This page is which one to drive to. The long versions already exist: Punaluʻu, Kaimu, and Pohoiki. Read those if you have already picked. Use this if you have not.

Papakōlea is green sand, not black. Do not put it on this list.

The short chooser

• Punaluʻu if you want the classic palm-and-jet-sand bay, facilities, and the easiest day-trip from Volcano or South Kona. Isolated. More than an hour from both Kona and Hilo.
• Kaimu if you want the new Kalapana shore: a short hike over 1990 lava, young palms, and a coast the site’s own post says to stay out of.
• Pohoiki if you want the 2018 beach — black rock and new sand where a boat ramp used to meet a bay. Access is the long way around. Swimming is not the default.

Do not treat “best black sand” as a swim ranking. Conditions change. Read the day’s surf. Stay out if you are not sure.

Punaluʻu — the one most people mean

The Punaluʻu post is the on-site guide. Crescent bay, jet-black sand, a coconut forest behind it, about 10 miles past Nāʻālehu on the southern highway, about 30 miles south of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

It has the facilities the other two mostly do not: parking, picnic pavilions, restrooms, showers, a lifeguard during open hours, campsites by reservation. Pets, open fires, and taking sand, rocks, or plants are prohibited.

The sand gets hot. The waterline is lava rock. That post says water shoes are a good idea here even if you skip them at easier beaches. Freshwater springs feed the bay — the name means “spring water dived for” — so the water can feel cold on top of warm.

Snorkel only shows up in that post as a calm-day activity, with visibility dropping when the bay chops up. High surf is a stay-out day, including for locals. This chooser will not call Punaluʻu a great swim. It is the black-sand day-trip with a bathroom and a lifeguard.

Turtles haul out here. The Punaluʻu post says stay at least 20 feet back. Do not touch, feed, or crowd them. Do not take the sand home.

The Punaluʻu Bake Shop is in Nāʻālehu, a few miles away, not on the sand. If you are coming from the park, this is a south-highway day, not a Hilo-town errand.

Kaimu — new beach, no swim

The Kaimu post is a quarter-mile hike across a 1990 lava field on a red-cinder footpath, to a rocky shore of crashing waves and young coconut palms.

Old Kaimu was a palm-lined crescent and a local swim. The 1990 Kalapana flow filled the bay and buried the old beach. What you walk to now is new coastline. The post is blunt: swimming here is exceptionally hazardous, and locals generally do not want people in the water. On high surf the shore stones tumble. Stay out.

You come for the walk and the new shore, not for a snorkel. Park at the Kalapana / “Uncle’s” end of Highway 130 and look for the trail sign. The Kaimu post is the how-to. Do not invent a second trail.

Pohoiki — the 2018 beach

The Pohoiki post is the newest of the three. Until 2018 this was a bay with a boat ramp and a protected inlet, not a long black-sand shore. The Lower Puna flow filled the bay with sand and rock, pushed the coastline out, and left the ramp pointing at a stagnant lagoon.

It is still changing. That post says favorable swim days are rare, the underwater structure shifts, and people who are not strong swimmers should treat the water as a non-starter. There is a lifeguard operation. Many visitors stay on the rock and look at how close the 2018 flow came to the lot.

Getting there is the other half. The site’s Pohoiki page says Highway 137 north and the old Pohoiki Road cutoffs are gone, and the remaining approach is Highway 137 south (Red Road) through Opihikao, including gravel patches where lava crossed the road. Check that the road is open before you count on the day. Isaac Hale Beach Park is the park name on the same shore.

Honoliʻi is black sand. It is not this trip.

Honoliʻi is Hilo’s surf cove, two miles north of the bayfront. Watch from the cliff lot. It is not a family swim poster and it is not a Punaluʻu substitute.

The Waipiʻo overlook looks down on another black-sand shore. The overlook is the stop. The valley floor is not a casual add-on.

Which day it belongs on

Punaluʻu is a dedicated south-highway day. From a Hilo or Volcano base it pairs with the park only if you treat them as a long outing, not a crater-plus-sunset stack. The three-day itinerary already says that. From Kona it is the long inland day on a five-day stay, not a three-day errand.

Kaimu and Pohoiki are Puna days from Hilo / Pāhoa. They are not a west-side afternoon.

If you have three days on the Kona side, skip all three and swim at Hapuna. Black sand is an east and south project.

That article was never written. I checked. This is the page.

I am not going to invent a second, secret beach named Chalk’s and then give it a tide chart. The name is already on our Keaukaha post. The county name on the facility listing is Onekahakaha Beach Park. That is the park at 74 Onekahakaha Road. If someone in your car still says Chalk’s, they mean this same stretch of Keaukaha shore, not a hidden cove I mapped from a blog.

I also will not invent a Hawaiian-language lecture or a 1930 origin story. Those show up on other people’s sites. They were not on the county card I used, and they were not on our Keaukaha post. The park name is the park name. The wading pool is the reason you came.

The wading pool we already described

I live in this climate. When someone asks where to put a small child in salt water on the Hilo side, this is the name that comes up — not Honoliʻi, not the open bay.

What this site has already said, and what I will not decorate:

• Onekahakaha sits on the same Kalanianaole peninsula as Keaukaha, Carlsmith, Kealoha, and Richardson.
• Keaukaha called the pool shallow and boulder-lined, and used the plural “wading pools” once.
• It is less than a mile farther along the peninsula from Keaukaha’s eastern fields.

That is the swim. A protected, kid-scale pond behind rock, not a snorkel reef and not a surf break. If you want the clear lagoon this site already ranked first in Hilo, go to Carlsmith. If you want the surf, go to Honoliʻi and keep the kids on the sand. If you want the end-of-the-road cove, that is Richardson.

I will not invent a depth in feet. I will not tell you the outer tide pools are safe. The Keaukaha post already treated this peninsula as a place where the inside water can be calm while the real ocean explodes somewhere nearby. Same idea. Stay inside the rocks with little kids. Look at the water that day.

Turtles use this whole coast. Same rule as the neighbor posts: do not touch, do not herd, do not make a child chase one for a photo.

What the county actually lists

The County of Hawaiʻi facility page is a short card. I am staying inside it.

• Address: 74 Onekahakaha Road, Hilo, HI 96720
• Phone: (808) 961-8311 ext. 1
• Amenities they named: restrooms, playground, pavilion, BBQ pits/grills, horseshoe pits, ADA accessible
• Category: Beach Park, South Hilo

That is a picnic park with a place to swim, not a concession stand. The playground and the pavilion are why local families treat this as a whole afternoon, not a ten-minute look.

The county also runs a pavilion rental program for day use at many parks. Permits are in person, not a phone reservation, per that page. I am not printing a fee. If you need the pavilion on a Saturday, call the number above and go downtown like everyone else.

