Air Hawaii

[urbpan]

Probably the best part of my vacation--and definitely the most exciting--was the helicopter tour of Kauai.

Here's a sampling of the 51 picture set (which was painfully edited down from a much larger set that had too much reflection and repetition in it).


One of the towns below with a cruise ship in port.

We skirted the coast briefly before flying inland.


Lush valleys downstream from the rainiest place on earth.


Close by, but on the other side of a thin divide, it's much more arid.


Waimea canyon, a mind-blowing natural wonder. We drove there the next day.


The Na Pali coast, inaccessible by road.


A mountain goat, clinging to a rocky cliff; I could find very little information about these animals--domestic goats, pigs, even deer I could find lots of stuff on, but nothing on the mountain goats.


We flew back into the rainy interior, surrounded by the cliffs of the Waiale'ale crater, shrouded by clouds.


For a brief moment, the cloud drifted off of Mount Waiale'ale, where over 400 inches of rain falls annually. This place is sacred and unique, and I felt honored that I was allowed to glimpse it.


The near constant rain creates dozens of high waterfalls.


Safely on the ground again!

See all the pictures here.

Or watch the slide show!

Comments

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.


Doesn't look like T. C. doing the driving...

[hannah-jane.livejournal.com]

Wow. Gorgeous.

[rudezombie.livejournal.com]

Man, you'll never get me in one of those flying death traps.

That is an amazing view though.

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

Are the little yellow packs in the last shot life vests or something, or did you and Doc go for father and son ugly camera bags?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Those are high tech penis gourds.

NO! they are life vests--required by the FAA because we did fly over water for a couple minutes.

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

my jealousy has finally exploded. it was bad enough that you went to hawaii the same week that my ex went (and bad enough that he offered to cover my expenses if i paid for the plane ticket, which he knew i couldn't do, and then sent me a "having fun" postcard and then called to say he wished i had come) and posted your typically killer photos of awesome stuff, but the helicopter ride is just too much. i'm going to cry in despair now.

very wonderful. seriously.