Day 6 - Helicopter Ride!

As promised this was a much more exciting day. 

We got up before dawn so we could be on the road by 7:45 in route to the heliport up at Waikoloa, which is about 26 miles or so north of here.  We needed to be there by 8:30 and needed every minute of the 45 we allowed as the traffic was heavy until we got past Kailua.

This helicopter ride was a combination Christmas/Birthday gift to me from Mom, with the condition that she go with me.  Not a problem.  We used Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, the same outfit we used in Kauai last year, and they do a great job.  We were in a smaller A-Star, rather than the larger Eco-Star, but there were only 4 of us plus the pilot, so with 2 empty seats it was pretty comfortable.  We started out towards Kilauea and flew parallel to the Saddle Road for part of the way.  We have yet to drive the Saddle Road, but plan to when we go to Hilo in 10 days or so.  Mostly, we were flying over lava flows of varying ages.  Since the Saddle Road is between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, there is lava all over the place.  The most recent flow was from Mauna Loa in the 1980s.  It was easy to spot Kilauea because of the plume of smoke and steam coming out of the caldera.  There has been volcanic activity to some degree at Kilauea since 1983, but right now there is no visible lava to speak of in the caldera itself. Kilauea is in Volcano National Park, which is a no-fly zone, so we couldn't fly over the caldera. A distance away is where the current volcanic activity is, and we were able to fly over it.  We could actually see red hot lava in a couple of spots, and we could see burning trees where the lava was engulfing the forest, and smell the wood smoke.  Currently, there this no lava flowing into the ocean, so we did not go that far.  It was pretty exciting. 

This was the Big Island Spectacular 2-hour tour, so we headed north again past Hilo and up the Hamakua Coast.  The weather was changing, so we were heading into clouds by the time we got up there.  We flew out over the ocean for the remainder of the trip and saw several humpback whales breaching and tail slapping.  We flew past Waipi'o Valley, which we had seen a couple of times before from the lookout, but have never been down in it.  We could not fly into the valley because there are still people living there.  They grow taro there.  We were able to fly into the next valley, which was beautiful and accessible only by foot or boat.  The Kohala Sea Cliffs are about 1,200 feet high, so the scenery is spectacular. We saw several high waterfalls, including the highest one in Hawaii (sorry, but I can't remember the name of it).  Because the Kohala Mountains were clouded over, we flew down the coast where we could see the big resorts, including the Mauna Kea, Mauna Lani, Fairmont Orchid, and Waikoloa Marriott and Hilton, before heading back to the heliport.  It was a wonderful adventure and Scott, our pilot did a great job.

We had lunch at Merriman's at Kings Marketplace Shops in Waikoloa.

Just after we left home this morning the warning light indicating low tire  pressure came on again.  When we got to Waikoloa, I noticed that one tire was all but flat, so I called Enterprise and they had us come in to switch out the car.  We got one identical to what we had, but it was somewhat of a hassle, although Enterprise handled it well and I have no complaints.

There is a lot of free entertainment on this island.  Every Friday night there is a free show at the Keauhou Shopping Center, which isn't far from here.  Mostly the shows are put on by the various hula schools in the area.  Last night it was presented by the famed Beamer family's hula school.  The keiki (children, but this school has only girls) start hula at five and continue throughout their school years. But once learned, women dance hula throughout their lives. I heard once that it takes 7 years for someone to become proficient in all of the various moves of the hula. 

The show started with traditional hula, which is accompanied by chants and rhythm instruments only, and often includes an implement such as a feathered gourd, or split bamboo stick.  Then the show moved onto the modern and more familiar hula, which is accompanied by other musical instruments and song.  They also performed some Tahitian dances, which are faster and focus more on the hips.  Hawaiian hula focus more on the hands to tell the story, as demonstrated by one of the dances "Keep your Eyes on the Hands."

We are looking forward to more Friday nights at the shopping center, as well as other free entertainment as it comes up.

After the show, we stopped in at Bianelli's for pizza.  Bianelli's is also at the shopping center and attracted quite a crowd following the show.  We got one of the last tables before they started a seating list.  The pizza was very good -- excellent crust.