Our Hawaiian helicopter ride
Before arriving in Oahu, I looked into plenty of activities: bike riding, snorkeling, surfing lessons, shark cage diving, the list goes on. There was only one thing, however, that I was sure we’d end up doing since my dad had made it his number 1 request, and that was a helicopter tour.
We booked our trip with Blue Hawaiian, and while I was excited, I was also a little nervous. I’d never been in a helicopter, and somehow it seemed a bit more precarious than your average 767. When our initial trip was canceled due to bad weather, we crossed our fingers that the rescheduled time would work out and woke up bright and painfully early on Saturday morning to try again.
Upon arrival we had to watch a safety video and get kitted out with our sweet life vest fanny packs before making our way to the helicopter. Rodolfo and I didn’t mean to match either each other or our ride, we’re apparently just that cool.
We were a little bummed to find that the four of us were in the backseat. The helicopters hold six passengers plus a pilot, and seat assignments are done by a computer which takes each person’s weight – getting on the scale after 5 days of massive buffet breakfast was eye-opening for some of us – and figures out the best weight distribution for safety reasons. I’m sure the people in the front seat were very nice, but we wished they would go away until we realized that honestly, the view from the back is still incredible.
It was a little hard to take photos through the windows of the helicopter since they had some bad glare, and nothing could do the experience justice, but here’s our best shot (many of these by Rodolfo). The tour took us over Honolulu and Waikiki Beach, past the extinct volcano that is Diamond Head, over Hanauma Bay and up the east coast to see Chinaman’s Hat, Kailua, and the Sacred Falls. This latter is amazing – I don’t think any photo can capture just how high the waterfall is.
We went up to North Shore, saw the coffee plantations and Dole pineapple plantation and came in over Pearl Harbor, which was a little eerie considering just the day before we’d been to Pearl Harbor and knew we were flying in the same direction that the Japanese bombers had.
If you get the chance to do a helicopter tour, I say go for it. We saw so much that we didn’t have time to cover on the ground, and some of the views were just incredible. We had nothing but good things to say about Blue Hawaiian, especially after some of the safety horror stories we’d heard. Have you ever been on a helicopter ride? What did you think?
More in this series:
How we ended up in Oahu
Biking in downtown Honolulu
Pearl Harbor: the somber side of paradise
The cutest residents of the Kahala Hotel
HELICOPTER RIDE?!?!?!
How cool!
SO cool. That’s how cool.
So awesome!
In all your travels, have you done a helicopter ride? Is it possible I’ve done something the Monkeys haven’t?!
We’re in Oahu at the moment, and you have me REALLY regretting not booking a helicopter tour while here. That scenery from above is unreal! My one big concern, though, is that I am SUPER claustrophobic–like to the bring of a panic attack, must carry Xanax on me claustrophobic. I’m fine on planes (mostly), but I’m afraid something as tight a fit as a helicopter might make me go into full-blown attack mode. Did you feel trapped at all while up there?
Hmm, I didn’t feel trapped, but I’m also not claustrophobic at all really. As you can see the windows are pretty much floor to ceiling, so if it’s a visual kind of claustrophobia I think you’d be ok, but if it’s the mental idea of being up in the air with no possibility of opening the door and getting out then it might be scary. It wasn’t any more squished than a compact car though in terms of space. Have fun on the rest of your trip!
So we wound up doing a glider ride–which is EVEN smaller–and I was actually fine, no problems at all. (Then again, I took a Xanax in advance!) It was AMAZING–the only bummer was that the reflections blocked out a lot of scenery in my photos, but oh well, I still walked away with a few decent ones!
P.S. I’ve never at all thought of at as visual vs. mental claustrophobia–that’s a good breakdown. Sadly, I fear I have a little bit of both (but am trying to cope!).
I’m so glad you were able to do it! Although for whatever reason I think a glider sounds much scarier than a helicopter, so you were extra brave.
1) Did they play Enya into your headsets while flying? Haha, mine did!
2) You and R are so freaking hot together!!!
3) The pics are gorgeous. I was pretty nervous during my ride after hearing all the horror stories, but I would do it again. There’s nothing quite like it!
There was definitely some music, but I don’t honestly remember if it was Enya or not…I think we might have had more typical Hawaiian sounds. They did play a recording of the pilot’s voice telling us about what we were seeing during take-off and landing though so that he could concentrate on actually flying.
Beautiful pics! We decided not to go for a heli tour the few times were in Hawaii and always curious to find out what we missed out on. Quite a lot it seems like.
There’s SO much to do in Hawaii that I don’t feel like your experience is in any way incomplete if you don’t make it on the helicopter ride, but it was definitely a pretty neat activity. Put it on the list for next time!
Prettttty!
We did one in Hawaii, and it had NO DOORS. Fun, but a little heart-racing for sure.
Oh dear god, I think no doors might be a little too extreme for me!
Wow, love the photos! I did a helicopter tour on the Big Island over the volcano, but we had a “doors-off” experience! A lot scarier being able to stick your feet out the side!!
You no door people are crazy! I will take my glare-y photos and safe windows, thank you.
What’s in the fields with the rounded corners.
Why did they put you at the door if you were a bit leery of the thing.
I looked on the www. You were behind the driver, right. Was his chair lower so you could see over his/her head. You know like in a stair.
That’s the Dole pineapple plantation.
I didn’t tell them I was nervous. I was only a little nervous beforehand, not pathetically so. And the front row of seats were at the same level, but since the windows went up higher than the heads of the people in front of us we could still see over them and could also see out our side windows.
Oh yeah, the ‘craft tilts forward -nose down- in flight. It’s only straight and level when taking off and landing. Forgot that in my jealousy
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Emily- your pictures are fantabulous– and you look so cute, I always end up looking like a refuge on beach holidays.
Also, I think I would have jumped ship if someone made me get on a scale while in Thailand. I still haven’t braved that train wreck.
Well thanks! They don’t show you how much you weigh, it shows up on a screen that faces them rather than you, but my lovely husband stood there looking behind the counter at the screen so that he could laugh at me. I of course then proceeded to do the same to him. True love, right?
Gorgeous! All those fluorescent greens remind me of Easter Island.
I can’t wait to go to Easter Island – hopefully sooner rather than later.
Wow, Em. Considering you were seated at the back, those are some gorgeous shots you got.
Thanks! Like I said, most were taken by Rodolfo, and I think he did pretty well.
We also took a Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour over in Maui. It was so amazing to see all of the waterfalls that are impossible to find by car or even foot. On the glare thing, they told us to wear dark colored clothing to reduce the glare. Of course, we were also lucky to be placed in the front seats. Our pictures came out pretty well.
Lucky front seaters!
Wow, what a view!
It was very impressive!