Helicopters on Vacation
I must admit, I’m a little scared of helicopters as a general rule. Yes, I know they are "safe" and they can auto-rotate down if something goes wrong, but they are just a little spinning thing over your head.
We bit the bullet in Hawaii and the whole family took a 1 hour ride. It was fantastic. I could not recommend them more. We used Blue Hawaii Helicopter Tours on Maui and they were terrific. The pilot had been flying for 20 years and was entertaining, knowledgeable and all around great.
We actually had to go twice. The first time, we ran into weather (really rainy) and the company turned us around and rescheduled us (gratis). So we got our feet wet (not literally thank goodness) with a 9 minute free ride. They did not have to do this, because it was not “dangerous”, but they said we would not see enough to make it worth it.
Now a little about the helicopters. They sat 6 folks (including the pilot) and were tight, but not uncomfortably so. Everyone had headphones and could speak to one another. They played music while the pilot was either talking to control or not talking himself. The technology for the pilot was terrific from ground avoidance to radar to GPS. This was not a simple helicopter.
Now, what did we see. We saw cliffs, waterfalls, windmills and then there was the wildlife or more accurately ocean life. We had taken a whale watching boat ride already so we had seen whales with babies, but on the helicopter ride we saw 7 different groups including a mother whale straight down with her tail out of the water nursing a baby. It was amazing. Then we saw a pod of probably 250 spinner dolphins. Finally, the highlight was a 20+ foot manta ray. That was AMAZING.
So even if you are a little scared of helicopters, I highly recommend a reputable high-tech helicopter tour company. You won’t regret it!
