Helicopter Tours in Hawaii

Im going to Hawaii for 3 weeks on my honeymoon this year and have a question about the helicopter tours. I'd like to know if they provide over head ear defenders for you? Secondly, if they do, are they any good?

It would be great to hear feedback from anyone who's been. We're going to Kauai, Maui and big island.

 

You lucky guy, going to visit paradise Hawaii and watching the beautiful scenery from a heli-tour. I haven't done one so I can't advise you there. Try contact the tour operators and if they don't have the ear protection, just bring good plugs or ear muffs. When you visit the Big Island, besides visiting the active Kilauea Volcano, you may want to rent a jeep to drive up to the top of the dormant Mauna Kea Volcano. It is the only place on earth you can drive from sea level to almost 14,000 ft to the top in 2 hours, and it is the highest mountain on earth when measured from its base rising from the sea floor. I did that when I was young. It was like going through moonscape at some point. There should be snow up there too.

 

It sounds amazing @billie48. My girlfriend is a Cambridge graduate in geography so she has an immense knowledge of the world and all things geological. She loves volcanos and has always wanted to see an active one, so big island really fit the bill! She said exactly what you just said about Mauna Kea just without the jeep part. I'm not sure if she's aware you can drive up it so I'll have to tell her.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank you again Billie. You was the first to reply to me when I hit rock bottom and you made a significant difference in turning things around for me. I'm not quite there yet, I've had a few false starts but I just seem to keep slipping back just as I think I'm over it.

 

You are most welcome Ed. Glad to see you enjoying life now. My new motto is 'Finding Joy Amid the Pain' and 'Living life abundantly regardless of T'. There is a lot of good life out there besides T. Don't miss the joy of living. My T is screaming and resonating in my whole head right now, but it can't extract one oz of negative emotion from me now. Can't do that in the beginning but now the body is hardened to this sensation. Will be going fishing tomorrow for the mighty steelhead. I will enjoy my life regardless. The heck with T.

Here is a good site to read about the drive up to the top of Mauna Kea. Your girlfriend will love all those moonscape landscape along the way. It looks alien with all the craters. Also the summit houses some of the largest telescopes/observatories in the world, and you can even ski there on the snow, lol. Come to think of it. It is so surreal indeed that strange moonscape and snow plus state of the art telescopes are found in a tropical paradise in the middle of the Pacific. Lol.

http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hi?Astronomy.drive

 

Awesome, @Ed209: U r going to Hawaii! Always have wanted to go. Enjoy for me. So this one is easy. As @billie48 said, simply pack your own ear protection. Devices are small, won't take up much room. Helicopters don't fly high, no barotrauma issues. Life is for living, so go for it.

 

I'd just bring my own if it's not too much of a hassle. Muffs plus earplugs. It's always nicer having stuff you know that fits and works than wondering about whatever equipment they have that's been used 1000s of times.
I used to bring my own snorkeling gear with me on some trips.

 

Helicopters are LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD!!! Double up with plugs and muffs.

 

I just looked it up ~105 dB. That is pretty loud. If you don't have hyperacusis you should be fine with plugs and earmuffs.

 

Yea I was going to take my own anyway but was just wondering if they make you wear those intercom style ear defenders for safety and communication purposes. They may be against you wearing ear plugs and defenders if that means they can't communicate with you; for health and safety reasons possibly? I guess I'll have to try contacting some tour operators to find out.

If anyone on here has direct experience I'd really appreciate your input.

 

Helicopters are damn loud with these rotating blades even with ear muffs it's still loud trust me I've been in many before T

 

There's just no way I will avoid doing all the things I've always wanted to though. A chance to fly over big island and view the volcano from above is a lifetime experience. I can't allow T to dictate my life to that extent because I'd never get round to doing anything otherwise.

