Here was the big day - the helicopter ride. It was the moment we all
had been waiting for. That's probably because we had paid so much for
it. But we had heard that it was a must do activity while on Kauai.
The book even said visiting Kauai and not taking a helicopter ride was
like visiting the Sistine Chapel and not looking up. Although, come
to think of it, the Sistine Chapel was nice, but I don't think I would
have paid $165 to look up in there. The walls were painted nicely too.
We grabbed some McDonalds again. I really am ashamed to admit that
I did eat there twice. But in my defense, I only had bagels and one
thing of hash browns. Afterwards, we headed to the reception area of
Jack Harter helicopter rides and waited. The people there were very
friendly. The place had been the number two recommendation in the book.
Why didn't we go with number one? Well, the number one recommendation
was Air Kauai and they flew with a type of helicopter that did have
opening windows. And I needed open windows for my pictures. Plus, their
choppers had two middle seats which would have possibly kept two of
us away from the windows. With Jack Harter, we were the only people
on the bird. Come to think of it, I guess there was the pilot as well.
They gave us the usual briefing and then drove us over to the helipads.
Several companies had birds out there. And we saw people getting onto
choppers from companies the book recommended against. Oh woe be to the
uninformed tourist who has not a guide book. Eventually, our bird came
in and we got ready to climb aboard.
I got a seat upfront. I don't know if it was luck or because I told
the lady on the phone that I would be the big photographer on the trip.
Needless to say, I was quite pleased. Now, if you've never been on a
bird before (for the slower readers who haven't figured this out, 'bird'
is another word for helicopter. This isn't the Flintstones. We weren't
riding pterodactyls), I must say, it's quite different than a plane.
It moves just about any direction. The sensation when it leaves the
ground is indescribable. Let's just say it's moving. Moments later,
you're hovering several hundred feet off the ground.
We headed west and to the mountains. I snapped pictures almost as fast
as the camera would let me. Having the 'best shot selector' on my camera
was a huge help. I could have the camera take 5 pictures of something,
and it would only save the sharpest one. Misty ran the camcorder until
the tape ran out. Doh! I should have been better prepared on that one.
But that's okay. Now, I have an excuse to take another ride. We flew
all around the island and saw many wonderful things. Being in a helicopter
allowed us to see waterfalls and places that were all but inaccessible
to people on the ground. The pictures just can't show all the marvelous
beauty of the island. The most spectacular part was the valley below
Mount Wai'ale'ale. The waterfalls there just danced and leapt their
way down the 3000' face of the mountain.
The tour finally ended after an hour. It was worth the money, although
realistically I'm not sure I would go a second time. It's pricey. However,
I may take one on the big island of Hawaii someday. We returned to the
hotel and did some more boogey boarding. The waves at the beach we chose
were very choppy and made for some pretty poor rides. We didn't stay
at the beach for long.
Soon, it was dinnertime again. The book recommended a place down south
a bit where they served Ostrich meat. I wasn't sure if I wanted to order
that, but I did want to check it out. The place turned out to be a small
burger joint. It had an upstairs outdoor seating area that sheltered
us from the rain and let us see the ocean. The food wasn't great. My
fish and chips was too fried. I had to bite through a lot of fried fat
to get to my 'fish'. However, the others enjoyed their meal and the
atmosphere was nice. The birds there were as unafraid as the fish. I
decided to hold out a piece of a Cheerio and before I knew it, a bird
flew up and snatched it out of my hand with his beak. I'd never seen
a wild bird do THAT before. I'll remember that moment for years to come.
When dinner was done, we toured around a few local shops. There wasn't
anything that I found to be worthy of buying. If you are in the market
for a dead baby shark in a jar, they did have plenty of those. Alas,
that just wasn't a market I happen to be in right now. Once the touring
was over, we went back to the hotel. And if you're thinking we went
to the bar, you'd win a cigar.
- Day 5 -