One of my favorite days in Hawaii was the day we did our helicopter tour. If you ever have the chance to ride in a helicopter, do it! We had some incredible views, and I would definitely do it again. We rode with the doors OFF to get the ultimate experience. I wanted to get some nice shots without having a glare from the window, so doors off it was. We were a little scared at first, but our pilot was great and we loved it.
It gets pretty cold when you have the doors off and you're traveling 154 mph! I felt crazy, because it was in the mid 90s on the ground, and I had two jackets with long pants on. As soon as we got near the volcano, it felt so good. We were so cold I almost couldn't stand it, but the volcano warmed us up real quick! Kilauea's last eruption was January 3, 1983 and there is still lava that hasn't cooled off yet from the eruption! Kilauea is still active, but the islanders will have some time to evacuate if or when it erupts again. Our pilot was very certain that it will erupt again, but it will be awhile. He was so excited as we circled the volcano, because he doesn't get to see much lava from the caldera. We were very lucky to see all the activity that day.
At one point, we were on the same level as the clouds and it was a little unnerving. For a few moments we were surrounded by a white barrier, and couldn't see anything. Some photos are just gray because of all the clouds. Everything seems like it's moving so slow, and the clouds are just rolling by you. It was incredible. All of the dead and silver/shiny areas is from lava run off, and the lighter areas is lava still trying to cool. It starts out red and orangish first(of course) and as it cools it turns silver until it slowly darkens to black rocks. It was so cool to listen to our pilot explain all of the volcano history, he made the ride more interesting with all of the fun facts! He did a fantastic job with us first time flyers!
Later in the day we visited the Black Sand Beach, but unfortunately our visit was cut short due to an intense rain shower. It was still awesome to see all the black sand, and there were huge turtles there too! Some even came closer to say hi.
