Sunday

Our rescheduled helicopter ride was for Sunday afternoon. We woke up, got ready and headed out to get lunch before the flight time. We somehow ended up at Quinn’s again. I was excited to eat the Monte Cristo again and it was just as delicious the second time around.  We didn’t eat a ton of food because we were all scared we’d puke on the helicopter.

Six passengers fit on the A-Star helicopter. Luckily, we were the only four on our flight. Our pilot’s name was Dave…he was great. Dave was retired as a pilot from the Coast Guard. He flew helicopters and jets while serving our country. He said he had been married for about 25 years and had three grown children. He was soft-spoken and very likable.

He did his best to educate us about the Big Island. He told is the facts about how the islands were made…about Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. He knew some cool facts about Saddle Road. For example, the roadway was built to be dangerous. It was never intended for civilian use. During WWII, it was thought the Japanese may take over the islands. So, the road was put in with the turns banked incorrectly to cause vehicles traveling too fast to run off the roadway. The military was hoping to slow down the Japanese if they traveled to the base on Saddle Road. The roadway has since been improved and only some of the old highway still exists.

Dave flew us over the crater, Kiluea Caldera, to see the steam billowing out. The helicopters are only allowed to fly at 8k feet near the crater because of the toxic air from the sulfur. There were a lot of clouds preventing a great view, but Dave did his best to show us as much as he could.

After the crater, he flew us over the lave flow from 1986 and then again in 2003. The darker the lava, the newer it is.

Along the black, hard lava there were steam vents that lead all the way to the ocean where the lava dumped out into the water.

It was interesting to see the new green vegetation growing sporadically throughout the devastation. There were a couple of neighborhoods destroyed by the lava flows, but there was one house the lava missed. The owner has never moved. His name is Jack and he runs a bed and breakfast out of “The Lava House”. Dave said Jack has a dirt bike that he uses to get back and forth. The lava is rough and there are no roads leading into the neighborhood anymore. He also uses a helicopter at times.

I can’t imagine living someplace so dangerous and hard to access. The lava fields are blocked off from the public because the way the lava is currently flowing makes it unsteady. The lava could be flowing in one direction one minute, and then break off in another direction without warning. This can cause the earth to open up underneath you.

Dave flew us over the area we called the “viewing area” that we “hiked” to on Friday night to in hopes of seeing lava. It looked a lot closer to the lava flow from the air than it did standing in the rain on Friday.

We flew out over to edge and we finally saw actual lava! I was so excited. It wasn’t pouring out into the water like I imagined, but it was still bright orange lava. The steam rising out of the ocean was so cool! I was happy.

We were also able to see lava inside one of the open vents…that was cool too.

After we had our fill of lava, Dave flew us over Hilo and up the coast to see some of the beautiful waterfalls. We were able to fly through Waipio Valley…it was incredible. We saw places without access, unless by air. Dave was able to show us some of the most beautiful cliffs, with waterfalls everywhere. It was breathtaking.

The weather did not allow for us to leave out the backside of the cliffs, so we were forced to take in the views of the waterfalls one more time. Dang.

We also flew over Nopolulu Trail…where we drove on Wednesday until the road ended. As pretty as it was from the ground, it had ten times the beauty from the air.

I am also glad we upgraded to the 2-hour tour. I think the 1-hour tour of only the volcanoes/lava flow would be too short…and we would have missed all those waterfalls.