It was at this point when I began to realize I had made a terrible travel decision.
Up to this moment, weather had prevented me from hiking on three trails, I wanted to hike, a few sunset photos I wanted to shot, and closed off a significant portion of the island to me. It made me worry about the helicopter tour I had scheduled weeks before.
It was this, my previous day’s experience, and another thought that made me do a bit of research.
Before I came to the island, I reserved a ‘door’s off helicopter’ tour. This was a big step for me. Up till last year, when I did the impromptu helicopter flight on the Big Island, I had never been on a helicopter flight. So now I reserving a flight with no door?
Here’s what happened. Last year, when I researched shooting photos from a helicopter, I came across an article that talked about shooting from a helicopter; settings and etc. But one article I found talked about how to shoot Kauai – not the Big Island. This is part of why I wanted to go to Kauai. The article talked about shooting methods and conditions in the helicopter. In the article I read, it mentioned the difference between having to shoot through the canopy versus having to shoot without any obstruction. The previous article I mentioned shooting from a helicopter with no doors – no need to worry about shooting through a canopy, which is something I had to contend with on the Big Island trying to shoot the lava. And thus about a month before I went to Kauai, I researched and booked a “door’s off” helicopter tour. I wanted to shoot pristine shots of the Na Pali Coast.
This day was the day of the flight. From what I had read online and the recommendations from the tour company, I had brought a windbreaker and pants. Also, from my other research, it occurred to me to have not one, but two cameras – one with a wide lens and one with a telephoto. Thus I rented another Nikon D750 body
I took a selfie that morning and realized what kind of nerd I was.
I showed up at the place I was told to be at but was met with long faces. There had been no flights thus far that day, I was told. There might not be any flights today, I was told. I was instructed to wait while the pilots made a call to go or no-go. I was told to wait 15 minutes before a decision was to be made. I wasn’t hopeful. That day was more rainy than any other when I was on the island.
And then it was canceled. All flights were grounded.
It was at this point in my trip when I was at my lowest. Hikes I couldn’t go on, parts of the island I couldn’t go to, and now my number one thing I wanted to do before coming on to the island. To add a cherry on top of this sundae, I re-looked at my return flight info and discovered while yes I was leaving the island on a Sunday, I actually wasn’t landing in Baltimore until 1pm on MONDAY!
Because I bought ‘steerage’ priced tickets, I couldn’t change flights and one way flights back were prohibitly expensive. I had no planned taking that Monday off. And there was this huge project at work that I was very involved with…
Feeling dejected, I visited the Opaeka’a Falls, which were sorta close by. Then, I visited Spouting Horn Park around sunset to grab some shots. After that, I called it an early night since I had to be up early for my boat right.
Photo nerd ready for his flight 
Surf’s up on Kauai’s Eastern Shore 
Opaeka’a Falls 
Opaeka’a Falls 2 
Spouting Horn in action 
Waves at Spouting Horn 
Another Spouting Horn shot 
Even more more sunset at Spouting Horn Park 
Even more sunset at Spouting Horn Park 
More sunset at Spouting Horn Park 
Sunset at Spouting Horn