One day we drove over to the Hilo side of the big island to take a “doors-off” helicopter ride over some active areas of Kiluea. It was as awesome as it sounds! The helicopter fit 4 passengers + the pilot. We all wore headsets so we could communicate with each other, and in the mean time the pilot played some fun, activity-appropriate music, like “Danger Zone”.
Here are the doors they took off our helicopter
Control panel
Taking off
Almost there. You can see the old lava flows.
The sulfuric gas in rising from the active areas
Bubbling lava in the crater
The smoke trail follows the lava flow heading to the ocean. While we were visiting, the lava wasn’t making it all the way to the ocean, but it was getting pretty close.
Lava flow
A look back at the crater
The coastline
Weird looking flat topped trees
Double waterfalls! I believe these are rainbow falls.
On this blog you can read about and see photos of my experiences as a scientific researcher and adventure junkie. Please drop by and say hello!
Superb!