Hawaii Trip - July 16 to 18
Thursday July 16
So my birthday gift was a helicopter tour of the Big Island.
Best. Present. Ever.
My pick-up driver's name was Hokey. Yes, this is true. It's not his real name, but as a white kid being raised on the Island, it seemed to stick. Nicest guy and a wealth of information. His previous career was outfitting Outback Restaurant kitchens everywhere. Hokey knows restaurants and he knows kitchens. He won an international omelet competition when he was 17 and still in high school. Just had a knack for working with food I guess.
So now, in a semi-retired state, he drives for Paradise Helicopters. He got me to the airport by 6:45AM, in lots of time. After weighing in (233lbs) I chilled on the deck.
Our pilot's name was Chris. Super nice guy. From Washington state. A family from Singapore was along for this three hour trip. He was Nathan, born in northern Australia - Cargoolie. She was Ava, from Netherlands. Their 3 kids made the trip fun, just by being kids. It was their first helicopter ride, and it was fun to see them walk through a real wild jungle for the first time. The youngest girl was a question machine. Five minutes into the trip she said, "When are we going to land?" Other fun questions like, "What's that smoke over there?" and of course the astute observation, "We're really high up. Everything looks small."
Here's one of the pilots explaining the tour route.
We flew over the Royal Kona resort just minutes after take-off.
Mauna Kea was clearly visible as we got into higher altitudes above the Kona coffee belt.
It wasn't long before we could see the steam plume from Mauna Loa.
Then we flew directly over the Mauna Loa craten.
And looked directly into the lava hole. The crater is covered in hardened lava. A few weeks ago the lava lake overflowed into the crater and hardened into the black colour. Now the molten lava has dropped down and you can see the glowing veins of lava.
After leaving the Kilauea craton, we flew over extensive fresh lava flows which are still carrying lava under the surface. It breaks out at random spots. If there are trees on the ground it burns that part of the forest. If it is a barren spot, you can see the sulphur smoke and the glowing bits of molten rock.
This was an exceptionally clear day and we could see the historic town of Hilo from several miles off.
