We flew in a helicopter our very first time today. Since Shanthala is unable to hike these days, we had to choose between a helicopter ride or a sailing boat to view the otherwise unreachable Napali coast. The local boat companies do not take pregnant women on a tour of the Napali coast, especially in the winter months when the water is always either choppy or choppier. While this essentially made our decision, in a helicopter, we also get to see incredible close-ups of the Waimea Canyon and Mt. Wai’ale’ale.
Why visit Napali, you ask. It is considered to be spectacular, one of a kind coastline with towering sea cliffs, green valleys, countless waterfalls and sea caves. Many Hollywood movies have been shot on this coastline. Kauai itself is extremely popular in Hollywood with everything from Jurassic Park and Six Days, Seven Nights to The Thorn Birds and South Pacific having been shot on this island. It is also considered to be the site of the first inhabitants on Kauai. Of course being unreachable otherwise greatly adds to the allure. Hiking here would have been the best way to see it. When we had gone car hopping various national parks in Utah several years ago with Shanthala’s parents, I had first come to realize what a difference hiking makes. Hiking allows you to *be there* instead of merely *seeing it* and so you gain a different appreciation and perspective than merely driving from one Kodak moment to another. So, we flew.
Picking a chopper company was not so difficult. Only one of them flies with the doors off i.e. with nothing but your seat belt holding you from dropping several thousand feet down. This makes for a much more intense experience. In a helicopter, where each person’s seating is based on weight distribution, it’s possible to end up in the middle seats which isn’t so much fun. With this company, Inter-Island Air, you’re guaranteed a great view because you’re either by the window or you’re in the middle row in the front which is also a fine place to be. For Shanthala who is a little more nervous about heights than I am, the front middle seat would be ideal. Inter-Island Air is responsible for rescue missions on the island and so is very safe and reliable. To top all that, they fly from Port Allen, which minimizes the time over residential areas and takes them smack onto the sights; they say that they save about an additional 20 minutes compared to all the other companies that fly out of Lihue, the main airport on the island. We booked a morning flight which is supposed to be smoother than an afternoon flight.
The day started off looking quite stormy, dark clouds had gathered over the entire horizon. On these tropical islands, rain comes and goes rather rapidly. Also, some parts of the island can be drenched while the other parts remain sunny. On Kauai, the south side is considered to be sunnier and drier than the wet but lusher north side. But I called the airline and asked them if they were still flying and they said yes. So off we went, driving about 30 miles to the helipad at Port Allen.
At the office, they weighed us and asked us to say/spell our first name while on the weighing scale. Nothing that is loose is allowed on this chopper. If you lose something mid-air, it can be a safety hazard as the air can suck the objects back onto the tail rotor. After watching the safety video and waiting a bit, we met the chopper pilot and our two co-passengers. Both the co-passengers worked for Bell Helicopters and said that the choppers that we were flying, Hughes 500, were the best. “We make it a point to always fly with Inter-Island Air when we visit Kauai”, one of them said, “This is was their fifth time up in the air”.
The pilot pointed to the storm clouds and said that they would blow through, but he couldn’t guarantee that we’d see everything, though he was certain that the Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon was clear. The advantage to leaving now, he said, was that if our timing was right, we’d see hillsides covered with numerous waterfalls from the rain. Many of the waterfalls vanish pretty quickly after the rains and so this was an important factor. I was concerned about the turbulence flying in such stormy weather but the co-passengers and the pilot said that riding in a helicopter in such conditions was the smoothest ride we could get and wouldn’t compare to the terror of flying in a small airplane under similar conditions. We thought for a minute and decided to go ahead with the flight.
The moment when the chopper first takes off, as it so smoothly lifts off the ground and hovers for an instant, that moment is nothing short of thrilling.
The pilot decided on an unconventional route to take advantage of the storm clouds and headed for the Hanapepe Valley. Sure enough our gamble paid off right away. Rivulets covered the green hills, the combination of clouds and the streaks of white on green giving the whole place a magical feel. As we flew, we were led by a iridescent rainbow that formed a beautiful U in front of the copter. I have never seen anything like it. We then saw Manawaiopuna Falls, the waterfalls that made the limelight in Jurassic Park, when a helicopter descends the face of the waterfalls to the helipad at the base of the falls. Our very first circle, around Manawaiopuna Falls took my breath away.
Flying through the valley we went on to Waimea Canyon. Allegedly called “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” by Mark Twain who never even visited the place, it is reminiscent of the grandeur and redness of its mainland namesake. Carved by the Waimea river, the canyon is about ten miles long and upto 3000 feet deep. The red color comes from the high content of bauxite, that important aluminium ore. The color can stain light clothing quite easily and is impossible to get rid of. Zipping along the narrow canyon walls was exhilirating and the view from the copter is undescribable. It can only be experienced. It felt like I could reach out and touch the mountains as we zipped along.
Napali coast was quite spectacular. In Alaska, we had seen snow capped mountains towering over the sea and flinging numerous glaciers that ran down to the sea. But the verdant and lush nature of these cliffs is something else. There are many hanging valleys where the valley ends abruptly with a steep drop to the ocean instead of the gradual descent of a normal valley. The cliffs rise upto 4000 feet straight from the ocean. The vibrant green and bright red were made somber by the rain clouds, but lit brilliantly in places by beams of sunlight. This picture of the coast, reminds me of the paws of a T Rex from the Jurassic Park.
After this, we went to Mt. Wai’ale’ale. It’s name means rippling waters in Hawaiian and for a good reason. It is the second wettest spot on Earth, after Mawsynram in India (no, it’s not Cherapunji). It has received on average about 460 inches of rain every year for the past 32 years with a record 683 inches of rain in 1982 i.e. over 56 feet of rain in a single year! It is also the site of the crater that created Kauai. We were lucky once again coming in just after the rains to see massive wall of waterfalls. It just blew my mind. Completely. The co-passengers exclaimed that this was the best viewing of all their flights on Kauai. While I have attempted to capture the sight in the movie, here is a picture of the crater with a wall of waterfalls (courtesy from http://165.248.241.70/Seward/Sada/Water/Waialeale.html).
After a couple of circles around the crater, we headed back to the helipad. We descended ooh-ing and aah-ing, and drove back home, in a trance.
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