Kilauea Volcano Doors-Off Helicopter Tour from Hilo [Not Operating]
Worth the money
I did this helicopter ride with my husband and 12 yr old son. It was fantastic! We got lucky and had a sunny day, and the views of the island were amazing. We saw some lava flows, we saw waterfalls, and the pilot shared lots of information. We saw a house that had recently been destroyed by lava flow, and all that was left was a bit of roof. We had never done a helicopter ride, and I was a bit nervous about it. We rode with the doors on. It was very smooth, and the views made me forget to be nervous. I felt very safe actually. Our pilot (Aaron) was completely competent and friendly and knowledgeable. I got to sit in the front, next to the pilot. My husband and son sat behind us and they had a great time. Its expensive, but its worth doing at least once. You'll get a view of the island that you can't see any other way.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children | ||
| Posted on: | 2013/01/03 | ||
| See individual review | |||
Helpful
A great way to see the island
This is a great way to see the island. The driver was very knowledgeable, and we visited some beautiful areas. We had about 15 min. at each stop, which was fine, except at the Dole plantation. Honestly, I dont know why they bother. In 15 min we had time to get our ice cream, and that was it. No time to browse the gift shop at all, or browse the grounds at all. Either allow more time at Dole, or skip it altogether. The driver could use a bell of some sort. We often had to wait for people who didnt return when they were supposed to. I dont know if those delays made much difference, we still got to the Polynesian Cultural Center around 1pm, which was plenty of time. The evening show after the luau was fantastic.
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children | ||
| Posted on: | 2013/01/03 | ||
| See individual review | |||
Helpful
Not for first timers
I attended this with my husband and son. They are both strong swimmers, but I am not. I've never snorkeled before, and this is not where I should have tried it for the first time. I had a life jacket on, so I knew I was safe, but the water was very deep, and the water had 4-6 foot swells. We had to swim against the current to get to the turtles. The waves were too much for me, I got tired quickly, I was uncomfortable with it being so deep, and the waves so high, so I got back in the boat. My husband and son enjoyed it though, and got up close to the turtles. At one point some spinner dolphins approached the group, but because everyone is looking down, only a few of the swimmers saw them. The leader stayed with the group, and I felt the staff were excellent. After the snorkeling they put up the sail and we took off past Diamond Head, looking for whales. We didnt see any, but we spotted some bottle nose dolphins in the distance. And the ride was fun. The lunch was very basic
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children | ||
| Posted on: | 2013/01/03 | ||
| See individual review | |||
Helpful
A great way to see the island
This was a great tour, but a lot of driving. Our driver, Juan ( might be misspelled) is a native hawaiian and shared a lot of fact and fable. He played a video about how Jurasic Park was made, and as we drove around you can see where parts of the movie were filmed. We had plenty of time at each stop. I thought the fern grotto was a bit lame. The ferns were destroyed in a hurricane years ago, so the ones that were there were small. It wasnt what I expected. And there were mosquitos at the grotto. It would be nice if the driver had bug spray or something. We came back with a lot of bites. The boat ride was frustrating. It is a wide boat, with a low roof. The guide kept talking about the mountains or things on top of the hills, and most of us couldnt see what he was referring to because of the low roof. On one hand, seeing the island through a tour is a great way to learn a lot about the island. On the other hand, renting a car allows you to stop where you want to (little s
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| Attended as: | Families with Young Children | ||
| Posted on: | 2013/01/03 | ||
| See individual review | |||
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