Day 4 - Helicopters...and nuts!

OK, first, we had trouble last night getting the movies on, so here are two we hoped to share!

Macadamia Nut Tree.

We stayed the night in Hilo because the main event of the day was to be a helicopter ride which started at the Hilo airport.  But we had some time before the helicopter tour, so we checked out the Mauna Loa macadamia nut plantation.  The ride in was through the orchards, and we found the trees curious.  Actually, later we learned that they planted these huge trees around sections as wind breaks to protect the macadamia trees.  There was a little self-guided tour of the “factory”, which amounted to an exterior walkway looking in windows, at people working.  They also had a campy video on big screen TVs out on the walkway, with a goofy guy doing nutty comedy.  It was worth every bit of the entrance fee though.  Did I mention it was free?  Anyway, I love macadamia nuts, so it was worth it to me. They are very labor intensive, which is why they are so expensive. There were samples inside, of course, and we partook.  Then it was time to head to the airport.

Helicopters are COOL!!!

Interestingly (to me), we had been to this airport before, 20 years ago, on our first trip to Hawaii.  So we recognized a few things.  We checked in at the “ticket counter”, and they weighed us.  They assign seats based on weight and balance.  Since the Bell 407 had six passenger seats, it isn’t much of an equation to shuffle us around.  Anyway, we headed into a waiting room, where at length, they gave us our safety briefing.  Then we headed out to the helicopter, which was spooled up and waiting.  The blades are about 10 feet about the ground, so he told us we didn’t need to duck unless we wanted to pretend we were in a movie.  Since I boarded last, I’d just be making a fool of myself to the pilot who was watching, so I behaved.

All miked up with nothing to say!

Once on board, we donned our headsets, which was about the only way to talk to each other.  But since it was talking to everyone, almost no one but the pilot spoke.  There was background music though…which was quite wry!!  As we lifted off, it was a song from Top Gun.  I was really surprised at how smooth the whole flight was.  I expected a “ride”, but it was more like a “show”.  We had no turbulence, and the flight was very calm.  We were between 500 and 2700 feet most of the time.

The pilot narrated the scenery and shared tidbits most of the way, and threw in some jokes.  We flew out to the coast and checked out the lava flowing into the ocean.  This is the same thing we saw last night, but a lot easier to get to, and a bit of a different vantage.

Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Orchard.

Coffee trees.

Where the lava meets the sea.

Leaving the coast, we headed in land, to check out the flow.  Since most of the actual lava flow is below ground, only breaking through on rare occasions, we were really looking for silvery surfaced lava in the field of grey and black.  In a few places, the lava broke through and a reddish orange could be seen.  Or so I’m told.  I could NOT find it.  Theresa did, and got a picture for you!

The silvery lava is fresh and new...like a day or two old.

Holy Smokes!!!

We went up to the craters.  Kilauea has one caldera, but several craters.  Yesterday we overlooked the caldera.  But today we saw numerous craters, including two “smoking holes” (as our eloquent pilot put it!).  Inside them, we could see some lava action.  Cue the music…Johnny Cash “Burning Ring of Fire”.

This is a close up of the small crater, with lava in the corner.

This is the gravel road we hiked the previous night.

There is a hole in there...

There it is!!!  (I couldn't find it!)

Some of very many waterfalls!

Then we moved up and went searching for waterfalls.  Cue TLC’s “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls”.  There is a major river that runs from the peaks to the sea, and drops down in several waterfalls.  We went chasing a few.

Alas, it finally ended, and we headed back to the airport.  It was a LOT of fun!!  

Really??  No one has an ACTUAL camera?!!

A peek up front!  (Pilot is on right side in helicopters.)

Hilo from the Helo!

Check out those life vests we're rocking!!

We headed to lunch, and then across the island on the “Saddle Road”, going from Hilo (the second largest city in the State) to Kona, between Mauna Koa and Mauna Lea.  Ahhh…the first drive we have had that we could get up some speed (tired of poking along behind tourists at 43 in a 55!).  Back in our timeshare, Theresa decided it was time to head to the pool.  So, we changed and headed to the darkening pool (as the sun was mostly gone) and swam a little, and decided it was too cold.  We warmed up in the hot tub, and called it a night!