South Pacific Helicopters

An experience I’ll never forget! From the breathtaking trip over the peninsula to landing in such a jaw-dropping location, Daniel was incredible host (and pilot)! Add Justine to the mix and you’re in for a treat. Gin tasting and helicopters, a match made in heaven!

If you are on the fence about this experience - don’t hesitate just do it!!!!! Fantastic, mind blowing experience in a helicopter going over the ocean with the mountains around you and then flying up to the top of Mt Fyffe. The whales were so amazing!!! I feel so privileged to see them from the air. I have done the whale watch boat trip 20 years ago and the trip with South Pacific helicopters far exceeded that. You could see the whole whale in the ocean below you. Amazing! Daniel our pilot cracked lots of jokes and I felt safe in the helicopter with him, having never been in one before. The trip up Mt Fyffe was a wonderful experience and landing on top. The view spectacular. This trip is one of the best things I’ve ever done! Thanks South Pacific Helicopters.

This was an amazing experience! Dan was a great host and the flight was excellent. The views of Kaikōura are spectacular and will be something I remember forever. Having a picnic on the top of a mountain overlooking Kaikōura was great way to experience my first helicopter flight.

Myself and partner went on the premier helicopter package. Daniel’s knowledge of whales and local history made for an informative flightThis was very worthwhile experience and would recommend to anybody looking to do a whale watching flight if near Kaikōura

A fantastic Heli-Gin tour. We felt like VIPs for the whole trip, and Dan and the team were very friendly and professional. Great communication and a very smart set up. Thanks guys!

Pilot Daniel gave us a custom flight around the mountains behind Kaikoura, showing us the fault lines from the 2016 earthquake and the new lake that was created. He then did a mountain top landing. The whole experience was marvellous and Daniel and his team were thoroughly professional and reassuring. Could not have been better.

Such a fun tour. Daniel was a great pilot and fantastic whale guide with tons of knowledge about the resident whales and all other types that can be seen. The helicopter is comfortable and great fun. A top customer experience and I would thoroughly recommend to anyone. It’s a great value trip and one that shouldn’t be missed. Thanks to all at Southern Pacific Helicopters.

I had such a wonderful time on my helicopter ride! It was my first experience and i felt so safe and comfortable. The team were so helpful and professional with helping me choose which tour to go on, I ended up choosing a whale flight, and then to my surprise once we were in the helicopter, our pilot decided to also take us up to Mt Fyffe for a snow landing! Absolutely made my day & i'll always remember it. We saw 3 whales and hundreds of dolphins! Thank you again! Highly recommend this company to all :)

We did the helicopter whale watch/hill stop flight last week and this was absolutely amazing. The day was perfect, from seeing a whale and the mountains and Kaikoura from a different perspective. Dan, an amazing pilot and his team were friendly and knowledgeable which made for a perfect trip. We can highly recommend this business/tour.

We wanted to whale watch in Kaikoura.So far, so good.But which means of transport would be best?Our propensity to seasickness, especially after two hours on the water meant a boat wasn’t attractive.And the angle of viewing at water level would probably give a partial view of a whale at best.So for us an aerial approach would be better than waterborne.That meant a choice between a fixed wing aeroplane and a helicopter.Given the relatively short time a whale is on the surface to breathe, and the difficulty of spotting and then reaching them in time, speed and manoeuvrability are key.While a plane is quicker in a straight line, and could reach a distant location where a boat has reported whale activity, a helicopter will get there not long after.Much more importantly a helicopter can turn very fast and hover over the spot to get the shot.The plane keeps going and has a much slower turning circle. By the time the plane has returned the whale may well have dived.Getting a good quality video or photos of the whale is really important to us.So visibility and the ability to shoot through an open window to avoid glare and scratches on glass are vital.Depending on the particular model, both plane and helicopter may have openable windows.But an additional factor is how many window seats there are and which of them has an openable window.It’s not much good being a passenger sitting in the middle of a three-seat row…and generally a whale watch plane carries more passengers than a helicopter.Taking all these factors into account, and mindful there are absolutely no guarantees of seeing a whale, we chose to pay the premium.We booked a 45 minutes Whale Watch Safari with South Pacific Helicopters at NZ$650 or £330 each, making a total of NZ$1,300 or £660. This included a courtesy car to collect and return us to our hotel.There were just the two of us, plus Daniel the captain and co-pilot Keighley. So my partner sat in the front alongside Dan.This meant a wonderful panoramic view. But through fixed glass which is not so great for photos (everything has a trade-off!)I was behind by the openable window on the left hand side. So I was able to use my mobile camera with an unobstructed view.Keighley (ex 737 pilot) at the other window spotted the Blue Whale after about twenty minutes of searching.Dan turned on a dime and we had a perfect view of this huge rarity as the helicopter hovered above. And I’ve got the video and stills to show our grandchildren!We had seen dozens of dolphins the previous day with Encounter, so our brief to Dan had been to focus on whales. But once we’d seen our Blue it was lovely to have aerial views of dolphins too.Dan also landed us on top of a hill which gave us a panoramic view of Kaikoura and the mountains beyond.Yes, it was expensive, but it was value-for-money for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.