What the county card did not list, so this page will not either:

• Hours
• An entrance fee
• Whether a lifeguard is there on a Tuesday in February

Travel sites love to fill those blanks. I am not going to.

How this fits a Hilo day

Onekahakaha is not a Kona beach. It is not on the top 10 list; that list used Carlsmith / Four Mile as the Hilo entry and said the point was protected swimming, not sand. This park is the even-more-kid version of that idea.

A sane east-side morning, if you already have Hilo as a base:

• Rainbow Falls early, if you want the in-town waterfall
• This pool when the kids are done with the car
• Or flip it: swim first, then a short town stop

Do not add Akaka and Volcanoes and this park as a relaxed loop. That is a driving day. The how-many-days logic on this site still holds: one side, or you live in the car.

Hilo weather is the wet-side weather. The widgets are the forecast. A passing shower does not ruin a wading pool. A high surf advisory is a different sentence. Look at the ocean outside the rocks before you decide the inside is a bathtub.

No restaurant names. The Keaukaha post already wandered into a dining list I am not going to copy or extend. Bring water. Bring snacks. Bring a shirt for the rain.

How To Get There

Same peninsula start as Keaukaha.

From Highway 11 and Kamehameha Avenue on the bayfront, take Kalanianaole Street east. Past the Port of Hilo. Past Keaukaha Beach Park. The Keaukaha post already said Onekahakaha is less than a mile farther along that road.

Turn toward the ocean on Onekahakaha Road. The county address is 74 Onekahakaha Road. I am not inventing extra street names, and I am not going to describe unofficial lots I have not sourced.

You can swim here and still walk or drive to Keaukaha, Carlsmith, Kealoha, or Richardson on the same outing. That is the point of this road. It is not four different vacations.

The Reed’s Bay post already named this park in that eastern string. The top 10 did not. That is fine. Top 10 used Four Mile as the Hilo swim. This page is the toddler-pool version of the same peninsula, not a second ranking.

If you landed at Hilo and you have leftover daylight, the neighbor posts already treat this peninsula as a first stop. If you landed at Kona, this is not an afternoon errand. Saddle Road is the crossing. Read that first.

I do not have official park hours. Come in daylight. Use the restrooms the county listed. Leave the grill cleaner than you found it.

If a facilities question needs an official mouth, the listing’s phone is (808) 961-8311 ext. 1.

This site already wrote Keaukaha, Carlsmith, and Kealoha. Those posts keep pointing farther down the same road and saying Richardson Ocean Park is the next iconic swim. We never gave Richardson its own page. This is that page.

I am not going to invent a lifeguard schedule, a gate time, or a parking fee. The County of Hawaiʻi facility listing did not post those numbers. If a travel blog printed them, that is their problem.

Where it sits on the peninsula

Start in your head at Hilo bayfront. Highway 11 meets Kamehameha Avenue. Kalanianaole is the road that leaves town and follows the east peninsula. The Keaukaha post already walks that: first Keaukaha, with the breakwater exploding in the distance, then the rest of the string.

Carlsmith is the one this site already called the best swimming in Hilo. Kealoha is next door to Carlsmith, the lawn and the long lot. Onekahakaha is the kid wading pool — its own post is here. Richardson is farther down the same road, toward the end of the peninsula.

The county lists it as a South Hilo beach park at 2349 Kalanianaole Avenue, Hilo, HI 96720. Phone on that listing: (808) 961-8688. Amenities they bothered to print: restrooms and ADA accessible. That is the official list. I will not add showers, picnic tables, or a tower just because other websites like those words.

The Reed’s Bay post already treats Richardson as one of the eastern swimming spots you reach after you leave Waiākea Peninsula. The Honoliʻi post sends swimmers away from that surf cove and over here — Richardson and Carlsmith — if what you wanted was a safer swim, not a lineup.

So the local use is simple. Honoliʻi is the surf. Carlsmith is the clear lagoon this site already loves. Richardson is the one at the end of the road that the other posts keep using as the other “go swim there” name.

The name, and what I will not invent

The Carlsmith post says Richardson, like Carlsmith, is named for the family that used to own the land. Wikipedia agrees on the names Elsa and George Richardson, and says the old house is now Richardson Ocean Center. The county keeps a recreation-programs URL under that center’s name. The page I opened did not give me a program schedule I could trust. I am not going to invent one.

Locals still say Richardson’s. That matches how the other posts talk.

I am not going to tell you it is the only black-and-green sand beach in Hilo. That sentence lives on Wikipedia and on commercial guides. It is not on the county listing. Sand color changes with the light and the last storm anyway. Come look. Do not come for a mineral collection.

I am also not going to write a fish-by-fish snorkel guide. This site’s existing posts call Richardson a swimming spot. The assigned categories include snorkeling because that is how people use the Keaukaha ponds — mask in the shallows, same as Carlsmith. If the water is milky after a Hilo rain, you will see that when you get there. The weather widgets tell you Hilo is the wet side. They do not tell you today’s clarity.

Turtles show up along this whole peninsula. The Carlsmith and Keaukaha posts already did the lecture: endangered, do not touch, give them room. The ten-foot rule already on this site applies here too. Give them a lot of room. Walk around.

What to expect, without a brochure

If you wanted a half-mile of white sand, that is a west-side list. The top-10 already used Carlsmith / “Four Mile” as the Hilo entry and said it plainly: no sand strand, grass to the water, a protected swim. Richardson is the same family of park. Lava edge. Trees. A cove instead of a resort beach.

Hilo rain is part of the deal. The map post and the weather page are the climate sources on this site. Bring a shell. A grey afternoon does not close the peninsula. It just makes the ironwood louder.

Ocean conditions are still ocean conditions. The Carlsmith post already borrowed the statewide line: if in doubt, don’t go out. I will borrow it again. I will not tell you there is or is not a lifeguard on a given weekday, because the county listing I used did not say.

If you have small kids and you want the boulder-lined wading pool, that is Onekahakaha, not this page. If you want the breakwater show and the tide pools closer to town, that is Keaukaha. If you want the lagoon this site already ranked first, that is Carlsmith, with Kealoha for the lawn.

Richardson is the one you keep driving for when the other lots are a circus, or when you already swam Four Mile and still have daylight.

No restaurant names. Stock water and food in town, the way the Keaukaha post already told you to, before you come out the peninsula.

How To Get There

Same start as the other Keaukaha posts. I am not inventing a new road.

From the intersection of Highway 11 (Hawaii Belt Road) and Kamehameha Avenue on Hilo’s bayfront, take Kalanianaole Street / Kalanianaole Avenue east. You will pass the Port of Hilo. You will pass Keaukaha, then Onekahakaha Road, then Kealoha and Carlsmith. Keep going. The county address is 2349 Kalanianaole Avenue.

