Kaua’i from the air

As the title says,  an aerial shot taken over the Island of Kaua’i.  There are numerous companies operating helicopters over the island,  with the choices being between fully enclosed “comfortable” aircraft,  to smaller ”no doors” choppers.   A no brainer for me,  it was the no doors option,  thank you.    Noisy?  yes,  cold?  yes,  but unimpeded views,  Yes!

Kaua’i coastline from the air

Kaua’i has some quite spectacular scenery some of which can only really be appreciated from the air.    Weather conditions over the island can be highly changeable with clouds constantly moving through and over the mountainous interior.   The highlands of Kaua’i receive a huge amount of rainfall,  indeed it’s one of the wettest places in the world.  All that rainfall means that there are a huge number of waterfalls to be seen,  at times a dozen or more waterfalls in a single view.

When taking photos from a door-less helicopter,  one of the issues I found was that at times the air was so moist with fog and cloud that the front element of the lens would gather water droplets obscuring the image.   Fortunately, the airflow over the aircraft was such that it was simply a case of holding the camera at an angle to the wind for a moment and the droplets would quickly be blown off and the lens cleared.  ~KD