I woke to the alarm but also a continuous humming which I thought was a vacuum cleaner. Sadly, it was the fridge motor which didn't quieten until I got up.
Now I have to prepare my films for today's little adventure!
Our breakfast consisted of cinnamon raisin, taro, guava and sweet breads and a squidgy custard flavour fruit that had the texture and consistency of a ripe peach and a selection of papaya and guava. There was a lone white cat wandering around that found means to quench it's thirst by drinking from a vase, after sticking it's head through the leaves of the flowers to reach the source. I think it looked a bit cheesed off which might be due to the peacock eating it's food.
At Hilo International Airport we had a few minutes to check in and pay for the helicopter air tour before our safety briefing and the issue of life jackets. Our flight had been confirmed!
We had to wait a few minutes for our helicopter to land and its passengers alight from the aircraft but soon enough we were being signalled to board. I boarded the helicopter first, hotly followed by Ian. We had been given the two rear seats, each with a full length window door. Each rear door also had a sliding window portion which we could use at our leisure.
At 11:02, with everyone sat comfortably, we began to hover above the runway and in seconds we were racing across and above the runway at a slight tilted angle. It felt very fast but I guess that was because I was so close to the bottom of the helicopter. Our pilot ascended the aircraft to 500 feet, then higher to 1,000 feet as we flew over Hilo town. Immediately, as the day was so unusually clear for Hilo, we saw the Pu'u O'o vent steaming away in the distance.
We travelled over lush green pastures, acres and acres of unbelievably cheap land due to its position near to Kilauea. Residents are unable to get house insurance and the road networks are a bit unreliable but for USD 2,500 for a huge plot of land, would you be bothered? It normally rains an awful lot though. We have been extraordinarily lucky with the weather today. We can even see Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa from Hilo, a rarity in itself.
We approached Pu'u O'o vent and for the first time we could see down into it. Surrounded by incredible amounts of hardened lava she was releasing a huge volume of sulphur gases, from three or four openings. Inside the vent, a cinder cone itself, could be seen a hardened crust lava lake and some stunning colours. It's magnitude just couldn't be appreciated from the helicopter but you could get an idea that she was pretty huge. We were hovering about 500 feet from the surface of the ground but not directly over the vent. Brick, our pilot, manoeuvred the aircraft away from the vent and followed a fresh, incredibly hot, lava flow down to the ocean, beyond a pali, a cliff formed when the unstable lava slumped into the ocean, which introduced some tailwind due to the combination of a decrease in altitude and the heat from Pu'u O'o Vent. From the left hand side of the helicopter I could see an old lava tube of considerable size running down to the Pacific ocean away from Kilauea's Pu'u O'o vent. It had collapsed in several places and was a terrific sight.
When we reached the ocean we could see miles and miles of lava flows and Brick travelled along the coast to show us the point at which the molten lava enters the ocean. It was possibly not the best time of day to view such an activity on a bright sunny day but we could see the lava dripping down into the ocean. It was again difficult to distinguish the size of the action, however, for it to drip like treacle it must be a pretty hot and voluminous flow. Brick had said that the Pu'u O'u vent had had another breakout last night so we were lucky to see some activity. There wasn't a terrific steam plume to see from above however the sight we had was more than satisfactory! To be hovering above such beautiful blue ocean was incredible, it was so stunning. The point where the water gets deep just offshore could clearly be seen from 500 feet above and the water was about 400 feet in depth. It was so beautiful.
From this position we could also see the end of Chain of Craters road and the lava flows we hiked over. The cars and people were so dwarfed by all of the lava. It seems a lot of lava when you are on the trail and from above it seems an awful lot more!
On the way back up to the Pu'u O'o vent from the ocean, Brick took us up alongside the lava flow so that I could see the red glow of the new flow and the golden surface the newly hardened crust forms. We had stunning views of active lava flowing through a tube which had a collapsed section of the ceiling of the tube. It was easily identifiable from 500 feet for its bright glow so it must be one hell of a size on the ground!
We flew by the Kilauea Pu'u O'o vent one last time before Brick had to deliver us back to Hilo International Airport. We had exceeded our flight time by 10 minutes, thirty three per cent! Our return to Hilon took us by the green pastures again and it all looked so pretty. In the distance we could still see Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. It was all stunning.
At 11:42 we made a very quick and superb landing and our flight was over. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I didn't have any of the post flight shakes that I had following Phil's flight in the two seater plane in Waimea, I just had a grin on my face. It was excellent. I had changed my camera film three times during the flight so I'm hopeful I have one or two good photographs!
In Hilo we signed the guestbook of Tropical Helicopters and had some lunch before checking into the Dolphin Bay Hotel for the night. After a brief rest and a chat with our host, Verna, we drove out to Rainbow Falls for a look and then on to the Pe'e Pe'e Falls and boiling pots. The boiling pots weren't quite up to action as Hilo has now had two unusually sunny days consecutively but the setting of the Pe'e Pe'e Falls was delightful.
Albeit a bit early we didn't have enough time to do anything else before sunset so we drove the eastern end of Saddle road to the summit road of Mauna Kea. The road was great, like riding a rollercoaster and a far cry from the western end of Saddle road. Aa lava was strewn either side of the road. When we reached the visitors' centre at 9,000 feet, Mauna Kea was sitting proudly above the clouds. My red hillock from the other day was free from cloud so I merrily snapped some photographs. Ian and I hiked to the top of a cinder cone and waited for 45 minutes for the sun to set, getting colder as time went by. The shadows being cast were extraordinary and it was just so pleasant to be above the clouds in utter peace. While we sat on our cinder cone both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa completely revealed their summits to us and stayed free from cloud for the duration of our visit. It was a rare treat.
With the sun set we returned to the visitors' centre and spent the next 2 hours 30 minutes peering at the stars and gazing through telescopes, trying not to get too cold. My first stargazing sight was a picture of Jupiter and three moons, one of which was titan. At the next telescope was Saturn in all its glory, clearing showing the atmospheric rings. Jupiter had two cloud belts across it too. I also saw the trapezium in the Orion nebula, Betelgeuse star, some galaxies, further into Orion's nebula with a bigger telescope, the Jewelbox, the flickering effects of our atmosphere on stars which made the stars colourfully dance around in a circle like a catherine wheel, and nebulae. With my naked eye I saw constellations, satellites and shooting stars which are thought to be tail dust from Halley's Comet. We were incredibly fortunate in that the night we chose to stargaze, there were perfectly clear skies atop Mauna Kea and the moon was completely absent. It was an extraordinary night.
Of course, it was another night that didn't pass without some attempt at humour. When trying to look at a galaxy Ian asked, generally, 'does anyone know anything about stars?' 'Well,' I replied, 'there's Tom Cruise...' which got a laugh from someone. Later on, in another amusing moment I said 'it's all a bit above me...'
On the way home, as we warmed ourselves in the car, we reflected on the fantastic day we have had. It has been truly memorable.
From Hilo to Hilo we travelled 89 miles today.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.