Is Kauai helicopter tour with Safari Helicopters worth it? — featuring Peter von Panda (Safari Helicopters)

0:00 what's up guys P come on panda here I'm on Kauai right outside and I send a probe on our safari helicopter tour with Safari helicopters again don't go in this is the building that was checking the first which is just off the air for this orientation fake degree fee and then they drive us back to the heliport

0:20 at the airport for the tour so let's go check it out one of the main reasons I booked with Safari helicopters was because of their superior website they had great information on the website I picked the deluxe waterfall safari tour it's $200 per person when you're booked on their website but they also

0:37 have a calendar feature on their website so you know exactly when they're available when you arrive you'll check in at the front desk and sign your waiver they will also weigh you so that if you lied on your application it won't matter they will know precisely how much you weigh and then balance the

0:52 helicopter based on the number of passengers you're taking they also have a little gift shop off to the left where you can pick up some souvenirs they also recommend that you wear a black shirt so that you're not getting reflections through the window when you're taking pictures from the helicopter I wore dark

1:09 blue shirt let's see more after your orientation a safety briefing which explains how to attach the life vest to your waist you'll be shuttled in the safari helicopters tour bus over to Lihue Airport helicopter staging area now there are ton of helicopter companies on the island many use different aircraft

1:27 like these which I think are Robinsons blue Hawaii uses the Ecostar and safari helicopters uses the tried-and-true Airbus a-star es350 helicopter safari helicopters uses - a stars that are identical and they also fly in alternating time slots when the incoming

1:53 helicopter lands your ground-based guide that will help them unload and then take pictures of them in front of the helicopter then he'll help you board the helicopter get buckled in your pilot an airbase tour guide will give you a quick orientation over how to use the microphones and when and when not to

2:12 participate - on the radio now I've never flown in a helicopter before and it was pretty exhilarating it's pretty odd to take off at first it kind of feels like you're dangling from the end of a rope the helicopter moves around a little bit and one of my tips to you is that because it kind of shakes a little

2:31 bit and then you get a lot of little climbs and drops so a lot of like positive and negative G's you can get a little bit of this a rollercoaster effect especially when you're moving pretty slow for a tour so if you do tend to get motion sickness and I tend to have a pretty sensitive stomach to it

2:51 you might want to take a Dramamine now I didn't and that ended up being fine but over the 45 minutes or so that you're in the air it could get uncomfortable and you don't want anything to take away from being able to take in the beautiful scenes of Kauai everyone does we're at Bose noise

3:07 cancelling headphones so that you can hear each other and there is a handheld microphone so that you can with the pilot keep in mind that anytime you speak into the microphone everyone on the aircraft can hear you we were touring actually with a French family which was fun you can also see that I

3:25 had my 3d camera with me too which I tried to take some video so I will post that as well so if you really want to see what to play inside the helicopter check out those videos to the landscape on Kauai is amazing in fact what ends up happening is you go kind of around the south edge of the island all the way to

3:40 the west side north side and back down to the airport and you see just a bunch of the island that you have no other way of seeing in fact some of the really steep cliffs high waterfalls as well as the rocky coastline it's really really amazing to check out now an hour long tour means that you will lift off at

3:58 your scheduled time and you will be skids down by the end of that hour since they have to take off for the next tour group and so your total flight time is probably in more in the 45 15 minutes with some takeoff and landing titles in there but it was a lot of fun and for $200 booked online which i think is

4:17 about 10 percent less than their published price I think it was a really good value it's a great way to start your vacation to seek why it's also a great way to have some ideas of where you want to go while you are visiting there the other thing I will say is that I did tip our pilot I thought he did a

4:33 fantastic job he also played Hawaiian music throughout the tour which just kind of puts you at ease and and really matched well the majesty of the landscapes that you're seeing now I tipped our pilot $25 per person for the people in my group and that was about 10 to 12 percent of the

4:51 advertised or discounted prices depending on what you use which I thought was a definitely appropriate and was if your visit inquire any of the other more remote islands I think the helicopter tour is a great way to see it check out safari helicopters comm the hope your trip Peter romp handed out