That is toward the end of the public road on this peninsula. I am not going to print a mile count I did not measure. Carlsmith’s post already called that park “roughly four miles” from the bayfront and called Richardson “a bit farther down the road.” Farther is enough.

Hilo International Airport is on this side of town. The Carlsmith and Kealoha posts already say people fresh off a Hilo flight come straight to this peninsula. Same idea. If you landed at Kona and you want this swim, you are on a crossing. Read Saddle Road and the airports guide. Do not treat Richardson as a Kona afternoon.

I do not have official open/close times. Come in daylight. Leave the park looking like you found it.

Check ocean conditions the morning you go. The county phone on the listing is (808) 961-8688 if you want the department, not a blog, to answer a facilities question.

The park fronts the seashore with a long diagonal strip of land renown for its pull-in parking spots that face the open ocean and offer fantastic views of the lumbering white-capped waves coming in from the straight horizon and crashing against the reef in a spray of white sea foam. Making it past this underwater barrier, this once-powerful surf makes it to shore at last as little more than gentle splashes.

And on exceptionally calm days with just a gentle breeze blowing across the ocean and a modest tide, the great turquoise pools of water separated by outcroppings of black lava rock at Kealoha look very serene and inviting indeed. All of of these outcrops scattered about the park’s nearshore waters create an ideal snorkeling ground, with tons of nooks and crannies used as hiding spaces by various Hawaiian ocean life such as eels, sea urchins, octopus, and schools of colorful tropical fish. They also provide plenty stretches of shallow, warm sunny water for Hawaii’s various types of seaweed to grow, which attracts the browsing of the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle – a beautiful, majestic and long-lived animal that hauls itself up on the rocks just offshore of the park to catch some afternoon sun. The ocean floor of these inlets is lined with smooth black lava rocks and scatterings of white coral rubble, with patches of white sand – the pulverized remains of coral – found throughout.

The eastern end of the park is significantly more sheltered than its other sections, making it ideal for visitors with small children or for those feeling less than confident about their swimming ability. This area is directly behind the grove of towering ironwood trees and other broad-leafed tropical shrubs that provides welcome shade to beach walkers, picnickers and sunbathers, and is the ideal spot to take a lunch break after an intensive morning of plying the placid waters with mask and fins. The space around the grove is filled with a distinct “whooshing” sound on windy days – the music made by millions of ironwood needles rubbing against each other as branches on the 80-foot-tall trees sway with the interminable onshore breeze. This signature rustling has been described as a type of “whisper”, and explains the more informal name of the tree: “whispering pine”.

There’s a large grassy area surrounding the ironwood grove that’s shaped like a wedge, and is bordered by Kalanianaole Avenue – the main east-west road connecting downtown Hilo to the string of world-famous beach parks inhabiting its eastern shores, which includes spots like Richardson Ocean Park and Carlsmith Beach Park. There’s a huge amount of open space at Kealoha, meaning that it is seldom crowded here even during high tourism season when some of these other Hilo area beach parks are swarmed with visitors and can get to feel congested.

Its long parking lot fronting the ocean is a popular place to set up beach chairs and barbecue grills, with the majority of the people found at the park on any given day typically sticking to this area. The lawn of soft dark green grass is usually deserted, and it’s a great place for laying out a picnic blanket and beach towels. An open air stand of public showers can be found in the middle of the lawn, with a modern restroom facility tucked against one corner. A few concrete barbecue pits are positioned around the park’s perimeter, with some picnic benches positioned in the shade of the several different stands of trees and shrubs making up the grove.

The Swimming Holes Next Door, Mahikea Island, and How Kealoha Park Got Its Name

Kealoha Beach Park is right next to Carlsmith Beach Park, and shares part of a common lagoon that makes up the border between the two and meanders out to meet the brackish ocean waters. Carlsmith is arguably the best swimming spot in all of Hilo town, with expansive pools of calm electric blue and even steel railings in several places to help swimmers get in and out. Its only drawback is that it’s exceptionally small, with a lot of manicured shrubbery but not much grassy lawn or parking spaces. So, locals will commonly set up their picnics and barbecue grills at Kealoha park next door, and simply walk the short distance along the main road to access Carlsmith and go for a dip.

A tiny islet can be seen just offshore of the park, known as “Mahikea Island” in Hawaiian and Scout Island in English. In the days of old-time Hawaii, this island was a popular summer camping spot for residents of the east Hilo neighborhood of Keaukaha. It was destination well-utilized by the Boy Scouts of Big Island, hence its nickname. It was partially destroyed by the massive 1946 Aleutian Island Tsunami, which shortened its landmass significantly and reaped immense destruction on Hilo’s bayfront in countless other places as well. Today it’s still partially intact, and the island has become a favorite snorkeling spot and a piece of Hilo history.

The full name of the park is the James Kealoha Beach Park. James Kealoha was the first lieutenant governor of Hawaii (elected in 1963) and is remembered as a well-respected local politician. He was born in 1908 in the small Big Island sugarcane town of Pahoa to Cantonese immigrants who had come to Hawaii looking for work on its vast plantations. Kealoha attended Hilo High School in 1926 and began his working life as a clerk at a grocery store in Hilo. In 1929 he married his wife Muilan and had two daughters, Leihulu Emma and Leiohu Lillie. Soon after he opened his own store, which he operated throughout the start of his political career.

Kealoha ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 but was defeated by Spark Matsunaga. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, which shocked many of his fellow members of the Republican party at the time. In 1968, he ran for mayor of Hawaii County but lost the race. The park that today bears his name was dedicated in 1963, and its namesake lived for two more decades until passing away in August, 1983.

How To Get There

Kealoha Beach Park’s shady grove of ironwood trees and ideal snorkeling grounds can be reached from Hilo town by heading east at the intersection of Highway 11, otherwise known as Hawaii Belt Road, and Kamehameha Avenue along Hilo’s main bayfront thoroughfare. From this intersection, turn onto Kalanianaole Street and continue for roughly four miles, passing the Port of Hilo, Kuhio Kalanianaole Park, Big Island Motors, Keaukaha General Store and Keaukaha Beach Park.

A large lagoon will come into view on the right – turn left here into a long narrow parking lot that runs along the shoreline, either parking in the shade of the grove or on the other side of the road facing the bay. Keep in mind that this road is one-way, so beach-goers should exit the park by continuing along the coast until the road curves back around and links up with the highway once again. Visitors typically visit both Kealoha Beach Park and Carlsmith Beach Park on the same outing as they are right next to each other, and one usually offers what the other doesn’t. So together, Kealoha and Carlsmith in a sense make one complete one-stop-shop for boarders, swimmers and those opting to stick to dry land, too.

