Time of day for helicopter tour
 

Is there a "best" time of day, ie, early morning, mid morning, afternoon, to take a helicopter tour of:
1) Kauai
2) Circle of Fire on Big Island

I read that there are less bumps if you go early in the morning on the Big Island.

Please share your experiences!

Thank you!

As far as Kauai goes, I'm not sure if it makes much difference if it's a nice day. I would probably opt for morning, simply because the area around Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau lookout from above the Canyon toward the Pacific tends to get cloudy after noon. Since the views are so spectacular, I guess I'd want to try and avoid the chance of a cloud cover if I could.

Two weeks ago, we flew with Sunshine Helicopters out of the Princeville Airport on an approx. 50 min. tour of Kauai including Waimea Canyon and the Na Pali Coast. We departed at 8:45am as we were offered a discount by doing so: $199 per person for the morning flight vs. $349 person for a flight later in the day. So the discount was considerable, although helicopter touring rates in Hawaii tend to be rather elastic depending on the operator and current tourist demand.

This morning flight was excellent as Kauai was experiencing less than usual cloud cover that day. We were even able to fly over the 5000+ foot summit of the island, which is something that normally cannot be done as it's usually socked in up there ("one of the world's wettest spots" and all that).

Aircraft was a late model Eurocopter EC130B4 which is an excellent touring helicopter. Our pilot, who looked like an old hippie complete with a long gray ponytail, was excellent as well (I'm in the helicopter business for offshore oil & gas support in the Gulf of Mexico) and provided very knowledgeable commentary.

We were staying in Princeville so by flying out of the Princeville Airport we saved almost two hours of driving time had we taken the tour from the Lihue Airport.

I can definitely recommend the morning flight with Sunshine Helicopters from Princeville Airport unless the weather is not cooperating.

My family and I did a Blue Hawaiian chopper tour out of Hilo a couple of years ago. I think it was an afternoon flight. Beautiful, clear day and no problem with bumps.

The tour itself (especially the pilot) was great and i couldn't recommend them more. My wife (who was a bit nervous) sat in the front seat with my daughter. The pilot put her at ease right away and she ended up having a great time.