We will be staying a week on each island and want to take helicopter tour. We can only afford one so the questions is Which island should we do the helo tour on?

Also heard Blue Hawaiian is the best - any comments?

Kauai. Seeing the Napali coast from a helicopter is awesome. We took Blue Hawaiian tour a few months ago and were very pleased.

Kauai

Definitely Kauai.

I did the "doors off" helicopter tour in February. It was absolutely amazining. Call Jack Harter tours. They are the best!

Kauai. I've always heard that if you can only do one helicopter tour, it should be of Kauai.

We had a wonderful time on our tour. A couple of days later we took a boat trip, and it was nice to see from the water some of the things we had seen from the air.

Kauai-for the view! Maui can be seen by driving. But, Kauai only has that one main road around it's perimeter.We viewed Kauai on Heli-USA.It took off from the airport near Princeville. It was an unbelievable experience.Beautiful waterfalls,mountains,valleys,private beaches.We even saw rainbows! Enjoy!

Kauai is the best. We took Inter-Island with the doors off, out of Port Allen on the west side. They do the search and rescue for the island of Kauai.

We have done a helicopter trip on both islands and I would say Kauai wins hands down. There is so much of the island that you cannot see but by air.

We just got back yesterday and did a fixed wing trip with Wings Over Kauai that was half the cost of a helicopter and just as much fun.

just back from Kauai and splurged on an helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian. amazing. we picked them over Jack Harter and the doors off because they are the only one's flying the helicopter with 4 actual seats in the back (as opposed to a bench) and they have the different type of rear blade- sorry can't remember but it is safer and I'm a big scardy cat!

I have heard that Maui is kind of a waste in a copter. When they fly you into the crater of waterfalls on Kauai it makes you cry it is so beautiful! have fun!

Thanks for the great advice - seems like Kauai is the clear choice and we'll probably go with Blue Hawaiian - despite the fact that I'll have to pay the "fat boy" surcharge of +1/2 ticket cost.

Any helicopter companies that do not do that?

"despite the fact that I'll have to pay the "fat boy" surcharge of +1/2 ticket cost."

DH is a pretty big boy too (6'2" and 295 lbs) and we did not have to pay the "fat boy" surcharge with Inter Island nor with Wings Over Kauai.

REPORT BACK: Took the Blue Hawaii helo tour on Kauai and it was great. Some confusion on which day (we had to come back the next day, even after confirming by phone, but since we had a car - it wasn't a big deal). Heleicopters are very nice and modern and the pilot was very knowledgeable. Did not get to the summit of Waialeale (volcano) due to low clouds.

Would highly recommend!

We have done tours on both Islands, and yes the Kauai one is best. The ridges, the waterfalls and the rugged coastline is unforgetable.

thanks for the report, cdrcos. We're looking at doing this in September, would love to hear more details? and did you have to pay the surcharge? How was the helo itself, was it comfortable for a large person? (my DH is also a big guy).

china_cat we have a bit more about it on our blog, we also went in September

http://luggagetag.blogspot.com/2008/10/remember-tc.html

china_cat
Yes, I did pay the surcharge and they left a seat empty. Plenty comfortable and I weight 285#. Trip was everything they advertised.