Kealoha is located roughly five miles from Hilo International Airport, making it a popular first-stop for visitors to Hawaii fresh off the plane who can’t wait to jump in a warm, crystal-clear ocean. So if you’re getting into Hilo with at least a little daylight left on a warm, sunny day, consider heading straight to the park and taking in its full spectacle as a perfect introduction to the islands: the whispering pines, the turquoise pools of serene water, the white-capped waves farther offshore and the breeze that smells like tropical blossoms and salt. Sunsets here are known to be exceptional, with an occasional clear view of the slopes and summit of Mauna Kea – Big Island’s tallest and most important mountain – far in the distance as the sky begins to turn orange and red.

Kealoha Beach Park is open daily from 7:00am to 7:00pm.

Rather, Kapa’a is quite the opposite: it is a raw, peaceful and largely undeveloped swath of oceanfront forest composed of stout cliffs and gnarled, spindly trees casting shade on its collection of campsites. These are areas of reddish-grey bare earth linked by a network of overgrown footpaths zig-zagging across the park’s uneven terrain. Badly weathered lava rocks are cast to and fro in piles, their color revealing their age; a dull light brown that contrasts sharply with the freshly churned lava found within Big Island’s newest Lower Puna District flow field of jet-black, brittle and shiny rock.

This juxtaposition can also be seen along the park’s shallow rocky bay, where boulders of much newer, darker rock the size of engine blocks lie atop the old, faded lava bed. This precarious landscape can be tricky to navigate, and getting in and out of the ocean at Kapa’a can be a challenge, especially on high surf days where large rolling waves come in off the open ocean and crash against the jagged coast, sending some of the larger stones tumbling with their backwash.

These rugged conditions make the “beach” part of the park’s name a bit of a misnomer, as there is essentially no sand to be found along its small crescent-shaped bay. This makes the place much more popular with snorkelers, fishermen and scuba divers than with casual swimmers, who have better options farther south at the scattering of beach parks found along the coast right outside of the tiny Big Island port town of Kawaihae.

On calm days, though, when the waves breaking against the scraggly shore are just a light lapping, the outcrops just offshore are a great place to see various forms of Hawaiian sea life like octopus, eels, urchins, sea horses and the myriad species of colorful tropical fish. There is no reef along this stretch of coast, though, and snorkelers and divers won’t find fields of delicate, intricately patterned coral that are typical of other popular exploration spots. These coral complexes are the building blocks of West Hawaii’s reef ecosystems and are the reason why the sandy beaches of Big Island’s Kona-side are white.

Even without a reef, these waters are alive with life, and are often plied by scuba divers hoping to get an even closer look at this seemingly alien world found just offshore of the unassuming, often-deserted beach park. These latter qualities make it attractive in some circles of divers who prefer to be the only ones in the water, not having to contend with swimmers, paddlers, boaters and surfers scaring the fish away. Piles of white coral rubble still pock the beach, presumably washed in on heavy surf from farther down the coast, and stand out vividly against the otherwise monochrome landscape of huge black lava rocks.

In the wintertime months when Hawaii’s iconic humpback whales, also known as “kohala”, return to the island chain, Kapa’a is a great place to see them. The park is well-positioned along a stretch of Big Island’s coastline that sees the most frequent whale activity, and during the season its waters are frequently bustling with the slaps of tail fins and the jets of white sea spray exhaled during their breaches.

Ancient Ruins, Thorny Trees and Surprisingly Good Amenities

The land around the park’s oceanfront is littered with the remains of an old village, with the ruins of platforms, enclosures and low rock walls that long ago enclosed yards poking out of overgrown bright green vegetation. Thankfully, the campsites at Kapa’a are located far enough from these historic sites so that they aren’t disturbed by campers, many of whom come to the park not realizing the camouflaged ruins are even there.

Amenities found within the park include modern bathrooms, public cold water showers, an assortment of picnic tables and barbecue pits, as well as a large pavilion with a green roof and louvered windows. These facilities set Kapa’a apart from other coastal camping spots in the area like Mahukona Beach Park, located just a few miles down the highway, which features fantastic snorkeling grounds but doesn’t currently have water for washing or showering at its campsites, and whose restrooms are only portable toilets. So, even though its coastline is some of the most rugged of all Big Island beach parks, camping here is actually quite comfortable compared with other options in the area, with plenty of well-hidden plots of bare, flat earth to pitch a tent and plenty of shady keawe trees to string hammocks from.

Toilets and showers at the park are supplied by a large green plastic water tank located right above the day-use pavilion, poised on stilts and found inside a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire to keep out vandals. This water is non-potable, as warned by large signs posted around the spigots, so campers still need to pack in drinking water in addition to all other supplies and gear, as there is no concessionaire at Kapa’a. There are more picnic tables inside the pavilion structure, providing enough space for several different groups of people to be working propane stoves and deploying cutting boards, with a barbecue pit set into the concrete slab just beyond the roofline.

The forested areas surrounding the beach’s parking lot and day-use center are comprised mostly of kiawe trees – easily recognized by their gnarled trunks and wizened branches of tiny green leaves outfitted with massive razor sharp thorns. This native hardwood tree is notorious in West Hawaii, as it grows prolifically at several popular beach parks around Kona and Kawaihae and has a bad habit of perennially dropping thorny twigs onto walkways. These dry up and turn pale white, blending in with the sand and waiting for some hapless barefoot beach-goer to step on it and get a very painful surprise.

So, if planning on exploring the outlying coastline during a visit to Kapa’a, but sure to pack sturdy shoes – or even better yet: boots – to protect your feet from the ubiquitous piles of kiawe twigs sure to be lining the paths. The tree’s thorns sometimes grow to be over an inch long, and are sharp enough to go right through the sole of cheap rubber flip-flops. Good footwear is also important at the park when exploring the beach area, as walking over the cumbersome boulders in slip-on sandals is almost a sure-fire way to sprain an ankle.

How To Get There

Kapa’a Beach Park is easily accessible from either the tiny Big Island port town of Kawaihae to the south, or from the artsy bohemian town of Hawi located just a handful of miles north of the rocky beach and campground.

From Kawaihae, turn onto Highway 270, otherwise known as Akoni Pule Highway, and continue for roughly 14 miles past the turn to the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company showroom and factory, and past Lapakahi State Park and Mahukona Beach Park farther on up on the road. Just past Mahukona will be signage for Kapa’a, and a left-hand turn will bring drivers onto a narrow road that winds downhill for less than a mile through golden fields of livestock pasture and past still more stands of withered, parched-looking kiawe trees.

Park at the bottom of the hill next to the pavilion building, and if you’re intent on camping at the park be sure to reserve and pay for your spot using the County of Hawaii’s online reservation system found at hawaiicounty.ehawaii.gov/camping/welcome. Fees for non-residents are around $20 per night, and reduced rates are available for residents of the state who have a State of Hawaii identification card or driver’s license.

