When flying into Kauai’s airport the first things that meet your eye are the rugged cliffs separating Kipu Kai and Nawiliwili Harbor, then the scenic Kalapaki Bay and the Marriott Hotel and finally right before touchdown the Kauai Lagoons Golf Course. Wow what a entry into the Garden Island Kauai. These same scenic spots are also the first thing you will encounter as a passenger on one of Safari’s exciting helicopter tours over Kauai, only in reverse course and in greater ease and comfort.

This gateway to Kauai has long been important to the people of Kauai. Aside from the obvious recreation benefits of the Kauai Lagoons golf course and the golden sands of Kalapaki Bay in front of the Marriott, the Nawiliwili  Harbor has more importantly been used as the main shipping port for the now gone Kauai sugar companies and before that by Hawaiians for fishing and hunting and now for commercial shipping, cruise ships and small pleasure boats. In the days before the Kauai sugar cane operations, the entire harbor was covered in native Nawiliwili Trees, hence the name. More recently Nawiliwili Trees have been replanted on a number of the roads leading down to the harbor and are recognizable by their small red flowers.

 While taking a Kauai helicopter tour the first thing that really stands out from the vantage point that only a helicopter tour can provide is this legendary Kauai port, Nawiliwili. There is a large break-wall on the outside of the harbor that was built in 1930 and delineates the open ocean from the safe harbor. Your Kauai helicopter tour will then take you up the Huleia River alongside the Haupu Mountain range. These mountains separate Kauai’s Eastern Shore and Lihue from Kauai’s South Shore. As your helicopter tour skirts along the edge of this mountain range you will be amazed to see through and over the valleys and peaks to a remote spot beyond (towards the south shore) called Kipu Kai. Kipu Kai is currently privately owned and off limits to the public. There is a single thread of a road that cuts through Haupu for private land access. Kipu Kai was one of the locations made semi-famous from the film “The Thornbirds” (as well as other movies filmed on Kauai)and remains pristine.

Just a few seconds beyond the Kipu Kai glimpses, on your right side of the helicopter (looking towards the east side and Lihue) you will see the Menehune fish pond. Legend has it that it was built in one night by “little people” called Menehunes. Menehunes are like the Hawaiians version of the leprechauns and is primarily considered Hawaiian folk lore. The fish pond was a ingenious way of catch fish with the surging tide so that they were in a smaller radius and therefore easier to catch.

Just think in the first few minutes of your Kauai helicopter tour with Safari Helicopters you have already seen so many Kauai wonders that it is hard to imagine that the best is yet to come. Come book your Kauai helicopter tour today with Safari Helicopters for an outstanding aerial tour of the gorgeous garden island of Kauai. Click here for more information on tour options.