Maui Helicopter Tours – Don’t be fooled by the weather forecast

Posted on September 14, 2011 by myBuddyonMaui

Maui Helicopter Tours

Don’t be fooled by the weather forecast

On Monday, September 12th I helped a newly married couple secure a reservation on a Maui Helicopter Tour. They wanted to do the tour as soon as possible, meaning Tuesday, as they heard that the weather forecast called for rain on Wednesday. Unfortunately, everything was already sold out for Tuesday.

I convinced them to take the Maui Helicopter Tour on Wednesday anyway and managed to get them on my favorite flight, the West Maui Molokai Tour with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters.

I reassured the newlyweds that it is nearly impossible to forecast the weather on Maui, and that if it does rain, it may not hit until Wednesday evening or not at all!

Here’s a picture I took this morning, Wednesday September 14, 2011 of the West Maui Mountains at 8:37am. No Rain!!
Maui Helicopter Tours

Imagine if the newlyweds had listened to the advice of the weather forecaster. They would have missed out on a beautiful Maui Helicopter Tour of the West Maui Mountains and Molokai. If they tried calling this morning to make a reservation, they would have been disappointed to learn that all of the flights were already sold out for the day.

I’m sure Molokai has equally beautiful weather this morning, but I can’t see it from my side of the island.

Please keep in mind that it rains almost daily somewhere on Maui, but it’s usually isolated showers in remote parts of the island and won’t affect your Maui Helicopter Tour. If it does rain and your tour is canceled, simply reschedule to another day.

Here is the weather forecast for Maui as of 12:26pm:
Maui Helicopter Tours
Let’s see how it looks at the end of the day. I’ll try to take another picture of the West Maui Mountains around sunset for comparison.

Plan ahead for your Maui Helicopter Tour

Remember, it is always best to plan for things to work out than to let uncertainty potentially ruin your Maui vacation.

Take care and aloha!
~Your Buddy

Maui Helicopter Tours – View of Haleakala on the Morning of 8-05-2011

Posted on August 6, 2011 by myBuddyonMaui

Maui Helicopter Tours

View of Haleakala on the Morning of 8-05-2011

Mornings are a good time to do some sightseeing on a Maui Helicopter Tour, especially if you are interested in a view of Haleakala.

As you can see from this photo that I took this morning at around 8:00am during my walk at Keopualani Park, the view of Haleakala is very good. You will notice, however, that there is a large amount of cloud cover rolling across from the Haiku-side of the island of Maui. It won’t be long before those clouds will completely engulf and obstruct the view of Haleakala from my current point of view.

Don’t be too alarmed.

View of Haleakala on a maui helicopter tour

In most cases your view of Haleakala when taking a Maui Helicopter Tour of the crater will be excellent. Those clouds normally form a ring that encircle Haleakala at around the 6,000 to 8,000 ft. elevation, with a break in the chain around the East-Rift zone where your Maui Helicopter Tour pilot is able to show you amazing aerial views of the crater.

Driving view of Haleakala

Driving up to the summit of Haleakala takes you well above the clouds at the 10,000 ft. elevation. The view of Haleakala is incredible, and will remain fairly good throughout the day, but the best time to see the crater is definitely at sunrise. Take a jug of coffee or hot cocoa and dress warm. It’s freezing at sunrise!

Take care and aloha!
~Your Buddy

Big Island Helicopter Tours – New Volcanic Activity at Kilauea on the Big Island

Posted on August 4, 2011 by myBuddyonMaui

Big Island Helicopter Tours

New Volcanic Activity at Kilauea on the Big Island

Lots of new volcanic activity happening at Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. I got a call from a friend on the Big Island who filled me in on the news. He said that Blue Hawaiian was taking a Big Island Helicopter Tour up to record video footage of the new eruption, probably for the news media. Hopefully they’ll make some of it available on their website for viewing.

Activity Summary for past 24 hours: Major changes in the east rift zone: Pu`u `O`o crater floor collapsed yesterday afternoon taking the lava lake with it; about 15 minutes after the start of the collapse, a high-volume lava flow issued from west flank vents on Pu`u `O`o Cone and flowed northwest and south along the west edge of previous flows. At the summit, the lava lake surface started to slowly recede yesterday afternoon. Seismicity was elevated within the summit area and low elsewhere. Gas emissions remained elevated from summit and rift zone vents.

–HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY

Be sure to check out the webcams at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory for the latest views of Kilauea Volcano. Hopefully if you’re watching the webcam at night they don’t put on the night vision version of it. It’s black and white, so you can’t really distinguish the red lava from the dark surroundings. You can access the webcams by clicking here.

Take care and aloha!
~Your Buddy