Kapa’a Beach Park is open daily from 7:00am to 7:30pm, but a few years ago the day-use area of the park was open until 11:00pm, so these current operating times are subject to change. No potable water is available in the park, so campers and day visitors must bring enough for everyone in their group.

The beach is found within the much larger Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area, consisting of more than 60 acres of scraggly, windswept coastal land offering hiking and camping activities in addition to swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling, barbecuing and boogie boarding along the beachfront. Hapuna’s reputation on the island is legendary; locals and visitors alike consistently rank it as one of the best white sand beaches in West Hawaii, and compare it favorably to the white sands of islands like Kauai where the wide band of inviting-looking sand the color of raw sugar hugs the shore and seems to go on for miles in both directions.

Hapuna is about the closest thing to this travel brochure vista that Big Island has to offer, considering that more than half of its coastline is made up of unforgiving black lava cliffs crashed against by towering, angry waves. Its grounds are well-maintained and handsomely landscaped, with several square open-air gazebos crammed with picnic tables and positioned next to barbecue pits. The green-roofed structures are expansive; each one large enough to seat several different family groups at once. Gently curving concrete sidewalks running parallel to the beach link the gazebos with stands of public showers and shaded grassy areas ideal for unfurling a picnic blanket.

Like a handful of other popular Kona-side beaches, Hapuna is divided into a southern “public” side and a northern “private” side. The private end is mostly used by guests staying at the adjacent hotels and resorts, including the Hapuna Prince Hotel, The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort, and the Hapuna Beach Residences at Mauna Kea Resort. These are the sprawling multi-story white buildings jutting out onto the bluff which seem to make their way into many of the most iconic photos of the beach. 

These accommodations provide lounge chairs and parasols for their guests, which can usually be spotted set out on the sand in neat rows or bunched together for storage. “Public” side visitors to Hapuna can still explore any part of the beach they want as long as they respect the hotel facilities and keep in mind that the inland areas north of the State Recreation Area boundary is technically private property. There is no hard boundary between the two sections of the beach, though, and hotel guests regularly wander down to the southern end while swimmers and boogie boarders often set out in search of more ideal waves up north. 

Beach conditions at Hapuna change dramatically between summer and winter, where from October through April large waves coming from the northwest charge into the bay and crash on the beach in spectacular fashion, drawing hordes of surfers and boogie boarders eager to ride the swelling waves. This is also the time of year where the beach narrows significantly due to shifting sand, contrasting with the summer months where it grows to its maximum width in or around the month of September. Waves and rip currents are calmer in the summer, too, when it’s typical for the beach break at Hapuna to be little more than a gentle, soothing lapping. Still, lifeguards are on-duty at Hapuna every day of the year and have made many daring rescues during periods of high surf.

However, due to its immense length there are several blind spots along the formidable stretch of sand, especially at either end where rocky outcrops provide ideal snorkeling grounds. Snorkeling isn’t as popular at Hapuna as other world-renown Big Island underwater adventure spots like Two Step at Honaunau Bay, but mask and fin-clad swimmers can still by spotted on most days plying the waters just offshore of the rocky cliffs looking for colorful tropical fish, cities of delicate coral and the occasional Hawaiian green sea turtle. Water visibility can sometimes be poor right offshore due to suspended beach sand and a layer of freshwater supplied by nearby springs which floats on the surface of the seawater. So don’t be afraid to swim out a bit to get a better view, at the same time keeping in mind that lifeguards can’t easily monitor the beach’s two farthest flanks.

A-Frame Camping and Hiking The Ala Kahakai Trail

Set just a few hundred feet inland from Hapuna Beach is a sprawling campground of sturdily built A-Frame structures available for use by campers. They are fully enclosed with bug netting, include sleeping platforms and picnic tables, and feature outdoor cooking facilities and communal bathrooms with cold showers. Each A-Frame can accomodate four people relatively comfortably, and costs around $50 per night with reservations that must be made at least a week in advance. During high tourism season it’s not uncommon for every A-Frame to be booked weeks – if not months – in advance, so it’s smart to plan ahead for a camping trip at Hapuna. 

Another great aspect of the recreation area is its proximity to the Ala Kahakai hiking trail. This is a nearly 16-mile-long loop following ancient Hawaiian footpaths that lead along the rugged, parched old lavafields of Big Island’s Kohala Coast. It takes hikers past some of the most pristine shoreline on the island, although in some places it’s poorly marked and even more poorly maintained. It’s important to exercise extreme caution at certain places along the route where the path skirts perilously close to steep sea cliffs

Food and drinks are available within Hapuna State Recreation Area at the Three Frogs Cafe, which is found a little ways up from the beach area and open from 10am to 4pm daily. It’s a good place to grab a light lunch or snack after a long morning of swimming and boogie boarding, and it even offers rental items like snorkeling gear, beach chairs and parasols.

The only downside of Hapuna is that it can get exceedingly crowded on holidays or weekends during high tourism season. If you happen to visit the beach on a very busy day and decide that you want to escape the crowds, just a few miles south of the popular half-mile stretch of white sand is Beach 69 – a secluded and rarely crowded swimming hole shaded by a string of giant kiawe trees growing in stands along the shore. This smaller and more tranquil spot is great for swimming, and offers arguably better snorkeling ground than Hapuna itself. Beach 69 is covered in-depth with its own dedicated article on this website.

How To Get To Hapuna Beach

Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area is easily accessed via Highway 19, otherwise known as Mamalahoa Highway, roughly 30 miles north of downtown Kona and 3 miles south of the tiny Big Island port town of Kawaihae. Coming from Kona, there will be a left turn lane and sign for Hapuna Beach Road at approximately Mile Marker 70. Turn onto Hapuna Beach Road and continue down the hill toward the ocean for less than half a mile until the road turns into the patchy and potholed Old Puako Road. In another hundred feet there will be a right-hand turn into a large parking lot and signs for Hapuna Beach. 

Right at the entrance to the parking lot is a manned gate station where state park rangers collect parking and entrance fees. In general, entrance fees are around $5 per person and $10 per vehicle. Hawaii residents with a valid State ID or driver’s license can enter and park for free. However, it’s not uncommon to see the guardhouse closed and the gate left open, letting visitors drive past without making contact with any park rangers or paying any fees. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to when the gate station is occupied or not, so it’s best to come prepared to pay and hope that simply no one’s there. Park at the top of the hill and walk down the wide paved road past the green-roofed pavilions and barbecue pits to get to the beach.

Open fires, consumption of alcohol, pets, use of drones, and harassing wildlife are banned at Hapuna, with a small army of four-wheeler-riding park rangers keen on enforcing the rules and keeping everyone safe. There’s also nighttime security patrols that make sure only registered campers remain at the park after dark. Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area is open from 7:00am to 6:45pm daily for day-use visitors.