 

On Expedia I found this in the info for Blue Hawaiian helicopter tours:

Inclusions

• 
  Guided helicopter tour of the Big Island
  
  
• Live tour commentary in English
  
  
• Headset for tour commentary
  
  
• Taxes and fees
  
  So it looks like I was right about the intercom headsets.
  
  

 

So if you are concerned about their headsets, tell them you'll pass on their tour commentary. I would take your own muffs and plugs, as others suggested. But you could try wearing just the plugs so you can hear the commentary. Remember, the headset itself will give you some protection.

Also, loudness will depend on the type of helicopter. The three times I have been, the helicopters were open (they took the doors off) and yes, it's pretty loud. But my intercom headset did cut down on the noise.

 

Well I'm back from my honeymoon and thought it would be good to drop by and say how utterly awesome it was. We went to 3 of the Hawaiian islands, Kauai, Maui and the big island (Hawaii), spending a week on each one. Originally this thread was about the helicopter tours, we actually did 2 in the end; one on Kauai and another on Big Island. The decibel level inside the cabin ran at around 87, but it was not an issue at all. I had ear protection in case, but found the noise cancelling ear muffs they provided to be perfectly adequate.

We just about did every adventurous thing you can imagine and anytime it got loud, such as at a lu'au, I just put ear plugs in. I'll put some pictures below as I told @billie48 I would do. I'll also add to billie that we did indeed go to the top of Mauna Kea and it was an amazing experience. We also went to the top of Haleakala on Maui.

 

Ed209


Nice pictures, did you get a chance to do the Maui downhill bike ride down the volcano ? I did that last time I was there, it was a blast.


I'm glad that you had a good time.


Louie

Quietatnight

 

Wow,
great pictures ed!

 

@quietatnight

We were about to book the bike tour when a honeymooning couple at the hotel we were staying at put us off. They told us the road was too narrow and the cars were getting close to the bikes, but to be honest when we went up it didn't seem bad at all. We should have just booked it!! We did plenty though so I can't complain. It was a holiday of a lifetime, or vacation as you say in the states.

 

Welcome back Ed. You are sure right about paradise Hawaii. It was a holiday or vacation of a lifetime. The memory of it will stay with you forever. It is a charming place indeed. I always told my kids to bury me in a Hawaii cemetery after I die. That is how much I love the place. Sure happy for you and your wife for this wonderful experience. You bet T wasn't much of an issue with all the fun and exploring.

 

Amazing, inspiring pics and congratulations!

 

It is paradise and I certainly will remember it forever. I'm already missing the place! My tinnitus wasn't even a thought on my mind and that's the truth. I used my earplugs when needed but I never felt anxious. It's just too damn beautiful and relaxing there to let T get in the way. We even went parasailing which was a pleasant experience.

I've got a million pictures and didn't even know where to start with what to put on here, so I kind of just pulled a few off each island. All of the islands we saw were beautiful, especially the Na Pali coast on Kauai. You can see why they make so many films there, it's stunning.

 

Looks really nice! So would you say you didn't hear your t at all or it was just relegated to the background so to speak.

 

There's hearing it and there's hearing it. I've said this before but when my mind is distracted on other things I zone my T out. It doesn't go away it's still there but I don't actively pay attention to it so it's as good as gone. When I'm depressed or obsessive about it it consumes me. That in my case is the key difference.

My T is quite loud as well. I wouldn't say it's severe, but I'm not sure what other people's severe T sounds like. I can hear it everywhere, above traffic noise and movies for example but not so much in the shower. It's one of the things that masks mine.

I'll give you an example of a day in Hawaii. I'd wake up to the same sound I always do, a high pitched shrill sound with hissing underneath it (it's there but I just don't react to it). By the time I'm out and about I'm not consciously aware of it at all. This is hard to explain but I'll try. I'm not consciously aware so I'm not hearing it but it's not gone either. All it would take is for someone to come up to me and say "have you got a ringing noise in your head" and it would come back full force because my attention would be put back on it.

