My visit to Maui - part IV

North Coast sea cliffs of Maui from helicopter

I’ve never been in a helicopter, it’s not something that you often get the opportunity to do, so what better place to try it than in Maui.

There are a number of different companies offering flights over Maui and the other Hawaiian Islands.   I went with Blue Hawaiian which is one of the popular ones.    There are also various route options and it was hard to decide, but I went with West Maui and the island of Molakai.   Check out their website for an example video of the flights.   The flight was 50 minutes long, we flew over the steepest sea cliffs in the world, one of the wettest valley’s where the hills tops are always lost in the clouds and saw waterfalls cascading down to become streams on the rainforest floor. Flying back over the sea from Molakai the pilot searched for whales so that we could see them from above.  It was really quite amazing, and well worth the money.   I would highly recommend it. 

Another first was whale watching.  I’ve never seen a whale up close, except in captivity.   The island of Maui is a popular place for the hump back whales to come from November through to May, but the peak season is January and February.  The whales travel over 3,500 miles from the Alaskan waters to Hawaiian oceans every year during their winter migration for breeding and birthing in the warmer waters.  It is believed that an average of 8000 make this journey. 

You can easily see the whales from the beaches,   or see the stream of misty air and vapour being forced out of their blow hole pinpointing their location.   But treat yourself to an up close and personal encounter with these giants.   There are many options for whale watching trips leaving from Lahaina on the west coast of Maui.  You can take a charter boat, or passenger raft out for a couple of hours with an expert to see the whales breaching and tail slapping.    We were very fortunate on our trip to have a female come right up to the boat, check out the passengers on one side, then swim underneath to see what the people on the other side looked like.  It was amazing to be so close to these inquisitive giants. 

There is a lot more to be seen on these islands than one would imagine.   The varied landscape, parks to hike in through bamboo forests, beaches of different types to explore, nature at its best.  There are the tourist areas with shops and restaurants,  the typical North American malls full of shops,  or the more exotic road side food stands offering banana bread, fresh fruit and various fish, the laid back surfing areas and quaint little towns.

I look forward to my next visit to these wonderful islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

Waterfalls, north Maui

Whale breaching

Flying over a whale