The "Flying High Above Kauai: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Adding photos to complement the story and photos I posted yesterday about the helicopter ride that Carol and I took when visiting the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Over 80% of the island is only assessable by air so we opted to make our visit complete with a tour by air.  The following photos and descriptions will hopefully will give you an idea of what we saw.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Flight that lifted off just before we did at the Lihue Airport.

Ready to enjoy our front row seats on our aerial journey.

A golf course on the southwest part of the island. 

This is a beautiful tree tunnel that is more impressive driving through it than viewing it from overhead.

The Manawaiopuna Jurassic Falls.

I must have had 30 to 40 photos of waterfalls.  Every turn we took produced another falls.  Some more beautiful than the others.

Heading toward the Waimea Canyon.  On the right you can see a series of waterfalls that travel from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

A better view of those falls.

The start of the Waimea Canyon.

The layers of rock of different varieties give color to the scenes in front of us.  In the distance can be seen another canyon waiting to be explored. 

Beauty is everywhere.

Our pilot talked the entire time describing just about everything you would want to know.  Very capable young man.

Finally we reached the Napali Coast and the colors changed dramatically.

Indentations in the rock formation gave really neat texture and shape to the shoreline.

Same two indentations as above photo, but taken from a different angle.

This is what I remember from our last trip to Kauai.  This valley I believe is where parts of Jurassic Park was filmed.

Colors are beautiful.

The formations appear in unison for as far as you can see.

We have reached Haena Beach area which marks the end point of the Kuhio Highway.  This tip is accessible by land transportation.

Fields of crops including taro can be seen in this photo as we begin to head south.

Just a beautiful scene.

Waterfall after waterfall drop from the top as we fly by.

We flew into one of the valleys pictured above to be greeted with another helicopter.  You can see the immense size of the valley when you compare it to the size of the helicopter.

We are about to fly up to Mount Waialeale, the wettest spot on earth.

We crossed to the other side of Mount Waialeale and as he turned the copter we saw …...

naturally the other side of the Mountain.  Is always covered with clouds.  It averages close to 500 inches of rain annually.

On our return home.

The airport appears on the left.

This helicopter was landing directly in front of us.  The end of our fantastic journey.