wake-up time was well worth it. It was the perfect day to view the Big Island from above and we saw so many things we would not have experienced otherwise during our short stay. An active volcano with smoke billowing out and two eyes from the hot magma, lava flowing into the ocean and releasing steam, centuries of old lava dried and leaving it's mark on the island. Valleys and so many beautiful waterfalls! It was truly a spectacular start to our trip! Our pilot Greg was so funny, he answered all of our questions and he made our trip even more memorable! The one regrettable problem from our ride was that malfunction of our on-board video camera that recorded our specific trip with videos of the views we saw as well. We purchased it, but when we came back to retrieve our video an hour later, we were told that our file was corrupt and not able to be copied to the USB. We were given the generic video which is better than nothing, it is just unfortunate that this happened. Overall, highly recommend that you take this helicopter tour! But I would caution you to take your own photos and videos in the event that the on board video does not work.
This was a great tour and the view are beautiful as the ride takes you from Wakiki to the North Shore then across to Pearl Harbor. Lovely sighting of the USS Arizona Memorial and USS Missouri.
Amazing, I intend fully to do this tour on all the hawaiian islands. If you do it at the start of your trip you get a really good idea of what you want to do on the island.
Took the Big Island Spectacular Tour (including the optional waterfall landing) with my wife and 8-year old daughter and it was amazing. Our pilot Jason was friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining. We had a great view as we flew by the volcanos and over the area where the lava is currently meeting the ocean. We had a brief stop in Hilo where we were able to clean up a bit and then headed north to the landing by the waterfall. Would not hesitate to recommend Blue Hawaiian or this tour!
It's hard to spend the money, but Hawaii is generally a once in a lifetime experience...just do it. Pilot was professional and knowledgeable about the area and interacted well with the passengers. We all felt very safe and saw areas not accessible by any other means.
I didn't expecn much of this tour as I'm grequent aircraft passenger, but this experience was completely different and completely amazing! First, the flight went so smooth, we didn't even feel how we took off! Yes, we were aware that heli is equipped with some engine stability system (or smth like that), but still we expected some shaking while taking off. And we even didn't feel it) Second, my bf doesn't like to fly at all, he afraids of take-offs a little (or more than little). But in this case he felt soooo good and calm, that he could enjoy whole the jorney till the very end) Third: in our case we didn't get to see the waterfall in the mountains due to windy weather. But God, we saw soooo many beautiful things, that no fall was absolutely ok! Beautiful beaches, curvy waves, white yachts in a deep turquoise waters, fluffy mountain tops, geometrically correct slopes, some signs of humans civilization that is so considerate and caring to stunning local nature. It was really exciting to see and recognize the places we hiked every day within 2 weeks from an altitude! We both loved it! Though the tour is a bit expensive for us, and if not my bf, I wouldn't attend it, but in the end we're so impressed! And we still are)
My wife and I had a great time seeing the attractions of the island from the air. The pilot, a woman who learned to fly in the army, was exceptionally well informed and polite. Most importantly, she did not try to pull all those stunts that sometimes pilots of choppers can't resist doing. We saw beaches and sand bars and resorts and the ships of the navy. It was a tremendous experience. And, of course, the weather was perfect.
Best way to see Kauai. The one hour tour showed us an aerial view of the whole island. The Napali Coast and waterfalls were awesome. We go super close to one of the falls. There were only two slightly negative things which was out of there control. The a large portion of the helicopter is glass which gives awesome views but also makes it really hot. Even my sandals were getting hot towards the end. Don't wear a bright colored shirt or you will have to put a black t-shirt on over yours (the color will reflect in photos) making you even more warm. Secondly if you get motion sickness at all take Dramamine. I thought I was going to be sick at the end other than that it was amazing.
We booked this tour through NCL for myself, my wife and my eldest daughter. The first part of the tour was the Earth part. We visited a number of locations with our Tour Guide Domi. He was an excellent guide, providing us a lot of details about the island, Hawaiians and the Aloha spirit. We ate lunch at the beach and sang songs and learned a hula. The second part of the tour was a helicopter tour of waimea canyon with Blue Hawaiian tours. We had Greg as our pilot and we had a great time seeing the canyon and the coastline. I highly recommend this tour.
This is expensive, but then flying helicopters is expensive. We took the Island Spectacular for 2 hours in the air. The flight over land to get to the edge of the island was necessary given where we started. It did not add anything to the trip. The flight up the coast was enjoyable and really the only way you could see this was by flying. The flight to see the volcano and the lava fields was excellent. It was on the trip back where Greg G - a most excellent pilot - flew us into one of the valleys along the coast that made for a spectacular trip. We saw waterfalls and land formations we would never have seen otherwise and I still have vivid memories of fly close to the falls. Expensive, like going to see a current great Broadway play, and this time it was well worth the cost of admission.
We had a very good 50 minute flight with Tim our pilot. He made sure that we got good views for pictures and provided good comentary as we flew around. A very professional and comfortable experience.
The high light of our return visit to the Big island was a circle of fire tour by Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. The staff were polite, well informed, punctual and informative. safety is empathized before and during the trip. The helicopters are well maintained, clean and the windows spotless for viewing and picture taking. If your wearing light colored clothing they will give you a dark shirt to wear on the flight to eliminate reflections on the windows from ruining your view an photos. Our pilot Scott was very informative about the sights we were seeing and went the extra yard to make it a great trip. A must as this is the best way to see the lava entering the ocean.
While conducting research for the excursions we wanted to do while visiting the Big Island we knew we wanted to take a helicopter tour. Since it would take time for our body's to acclimate to the new time zone we decided to book the morning tour the day after we arrived. We stated in Waikola and the heliport was minutes away and arrived in time to see our first sunrise of the week. We booked the eco-star, one hour and forty five minute tour that included a complete circle of the island. We had a camera and video camera; however, after the experience we decided to spend the extra $40 for the video of the tour with music. Our pilot, Carl, was awesome and very informational. This was a great way to see this beautiful island and it's numerous microclimates from a bird's eye view!!
Beautiful island views throughout the flight. Our "tour guide" (pilot - Marty) was very informative and made sure everybody got to see all of the sites and answered all of our questions. All of the staff was very helpful and friendly from the reservation call all the way through the entire process and check-out after the flight.