“I’d love to go to Hawaii” is an oft expressed sentiment, spoken with longing, and uttered in romantic terms, by lovers of sun, sand and sea. In a travel conversation that includes the words palm trees, lei’s and luau’s the islands of Hawaii are invariably the topic. If you have ever chatted to experienced “hawaiianeers”, you’ve probably experienced the glazed, far-away stares, that wash over them whilst talking about their favourite Hawaiian island getaways. Their memories whisking them away to the gently swaying palm trees and soft summer breezes of this volcano created archipelago, into their idyllic mental paradise. Hawaii is a geological work in progress. Even now pressure loaded volcano fissures , deep under the ocean , are creating a new island. Unfortunately though it wont have resorts and swimming pools open for business in our lifetime.
I personally had never been strongly drawn to visit Hawaii as I’m not a huge fan of sand and my generation has been bombarded with decades of advertising campaigns promoting a belief that we must slip, slop and slap, or better yet, just stay out of the sun. However, just to confuse this personal landscape, as a notional PISCES, I love the sight of water. I find personal calmness when I’m within coo-ee of the sea, and Hawaii is surrounded by it. With an average of less than an hours drive across any of the well known islands in the group; Oahu, Maui and Hawaii, the main road around each of these islands follows the coastline , ensuring that you are rarely out of sight of a white sandy beach. So, you can imagine my surprise, when I became an active participant in a family plan to visit Hawaii. I had recently taken up an almost obsessive interest in photography, and anywhere other than my own backyard was looking good to shoot, as I had worn out my welcome with every tree and shrub in my suburb, and was looking for new subject matter to photograph. Hawaii, eh, sounds like a plan!
As far as international travel times go, Hawaii is a pretty easy flight. Only nine hours! Its not the back stiffening distance of London, nor the rear end numbing effort of LA. It’s a pleasant, one meal, one movie, one snooze, one scrabble game on your iPad trip. A couple of red wines help with the snoozing. My ultimate destination was Maui, via a short stopover in Honolulu. We arrived on July 4th, greeted on Waikiki beach by thousands of local holiday revellers celebrating the annual running of the outrigger canoe championships. Why Maui? Because its got some of the best golf courses in the world, and the sand doesn’t stick to your feet! Why a stopover in Honolulu? Well, apparently a place called Ala Moana Mall, is were some of the best shopping by a teenage girl and a hot on her heels mum, can be had. Go figure, who knew!!
But back to Maui and its sand. Sand, now that’s up for debate. As an Aussie, we know sand! Right? We have a very definite and parochial understanding of what sand is, and Hawaiian sand, isn’t like our sand. Whilst its similar in colour and from a distance looks like our sand, its not fine beach sand. Hawaiian sand is made up of millions of years of crushed shells and crustacean carapices. It doesn’t cling to your feet like Bondi sand and it doesn’t get hard under foot the closer you walk near the tide line at the waters edge. It’s the opposite. Its hard away from the waters edge, and soft sinking quicksand-like near the waters edge, and doesn’t cling to your feet. That I definitely like!
But lets get to the real essence of the Hawaiian islands. It’s the colour of the waters surrounding these islands. The waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii ,contain a relatively low amount of algae and plant material so the water is very blue. This colour is often described in fancy terms as azure, or cyan. Whatever terminology floats your boat, I can tell you, it’s a really pleasing colour to stare at for hours over a few drinks, or whilst eating at one of the many grill bars, like Dukes @ Ka’anapali, conveniently located on the beach.
Not only are the Hawaiian waters a striking colour blue, the water is amazingly clear. When the winds are calm, the smooth waters afford an almost unparalled underwater visual distance. This clarity allows the snorkeling swimmer the opportunity to see a huge variety of underwater livestock. Goatfish, Goby’s, and Groupers, Angelfish, Pigfish and Wrasse. These are great to swim amongst but by far the majority of snorkelers come to swim with a big green sea turtle. The islands are renowned and particularly well stocked with them. They are strongly protected and are quite easy to find. As you drive around the island, have a look in any of the little lava bays that you drive past , and within 20mtrs of the beach, amongst the rocks, you’ll be treated to a swim with a graceful green sea turtle, gently munching on the sea grasses, coincidently named turtle grass.
