Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BIG ISLAND BY AIR
Seeing the Big Island by air adds an entirely new dimension to your visit, particu-
larly when the doors are off. Drama depends on volcanic activity and water flow
over falls. The following providers will take you skyward from Hilo Airport.
Paradise Helicopters
(
969-7392;
www.paradisecopters.com
)
. Offers a Kilauea vol-
cano tour via two different birds. In the 4-passenger Hughes MD500 everyone gets
a window, and its small size really enhances the feeling of flying. Best of all is the
doors-off option, which may ruin your hairdo but enhances the trip (ever smell a
volcano from the air?). The 6-pax Bell 407 is the same tour in a larger chopper with
doors on. $228 per person, $205 online. Departs main terminal every hour from
7:30am to 4:30pm.
Blue Hawaiian
(
961-5600;
www.bluehawaiian.com
)
. Flies the Ecostar ($274) and A-
star ($225) on a 45-minute volcano & waterfall tour departing hourly from 9am to
4pm except noon. Main terminal.
Safari Helicopters
(
969-1259;
www.safarihelicopters.com
)
. Offers a 45-minute
Kilauea volcano tour ($207) and a 55-minute volcano & waterfalls tour ($229).
First parking lot on left.
Iolani Air
(
800-538-7590, 329-0018;
www.iolaniair.com
; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri)
. The
fixed-wing option. A one-hour narrated volcano/waterfall flight is $175. Everyone
gets a window. End of cargo terminal.
Sights
ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi
MUSEUM
(
969-9700;
www.imiloahawaii.org
; 600 ʻImiloa Pl; adult/child 4-12yr $17.50/9.50; 9am-5pm
Tue-Sun)
Where else but Hilo will you find a museum that merges traditional myth and
modern science? And yet this extraordinary $28 million complex, which includes the
world's first 3-D planetarium, manages to pull it off, providing a holistic, multifaceted
view of the heavens. One planetarium show is included with admission.
ʻImiloa, which means 'exploring new knowledge,' fuses modern astronomy on Mauna
Kea with the Polynesian ocean voyagers, who used star maps rooted in myth, bringing
the Big Bang and the Hawaiian creation story together. This is an excellent family attrac-
tion and the natural preliminary to ascending Mauna Kea itself.
