Day 15: Helicopter, Spouting Horn, & Poipu

Day 15: Helicopter, Spouting Horn, and Poipu Beach

We had been looking forward to this helicopter trip with great excitement. First of all, Bill and I have never been in a helicopter, and second of all, we would get these great views without all the hard work of hiking.

The pilot seated me in the front right next to him which was very cool, and Bill was to the right of me. We had front row seats! As soon as we gently lifted off that pad, I was enraptured. Now, I love flying, but this was even cooler. I would like to own my own helicopter. Anyway, enough about the total coolness of how it flies and on to the scenery.

The scenes laid out before us were like feasting at the best of buffets. Peak after peak, waterfall after waterfall – it was very amazing. We got to fly into those valleys we had hiked around a few days before and see a bird’s eye view of exactly where we had camped on the beach in front of the waterfall.

We went right into the crater of the mountain peak where you could see that in times of higher rain fall, this ring of the crater would be strewn with waterfalls. There were still plenty though. This was a terrific flight!

We then grabbed some burgers on our way to Spouting Horn on the south side. This is a lava tube that shoots water like a geyser. We ate lunch at a nearby picnic table while watching it shoot, sometimes very little, sometimes 15 or 20 feet.

For the afternoon, we settled in at Poipu Beach – more great beach, great sun, great water, and even good snorkeling. How can you go wrong? There were plenty of fish around for us to see in this bay, and we explored it thoroughly before relaxing on the beach for a little while. I know I should spare you more fish pictures but I can hardly resist! I am addicted!

On the way home, we stopped in at the Hawaiin Trading Post and gawked at Nihau Shell Leis – they basically have a museum-quality collection of them. These are incredibly unique leis. Women find these teeny tiny shells on Nihau (the forbidden island) and drill and string them in a very time-consuming and highly skilled process. They are absolutely gorgeous and range in price from $250 to $10,000. Of course, the higher priced ones are multiple strands, long and usually have a history of being worn by a princess or something. I spied a fairly short one-strand lei with red and pink shells that I loved and gasped when I saw the price at $695. Hey, at least it wasn’t a $5,000 one, right?

Then it was on to Cold Stone Creamery for dinner (what, you say?) (yes, we are falling off the health wagon) (hey you only live once) (don’t worry, we’ll have some more sushi) and then back to the pool and then home!