For those not wanting to wholly depend on Three Frogs Cafe for snacks and picnic supplies while at the park, the nearby town of Kawaihae has a handful of humble grocery stores but no supermarket. The Foodland supermarket in the medium-sized cowboy town of Waimea roughly 10 miles east of Kawaihae is the closest spot to pick up a broader variety of picnic foods, drinks, and beach gear, with a great range of restaurants and coffee shops found in the same commercial center as the supermarket. 

NOTE: As of April 2021, they are also charging a per person entrance fee for non-residents to go to this beach, it is $5 per person with children under 3 being free. Parking is $10 for non residents. See prices below

Hapuna is a west-side beach day, not a volcano add-on. See Kona vs Hilo and the west track on the 3-day itinerary.

This is an isolated and stunningly beautiful stretch of coastline carpeted with forests of young coconut palms, beach grasses, sprigs of ferns, and other pioneer species popping up out of the cracked rock. The onshore breeze carries a faint whiff of salt that grows stronger as hikers near the shoreline, where the rumble of crashing waves can be heard long before they are seen. The loose red rock shifts about underfoot with a satisfying crunch until it is replaced by black sand upon reaching the beach, where the new palm forest falls away and reveals the full ocean vista.

From this vantage point, the horizon is an impossibly straight line, separating a cloudy baby-blue sky from the darker bluish-grey ocean churning about below. Jagged bluffs of black rock border the rugged beach on both sides – headlands which the powerful incoming surf strike first in mesmerizing explosions of white sea spray. Although the word “beach” can be found in the name of this place, swimming here is exceptionally hazardous and generally frowned upon by locals who don’t want the bad publicity of hapless swimmers being swept out to sea and rescued by the Coast Guard. So, play it safe while visiting Kaimu and stay out of the water.

The hazardous nature of the coast here is easy to notice on high surf days, when big rolling waves make their way into the beach and toss about the round lava stones lining the shore. This whirlpool of tumbling rocks the size of engine blocks and violently rushing water makes going for a dip pretty uninviting, in tandem with the grinding sound of the rocks smashing against each other in the fray.

“New” Kaimu Beach Was Once “Old” Kaimu Beach

The stretch of rocky, desolate shoreline along Big Island’s Kalapana Coast known among locals as the “new” Kaimu Black Sand Beach is indeed just that – new.

It looked much different three decades ago, when it was a picturesque crescent-shaped stretch of black sand, fringed by a long line of mature coconut groves that cast shade on the beach and gave it an iconic, postcard quality. This was the “old” Kaimu Beach; a much beloved local swimming hole where generations of native Hawaiians and island-born haoles (foreigners) learned to surf, paddle and fish among the turquoise waters of the bay, where an offshore reef of sunken lava boulders tempered the force of incoming waves and made for an unmatched surf break.

The beach was a windswept, laid-back destination nestled in the jungle, its popularity amplified by the fact that Puna District is notoriously lacking in safe swimming and surfing spots. It was the local ocean access for multiple different communities found along the Kalapana Coast and farther inland, and one of the natural features driving the growth of its nearest town, Kaimu (kie-moo) – which had been a sleepy old-time Hawaii fishing village for centuries. These days, Kaimu Bay and its associated beach are remembered fondly by locals living in the area who are old enough to have seen that iconic palm-lined crescent of black sand with their own eyes so many years ago.

Those who remember the beach’s formed glory are the ones who lived through its destruction, when in 1990 lava flows from an eruption of Kilauea Volcano starting spilling out of a new fissure. This sent an avalanche of molten rock tumbling down the mountain’s flanks towards the villages of Kaimu and Kalapana. Entire neighborhoods were completely wiped out save for a few surviving lots, including the subdivisions of Kalapana Gardens and the nearby Royal Gardens. The lava flow destroyed more than 150 homes in less than a year of activity, and covered cars, parks, stores, utility lines and roads beneath a sea of black rock that measures nearly 100 feet deep in some places.

The charging red hot rock met the ocean at last and quickly proceeded to destroy the world-famous Old Kaimu Beach and fill in Kaimu Bay, creating a large swath of new coastline that is almost a quarter-mile wide at its thickest point. By early 1991, the rogue flow had petered out thanks to new lava tubes opening in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which diverted the flow away from Kalapana and back into uninhabited land. The eruption would continue for many more years, occasionally creeping back across the boundary and causing more havoc, like in July 2010 when lava consumed a home in the Kalapana Gardens neighborhood that was only five years old at the time.

For years after the eruption, the inundated land lay almost completely vacant, looking like a scraggly moonscape of shiny cracked black rock. But some families chose to stay and live on the outskirts of the lavafield, building small off-grid structures and planting the vast stretches of desolate land with ti plants, young coconut palms, breadfruit, papaya trees and many other pioneer plants. Over the years, the Kalapana and Kaimu communities have revived, and have become a destination of sorts for the burgeoning Big Island cottage industry of “lava tourism”.

The recovery of the area is perhaps best exemplified by the main commercial hub of Kalapana known as “Uncle Robert’s” – an open-air market and music venue space at the very end of the road that hosts raucous Wednesday night parties featuring the beloved house band called the Kalapana Awa Band. Attached to the market space is a large parking lot where food trucks usually set up on busy days, with a convenience store at the far end called Kaimu Korner selling beer, groceries and pre-made food. Adjacent to the store is the House of Fire Gallery, an art studio and showroom featuring many, many pieces inspired by volcanoes, lava and the Hawaiian fire goddess Pele. 

This entire complex, including the gallery and store, is simply known as “Uncle’s” among locals, named in honor of the beloved patriarch of old Kalapana Village, Robert Keli’iho’omalu. It is “Uncle Robert’s” children who run the day-to-day operations of the market these days, and several of his sons are members of the Kalapana Awa Band. 

How to Get to Kaimu Black Sand Beach

To reach the parking lot and trailhead for the quarter-mile hike out to Kaimu Black Sand Beach, just use Highway 130 coming from the small East Hawaii hippie town of Pahoa and follow signs for Kalapana. Roughly ten miles outside of Pahoa along a road that gradually slopes downhill to the coast, a sign will appear that the highway is ending.

Here there will be a left turn lane, and taking this left will bring drivers to a “T” in the road after heading a few hundred more feet downhill past a roadside water filling station on the left. From this intersection, going right will take visitors another quarter-mile to the main market complex’s parking lot. At around 6:00pm or 7:00pm on Wednesday evenings during tourism’s high season, there will already be a long stretch of cars parked along the shoulder of this road leading down to Uncle Robert’s.

On every other day of the week, this intersection is usually deserted except for an occasional fruit seller, and parking spaces are plentiful both near the market and the convenience store out back.

