Circle of Fire (Hilo, Hawaii) – Paradise Helicopter Tour Review

Circle of Fire – Paradise Helicopter Tour Review
Hilo, Hawaii

Written by:  Patty

I was super nervous about riding in a helicopter, let alone one with no doors!


  

You first meet with your group and watch a video about the island’s culture, the volcano, etc., and then have a safety briefing.  You then walk out to the tarmac and get loaded onto your helicopter.  

Our pilot was Marco and he was awesome.  Looked like he was about 18 years old, but I was assured he was much older than that…  

I got to sit in the middle between the pilot and my husband, which made me feel much more secure.  The weather was beautiful as we took off and therefore we didn’t wear our windbreakers.  Big mistake!  

As we got about 5 minutes into the ride the rain clouds came and we got damp.  It was cold up there, but the view on top of the volcano took away the feeling of being cold very quickly.  It was fantastic! 

 

You could see where the volcano had flowed the year before, wiping out the villages around it.  It was sad and beautiful at the same time.  There were tiny bits of road you could see from the helicopter. 

 

We got so close to the bubbling pots of lava, so cool!  Marco then took us out to the coast where the lava tubes were flowing and we could see it coming out of the cliffs and dropping into the blue water.  Such a sight to see!  It was amazing how well he handled the helicopter with how windy it was.  

On the way back to the airport we flew through the rainforest and saw some gorgeous waterfalls, exactly what you would imagine seeing in Hawaii!