Source: Wikipedia
BEST SWIMMING PAUOA BEACH, HAWAII Picture swimming in a languid lagoon, the water temperature perfect, sunshine lighting the shallows, with dazzling fish for companions. You are swimming slowly, deliciously, when suddenly you are spritzed from beneath by jets of icy water that cause you to bubble with laughter and delight.
Quick Facts
All beaches in Hawaii are public. The Mauna Lani Resort is on Mauna Lani Drive, 25 miles north of Kailua-Kona off Queen Kaahumanu Highway. The Fairmont provides limited public parking in its employee lot; you can also park at Holoholokai Beach Park, north of Mauna Lani, and walk to Pauoa Beach along the shore.
Pauoa Beach, at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel in the Mauna Lani Resort, is infused by natural freshwater springs that gurgle beneath the ocean’s surface. White sands stretch wide along the shore; rocky arms protect the lagoon. Surf may be raging outside, but Pauoa remains serene.
In an unusual arrangement, the hotel has partnered with the Oceanography Department of the University of Hawaii at Hilo to monitor the coral reef ecosystem while still allowing swimmers to admire the site’s natural jewels. Grab goggles and go meet a parrot fish, a spotted eagle ray, or even a pair of lau-wiliwili-nukunuku-oi-oi fish, which mate for life.
BEST FOR FAMILIES HAPUNA BEACH STATE RECREATION AREA, HAWAII Local families drive for hours to spend a day at Hapuna. They come down from the cool Kohala Mountains or from the miles of thirsty black-lava coast to an oasis of pure white sand yawning voluptuously beside a teal sea.
Hapuna has something for everyone—shore breaks for body boarders, fish for anglers, and in summer, calm water for swimmers. Diving schools coax novices into the shimmering sea.
Quick Facts
Hapuna is 30 miles north of Kailua-Kona on Queen Kaahumanu Highway. Its amenities include six screened A-frame sleeping shelters, available for $20 per night.
Teens jump, shrieking and laughing, from Ihumoku, the lava promontory, probably not realizing they are engaging in the ancient Hawaiian sport of lelekawa, cliff jumping. Children splash in the small, safe cove at the north end of the beach, across the lawn of the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel. Sea turtles often join them.
Hapuna is reliable for picnics. It gets only 10 inches of rain a year and is bordered by a ribbon of green park with shade, picnic pavilions, showers, and walkways. To do it right, bring a cooler, a portable grill, and big Tupperware bowls full of macaroni salad, poke, and Spam musubi.
BEST SAND ONELOA BEACH, MAKENA STATE PARK, MAUI Lawrence of Arabia would have loved this beach. It dazzles, almost hurting the eyes. The sands run 3,300 feet long and over 100 feet wide. The name Oneloa translates to "long sands."
Quick Facts
From the Shops at Wailea, drive south on Wailea Alanui Road for almost four miles. Look for a sign that says makena state park (big beach) parking area 1. Just after the sign, turn right into the lot.
The beach is so white, vast, and empty, it hushes the soul and turns the body to putty, to be remade in a quieter, surer, grander form. Dunks in the crystal clear ocean can feel sacramental.
Advocates of flower power set up a tarp town here back in the 1960s, perhaps recognizing the place’s transformative powers—or maybe just taking advantage of a free place to crash. They called Oneloa "Big Beach," a name that stuck like sand in a swimsuit.
Pu‘u Olai, the last volcanically active cinder cone on Maui, rises 360 feet on one end, and Haleakala’s peak towers behind, lending Oneloa a stark and dramatic beauty.
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