From the main market parking lot, the trailhead leading to Kaimu Black Sand Beach is marked by a small sign leading up a rock staircase with a bulky stainless steel handrail, but it can be easy to miss. So, if you’re having some trouble finding where the trail to the beach starts, just ask around at the market, which features a restaurant and smoothie shack that are open every day but Sunday and run by friendly, laid-back locals who are usually happy to see any customers at all.

The best way for visitors to experience the whole Kalapana-Kaimu area in a single afternoon is to show up early on a sunny Wednesday around 3:00pm or 4:00pm, easily find parking in front of the market, pick up some drinks at Kaimu Korner, and then make their way to the trailhead and hike down to the beach to watch the waves crash. 

Right at sunset, they can make their way back to the market area since the beach trail can be a bit hazardous to walk in the dark. Then find something that looks good for dinner from the many different food stalls serving up everything from potstickers to spring rolls to tacos to vegan cuisine. After one or two warm-up acts, the Kalapana Awa Band will take the stage and they will typically play until closing. 

Which black-sand beach to drive to: Punaluʻu, Kaimu, or Pohoiki.

It is not Hapuna. Hapuna sits farther north in its own state recreation area, with hotels on the bluff and a long half-mile of sand. Kua Bay is a different shoreline, a different park, and a different drive.

The Hawaiian name is Maniniʻōwali. Wikipedia notes that the bay is popularly called Kua Bay because the name is easier to say. The park around it is Kekaha Kai, formerly Kona Coast State Park. Kekaha kai means “the shore line.” The main beach areas in the park are Maniniʻōwali (Kua) Bay at the north end, Makalawena at Puʻu Aliʻi Bay in the middle, and Mahaiʻula Bay to the south.

This site’s map post puts Manini’Owali Beach (Kua Bay) on a short Kona-side list, right next to Magic Sands, and describes it as a beautiful, picturesque beach with great swimming when the waves are calm. The top 10 beaches write-up is the most specific page this site already has: morning water can be calm and inviting for swimmers and snorkelers, fish and turtles show up offshore, winter surf can get big, and there is not much shade.

Water, shade, and when to stay out

Hawaii Division of State Parks is blunt about the water. The Maniniʻōwali (Kua Bay) section offers swimming during calm seas, bodysurfing during periods of shore break, sunbathing, picnicking, and other beach-related activities. It also warns of dangerous rip currents and pounding shore breaks during high surf. Waves over 3 feet are for experts. Everyone else should stay out of the water and away from the shoreline.

The same official page says there are no lifeguard services. That is a real difference from Hapuna, where this site already describes year-round lifeguard coverage. If the bay looks pretty and the shore break is stacking up, treat the pretty as a warning, not an invitation.

This site’s own top-10 note matches that seasonal swing. A morning at Maniniowali is the better bet, when the water can be calm. The surf can get big in winter, which the site says is fine for experienced surfers and a reason to be careful in the water. Bring an umbrella or a sun hat. There are not many trees.

If you see turtles, give them room. This site already uses a ten-foot rule at Punaluʻu and Carlsmith. Do not touch, feed, or crowd them.

What is actually at the park

Kekaha Kai is a large coastal state park (the 2025 State Parks brochure lists 1,642.5 acres). The official brochure describes the Maniniʻōwali (Kua Bay) section as developed with a paved access road, a parking lot, a comfort station with an outdoor shower, and picnic tables.

It is still a dry, hot coastline. The official park write-up and the brochure both say there is no drinking water. Pack more water than you think you need, plus whatever food you want. There is no cafe on this beach.

This site already says parking is limited and the beach is a little harder to reach than other popular Kona-side stops, which is part of why it usually sees fewer crowds. Arrive early if you want a stall and a quieter morning.

Fees are posted on the official park page. As of January 2026, parking and entrance fees are required at the Maniniʻōwali (Kua Bay) section. Payment is credit card only. Hawaii residents with a Hawaii ID or driver license enter free, and resident non-commercial parking is no charge with ID. Non-Hawaii residents pay $5 per person (children 3 and under free) and $10 per non-commercial vehicle. Those are the state’s numbers, not a guess. Check the Kekaha Kai park page before you go, because State Parks says fees can change.

Hours on that same official page: daily 8:00am to 6:30pm, gates close at 7:00pm. In late August 2026, State Parks posted storm-recovery notices after Hurricane Lala and Tropical Storm Moke and said it was still evaluating locations. Kekaha Kai (Kua Bay and Mahaiʻula) was on the August 18 reopening list, then the statewide evaluation notice went up again on August 24. Do not trust this article for a gate that might be closed. Check the official park page and park notices the morning you drive.

The rest of Kekaha Kai

If you want a longer day than a swim, the park is also a hike. A 4.5-mile stretch of the historic Ala Kahakai coastal trail runs north from Mahaiʻula to Kua Bay. Midway, a side hike climbs Puʻu Kuʻili, a 342-foot cinder cone with a wide view of the coastline. Official copy for that walk is short and useful: dry, hot, no drinking water.

Makalawena sits between the two road-access beaches. This site’s top-10 already covers it as a secluded white-sand beach north of Kona that takes about a 20-minute hike across a lava path, with no facilities. Wikipedia places it at Puʻu Aliʻi Bay, in the stretch between the two state-park road ends.

Kua Bay is the easy-road end of that same park. Hapuna is the big white-sand day farther up the Kohala Coast if you want more room, picnic pavilions, and lifeguards. Magic Sands is the closer Kona-town alternative on Aliʻi Drive.

How To Get to Kua Bay

The official brochure puts Kekaha Kai on Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway (Highway 19), 2.6 miles north of Keahole Airport (Kona International). Wikipedia says the same thing in slightly different words: a paved road 2.6 miles north of the airport leads to the beach. Separate 1.5-mile access roads leave the highway for the Mahaiʻula section and for the Maniniʻōwali / Kua Bay section. The Kua Bay road is paved.

That is a different turn, and a different coast, from the Kohala Coast beach roads farther north. If a map or an old page sends you toward Kawaihae, you are still aiming at a different beach.

Bring a credit card, drinking water, shade, and a plan to leave before the gate closes. If the surf is up, enjoy the view from well back of the waterline and save the swim for a calmer morning.

Kua Bay is a west-side beach day. See Kona vs Hilo.

Spencer is one of the northernmost white sand beaches on the island, and a welcome reprieve from the otherwise rocky and unforgiving coast of its North Kohala district neighbors. It essentially marks the transition point where Kona’s sprawling, iconic, and picturesque shoreline of sandy bays and turquoise water that stretches for dozens of miles north of the city turns into the wild and rugged coast of the island’s northern flanks leading to the quaint rainswept town of Hawi (ha-vee). 

