Every opportunity to visit the beach is a golden one, and another moment that adds a drop in the big barrel of happiness and beauty that’s become our lives since we moved to the Kingdom, the Land of Eternal Summer.
{ Life’s a Beach } Favorite Beaches in the Kingdom
Ka’alawai Beach
Our favorite beach near Town is Ka’alawai Beach, a fairly unknown beach considering its proximity to Diamond Head, Waikiki and Kahala beaches. Parking is terrible, and if the surf is high, access to the swimmable section of water and wider stretch of sand can be unreachable by foot (Kayak, surf board or stand up paddle would be the only other options at that point). But for the reason that it’s never super packed, often has no tourists, offers amazing reef for snorkeling and is difficult to find if you don’t know exactly where you’re going, this beach is an absolute and rare gem.
The water here is an actual bright azure, and Diamond Head crater looming above tall coco palms provides that idealized tropical paradise backdrop that one sees in postcards and Travel Channel specials.
It’s one of the best swimming beaches (during the winter/spring season when Monster surf batters the North Shore) within a fifteen minute drive. Summertime, waves can be a bit rough, but the offshore reefs are abundant here and help buffer the wave breaks a bit. We try to go here a couple times a month, work schedules permitting.
There are no facilities here. A forlorn lone trash bin and HI-5 recycling receptacle are the only rubbish containers around, so malama o ka ‘aina and bring out with you everything you brought in. I.e., pick up after your dog and don’t leave trash on our fair beaches, please.
Kualoa Beach Park
When we lived on the other side of the Island, there was a gorgeous beach within a 2 minute drive of our taro patch farm house. The beach is a great mile long stretch of uninterrupted white sand at the north of Kane’ohe Bay. Protected by the living reef of the bay, the water here is often quite calm. Also, being quite the hike from town, the beach is empty or nearly empty most days of the week.
The white sands are littered with ocean detritus–coral pieces, driftwood, random boat parts, flotsam and jetsam of the seas–but the water shines a bright aqua and the waves lap languidly on the shore. Walk a mile to the end of the beach and you virtually have your own private stretch of sand. Walk to the other end of the beach, near the highway, and you’re treated with a clear view of Mokoli’i, the island off shore shaped like a Chinaman’s hat (hence its colloquial name).
Unknown to many, Kualoa and neighboring ahupua’a (ancient Hawaiian land districts) Hakipu’u (our old ‘hood) are some of the most sacred lands in all of O’ahu, with Kualoa Beach Park and the waters of Hakipu’u being chief among them.
The last time we were there, a Polynesian Vaka Moana canoe, Hokule’a, built in Hakipu’u in 1974 to honor the area’s cultural and historical significance, was moored in the shallows in homage to the sacred site. It was quite the moment.
We used to take Max Bear, a couple of beers, a book and our suits and “go beach” before twilight, catching enough rays to swim, enjoy our cold ones and then catch a glimpse of fire streaming like misty orange searchlights through the jagged, finger-like pali (cliffs) of the Ko’olau mountains.
If you’re ever in Hawai’i, drop me a line. I’d be happy to show you these magical places that play such a significant role in shaping my bliss.
Me ke aloha ~ With love, Xx
Mae
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Photo Credits: 1, 3 and 4 by Nate Luzod. All other photos by thereafterish.
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