 

Such a weird condition this is where you can kinda forget it but then it can return at full force. Im surprised you can still hear it in the shower, must be pretty loud if so, or maybe its the pitch.

 

I can't hear it in the shower. If I really try I probably could but most the time I can't. Putting no so much is probably a bit misleading. Not so much is supposed to mean I can't hear it in the shower.

 

Ed209

I did not have any problems with the road, it wasn't that hard to do, as long as you stay alert and awake LOL...3 out of our 8 quit 5 minutes in and got back into the Van. We had to keep stopping to remove layers of clothing, as we dropped in elevation. Started off with winter clothes at the top, and by the time we got to the bottom we rode right on to the beach in our bathing suits.

Also drove the road to Kihei that was kind of interesting, I had rented a Jeep wrangler and removed all of the canvas and doors to do it off road 4 wheeling. Made it more fun I felt. I remember pulling off of the road into forest a ways just in time to see a couple, of guys doing what looked like a seen from "scare face" something illegal was changing hands. So we got the heck out of there pretty quick.

We chartered a 50 Foot catamarans sailboat and sailed over to Laguna for the day. We went snorkeling, I never did that before. So it was my first time snorkeling. Coming back we had some dolphin's swimming between our pontoons, that stayed with us most of the way back to Maui, flying fish across our bow, and we saw about 20 Wales breach out of the water, I guess it was spawning season, now that was something to see kool. I need to dig up that tape that I made and upload it to youtube, I will let you know when I do. We tape it all on VHS LOL...

Well, you can do the Downhill when you return next time and I hope that you do. Your right it was the vacation of a life time for us as well. My brother got marred that weekend that's why we were their, for his wedding.

So I guess that you had no problem with the helicopter then, Good


Take Care, Thank You for the walk down memory lane.


Louie

Quietatnight


PS: Found this on Youtube, thought you might like it...

driving through Kihei, Maui, Hawaii on South...

 

That's a cool recollection. We also had a Jeep Wrangler on Kauai. On Maui we had a convertible mustang and on big island we had a Jeep Compass. We did so much I could talk forever, but it's obviously a special place because 2 of my close friends had a wedding and a honeymoon there which is the reason we went. We heard all the stories and decided to go ourselves.

 

Can I ask how expensive vacation like this was?

 

Including what we spent on the islands it cost around £12,000 which is around $15,600.

 

Ed209

I agree it's the most beautiful place that I have ever been to. It seems to have rainbows every day, I even saw a double one day, I never saw one of those before. Interesting foot note: I used to play in an Hawaiian band years ago, we used to play for pool party's company events thing's like that. The managers wife was from Hawaii and was one of the girls that danced in the show. Had a lot of fun in that group, we had 17 people in that show, even a guy that walked on hot coals 10 feet, It was quiet the show to see. Anyway, years later long after I left, the manager and his wife retired to Hawaii, I guess at that time you could only buy real estate if you were a native born from there. His wife of course was. I was hoping to find and spend some time with them, but I could not locate them while I was there, would have been nice.

As for the cost of the trip, that's a tough one it's been so long ago, Even if I knew the amount you could not compare it with what I paid 15 years ago to what you paid now. But I know that it was close or a little more then what you paid. If I was to guess, with air fir and everything else, it was about just under $ 20.000. I think that we where there for about 10 days. I don't know how long you were there. That would need to be considered as well. Like you, we did a lot while we were there. I loved the place, but I don't think that I would want to live there. It has NO Mcdonalds LOL ...

I'm just glad that you did not have any problems with the Helicopter tour. Next time you go back be sure and do the Maui Downhill


Take care


Louie

Quieatnight

 

That's cool that you played in a Hawaiian band as I'm also a musician. In fact I ended up buying a nice koa wood ukelele in Maui after jamming with the store owner. He gave me a discount and a free case as our jam brought a lot of attention to the store; a lot of people came in to listen.

It's a place that creates memories that last a lifetime.