The adult green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, is nearly a metre across the back of the shell, so make sure you grab an underwater camera from one of the easy to find snorkel hire shops that ring the island, and capture yourself, in the same frame, as one of these big fella’s. Remember, minimum distance is 10m, so don’t over do the lovin’. A picture with one of these will be a real show stopper when you get home. There is so much to do and see on Maui, so how do you do it all in 6 days. You know what its like, you hire a car, and do the quick U-drive-it-and-the kids-hate-it tour, trying to assess what are the best things to see and do, as you know you’ll probably never be back here again. Invariably, the things you want to see don’t happen, because you cant whine and convey disappointment as well as your kids can. So, if you’re a lousy negotiator against the power broking forces in your household, and you can only scratch up enough manly credits to get your way once, then here it is, the best, all encompassing activity “must do”. You will never forget the time you went to Maui, if you take this trip. Guaranteed!! My daughter experienced this trip, and in the true vocal wisdom of a teenager, her commentary on the trip was…sweet ride, true dat!!
This trip was conducted by Alex Air helicopter tours. They specialize in adventure tours, of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai islands. I recommend this activity with unreserved enthusiasm. It’s a “just gotta do it” trip. I opted for the mountain rainforest tour which included an across ocean jaunt to Molokai. The trip had everything I had hoped for; breathtaking photographic views, and a double helping of roller coaster style adrenalin rush excitement. It was awesome, and the best way to see the magnificent West Maui mountains, flying within a gnats whisker of the 800ft high waterfalls, banking over the highest sea cliffs in the world, and hovering down in the luscious rainforests were pools of crystal clear water converge from the towering waterfalls. That’s just for starters. Now, you’re thinking, why is this activity going to be something that you’ll never forget. Firstly, because the Hughes 500 helicopter is only a tiny 4-seater aircraft,, and secondly this ride is DOORS OFF !! Yep, that’s right! No looking out the hazy plexiglass windows for you on this trip. Its free breezin’ it for an hour, at heights of up to 1500 ft, and at speeds of close to 160kph.
You have nothing between you and the whistling wind, rushing past your nose. A completely unobstructed view of the ocean below, the mountains next to you, and towering waterfalls almost splashing you. You sense every joystick correction your pilot makes, and as you fly over the sparkling clear azure waters, you can see the huge green sea turtles, the coral and the bottom of the sandy sea beds below. If you are lucky enough to undertake this trip in Dec – February, you will almost certainly be treated to the magnificent sight of the major whale migration that congests the sea passage between Maui and Molokai.
When your chopper pilot brings you up alongside the 1000ft high sea cliffs of Molokai, you are absolutely sure that you could reach out and touch it. A gentle sideways shove on the joystick, and you feel the lean of the aircraft as you swing out ready to cross the 8 mile stretch of sea, between Maui and Molokai, and that 8 minute journey seems to take forever at only1500 ft above the ocean. You find yourself listening intently for any change in the helicopters engine drone. Once across the ocean, and seeing land beneath you, you exhale and slightly release the clenched cheeks that you didn’t realize you had affected, and once again continue the head turning so that you didnt miss a moment of the harsh mountain terrain in the West Maui mountains. As you fly across the coastline, you’re treated to a clear view of the craggy fingers of long cooled lava that form the bays and inlets, in which the sea turtles frolic.
You nod appreciatively as your pilot continues his commentary telling you over the intercom that the lush vegetation in the deep ravines below was the scenic location in which the famous Jurassic Park movie was filmed. The way you feel you’d not be surprised to see an actual dinosaur, such is the wild-eyed rush that you’re still experiencing after your ocean crossing. As your pilot banks and the Kahului harbor returns to view, you realize that this surreal adventure is fast coming to an end. Once your pilot sets the 350hp orange and black Hughes 500 down at Alex Air operations base, ground crew thankfully assist you to disembark. I thankfully remembered to take photographs but suggest, if you are using a DSLR camera, use shutter priority and a shutter speed of 1/2000 to compensate the movement of both the aircraft and the continuous buffeting of the winds. It’s a wild ride with so much to see. Add the sensory overload of the rushing wind , combined with the relentless military staccato chop-chop sound of the helicopter rotors in your ears, and the memory of this trip will stay firmly lodged forever at the top of your “guess what I did on holidays” stories. Whats really cool, is you can buy a “Doors Off” t-shirt and a dvd of the tour. Starting at $112 off peak / $220 peak, its worth every cent!
