On the Helicopter:
Depends on what you want.
- The doors-off helicopter is an MD900. It's small, 4 people (5?) and with the doors off, provides an AMAZING helicopter experience. The lack of doors provides for great photography; if you can hold and move your camera equipment around in the gale force winds. I loved it. It is very, very, windy loud and cold. The 900 is not the most powerful helicopter at 9000 feet. Your 'sightseeing' experience will be slightly more dynamic (moving) and less 'stop and admire the beauty' Jack Harter is (IMNSHO) professional, capable, safe and a great choice.
- The deluxe touring machine par excellance belongs to Blue Hawaiian Tours. The EC130 EcoStar is a custom built, all tour, over-powered and amazingly windowed machine. It's smooth, quiet, powerful beyond belief. It seats more people (there are no bad seats, only better seats!) but handles the mountains with ease. There is glare and reflection inside the cabin. So, professional photos are not going to happen. But, the DVD (cheap) is well worth the price and HD. You will not get the 'wind in your face' experience of the MD900, but you will get a very amazing tour.
If you are a first time helicopter person, take the blue hawaiian tour in the EcoStar. Admire the beauty, not the helicopter. If you are more experienced and don't have motion issues etc... then try the Jack Harter Md900 doors-off. Dress warmly, have straps on ANYTHING out during the ride and enjoy the sheer thrill of 90 knots of wind in your face while scaling a dormant volcano!
You can't go wrong with either.
have fun!
You describe it so well, watershed. We have gone to Hawaii so many years so went with several helicopter companies on different islands. We also took the Harter tour in Kauai and I was so fortunate to sit on the seat that had the doors off so great for taking movies but you have to do exactly what they tell you to do and keep your arm and camera from not sticking out too far or your camera will be gone and your arm may be too. Just kidding but it will swing back pretty hard and you may hurt yourself. I was more concerned about my little iPhone camera than about my arm but you can buy a strap so you will not lose it because you really need it. It is so easy to go out a little too far.
They explain you all this before you go so you are well aware and the secret is not to keep looking down all the time but straight forward too. Some people have motion sickness even in a car and you can't really help it so it is not for them as beautiful the scenery is.
Our pilot was a natural and it felt like we were a bird in the air like gliding when a bird would glide or winging up (climb up) higher over a ridge like a bird would do exactly too, etc. Best tour we ever took but for comfort, the other helicopter will definitely win.
Our pilot would give everyone of us a chance to see the waterfalls and points of interests equally good so I can highly recommend this company. The Marriott recommended it to us at the orientation presentation so we booked it and a few other trips too.
We don't like booking far in advance because you always have to check the weather in HI that can change on a dime but in Honolulu you may have to do this in advance because there are so many tourists there and tours fill up so quickly. We found that out again on our last trip over there in April so had to book something else instead but there is a lot of choice and we loved our trip that we took instead.
I agree with Sterling, if you do not want to take a helicopter tour, then buy the DVDs and we have one that I have recommended here before. It is so beautiful and there is no way that we can take such beautiful movies ourselves plus the narration too and history of the Hawaiian culture and about the islands.
The day is coming that we can travel and see everything from the comfort of our own home which isn't bad for a lot of people but being there is a whole different experience like seeing the Rose Parade we have in Pasadena on New Year's day, or seeing the ball drop in Time Square, in reality, in NYC on New Year's Eve or car racing that will deafen your ears for days on end that my husband used to drag me to when we were young and he met some formula 1 racers that he adored and got autographs from and the same for taking a helicopter tour or parasailing or whatever else there is to see and do.
I did gliding once in a tiny plane with a pilot that promised to turn it upside down and do acrobats too but didn't because there were thunderstorms looming around us so we had to cut it short. What an experience anyway with no noise of an engine but only the wind rushing by but I was glad when I was safely down on the ground again in my little old native country with weather that is hardly ever stable.
Now, I keep looking forward to the movies that Captain Dave is sharing with us right off our coast. We do not even have to go to Hawaii anymore because we have many species of whales right here close to home. Have a look at the
last You Tube movie he shared with us recently! He is a person who loves what he does and can make a living with it too so I love to share it to anyone who may like to go with his tour boats when they are visiting here. You can read his reviews on his website too plus see all the movies that he has made with a drone.
PS. I also loved the movie that was shared by daventrina the other day
here on TUG. If you can't dive anymore but love it, then this is a treat to see it through the eyes of another diver again. It must have been posted under the Big Island. I just saved the movie for my husband to see. Do all these things that you love while you are young and can do them!