It’s the last installment in a line of fully-outfitted beach parks that stretches along a length of the island’s western side, offering visitors a grand opportunity to explore Kona’s legendary beaches by simply driving up the highway a few miles at a time from one beach park to the next. Similar to other spots along this line, Spencer Beach offers modern amenities like restrooms, public showers, drinking water stations – even a large covered pavilion filled with picnic tables that includes electrical outlets in the walls for charging phones, lights and maybe even a crockpot.

Then there are the long, curving concrete sidewalks that skirt around the bay delivering beach-goers to the park’s different areas, including a large sloping lawn of green grass dotted with beat-up looking barbecue pits across the way from a well-maintained fenced basketball court. The ball court essentially marks the center of the park, with two distinctly different camping areas on either flank and a wide, flat sandy beach that’s ideal for setting up volleyball nets. Then there are the kayaks, outrigger canoes and stand-up paddle boards employed by the paddlers making the rounds just offshore – these watercraft can usually be spotted stashed in bunches taking up a seldom-used corner of the parking lot.

Snorkeling is a popular pastime at the park thanks to its stretch of shallow reef just offshore that tempers the force of incoming waves and slows down otherwise immensely strong currents. This makes for a shallow, gently sloping body of typically placid water, with crashing waves offshore finally coming in to the beach as little more than a soothing lapping. Groups of reef explorers clad in their fins and facemasks can usually be spotted out in the snorkeling grounds plying the seafloor of coral-clad submerged rocks looking for colorful tropical fish, eels, turtles and octopus. 

However, visitors should keep in mind that near constant ship activity in the nearby Kawaihae Harbor can sometimes send murky water into the bay, cutting down visibility and making it hard to spot the schools of reef fish. So, plan to snorkel at Spencer Park on a day with ideal ocean conditions, or opt to go to another inarguably better spot in West Hawaii like the much-loved Two Step at Honaunau Bay – consistently ranked among the best snorkeling experiences on the island.

The resident lifeguard tower made of molded white plastic and stainless steel railings adds a degree of safety for newbie swimmers and those trying out snorkeling, although on some days the structure is inexplicably unmanned. For those wanting to play it safe and stay close to the tower while enjoying the warm, calm water of the bay, it’s easy to find upon arriving to the park: just look for the stand of several large kiawe (key-ah-vay) trees in the center of the beach with the tower tucked into the shade beneath them and surrounded by a scattering of picnic tables.

Camping is available at the Spencer Beach Park by permit only, and costs roughly $20 per adult per night. Due to the park’s popularity with locals and tour groups, it can get very busy on weekends and holidays with no vacancy available at the various campsites, although this doesn’t happen very often especially during tourism’s off-season. Safety can be an issue at many Big Island beach parks, especially those offering overnight camping, and thankfully Spencer enforces an all-hours ban on alcohol consumption, with a team of security guards that conducts sweeps around the park grounds throughout the night to ensure no campers are being disturbed.

The County of Hawaii uses an online reservation system to collect camping fees and reserve sites for visitors at spots like Spencer Beach Park. Visit the website hawaiicounty.ehawaii.gov/camping and follow the prompts to complete a reservation with a debit or credit card. Discounted camping rates for Hawaii residents are available with a valid State of Hawaii ID or driver’s license. 

Security staff also enforce a “no re-entry” policy at the park, where the main gate is locked at 9:00pm and remains closed until 6:00am daily. This provides an added layer of safety, preventing the arrival of hordes of loud drunken partiers in the middle of the night. Keeping this policy in mind, campers should make sure they are set up with all necessary supplies before the gate is locked for the night. Exceptions to this rule are made for medical emergencies and other unforeseen circumstances, but it’s still possible that even with a legitimate excuse the guards will still not let you back in. No camping is allowed in the pavilions, as they are intended for day use only – these can be reserved for special functions with a separate permit.

Who Was Samuel Spencer?

The beach park’s namesake – Samuel M. Spencer – served as a judge and chairman of the Hawaii County Board of Supervisors from 1893 to 1944, back when the island chain was still a U.S. territory. During his life, Spencer worked hard to develop the North Kohala Coast, and served as a Postmaster at the town of Waimea’s post office. The postal name of the town is “Kamuela”, which means Samuel in Hawaiian, and is named in honor of its legendary hometown political figure. He’s also remembered for using his position as county chairman to help improve access to Waipio Valley – one of the most spectacular and breathtaking areas of natural beauty on the island.

The famed politician died without ever having set foot on the beach park named in his honor. Midway through his life, in the summer of 1935, Spencer planted one of the Banyan tree saplings lining the looping coastal road running along Hilo’s Waiakea Peninsula known as Banyan Drive. This leafy waterfront route is regarded as the city’s “Walk of Fame”, and features what are today towering banyans planted by celebrities and notable locals of the era including Hollywood directors, sports legends, music pioneers, and influential politicians like Spencer. Small hand-carved wooden placards adorn each massive tree stating which famous person put them in the ground nearly a century ago.

How To Get There

Spencer Beach Park is located at the end of Spencer Beach Park Road, which juts off from Highway 270 immediately south of the small Big Island port town of Kawaihae (kah-vie-high). Follow Spencer Beach Park Road for roughly half a mile, passing the entrance to Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site along a narrow road that winds downhill through several switchbacks to the seashore. 

This sightseeing attraction midway to the beach is comprised of an awe-inspiring ancient Hawaiian temple made up of giant mounds of un-mortared lava rock – looking very much like a stone castle by the sea – complete with an interpretive center of educational exhibits and models, as well as a gift shop. The heiau (Hawaiian for “temple”) complex features several picturesque hiking trails and is featured in its own in-depth article on this site.

For campers and day trippers heading to the park, it’s wise to stock up on supplies in Kona town (roughly 35 miles south) or locally in the towns of Kawaihae or Waimea (12 miles east). There is no concessionaire at Spencer, and the dependable parking lot food trucks found at more urban beach parks on the island like Magic Sands and Kahaluu along Kona’s Alii Drive are similarly absent. So it’s important to pack in everything needed for your visit, including camping gear, sun protection and beach snacks (with the notable exception of drinking water, which the park provides in several areas).

Kiawe trees completely dominate the landscape in this region of Big Island, with their gnarled trunks and broad canopies of tiny leaves. One of the most noticeable characteristics of this curious variety of hardwood native to the islands is its ranks of large needle-like thorns. Kiawes have a habit of regularly dropping their thorny twigs, which at North Kona beaches tend to land in the golden sand and get partially buried, until an unfortunate barefoot beach-goer steps on them. Their thorns can get massive – up to an inch long or more, and are sharp enough to punch through the rubber soles of flip-flops. So, always wear decent shoes while walking across beaches like Spencer that are inhabited by kiawes, and be careful where you step.

What is today a long stretch of raw, isolated oceanfront land – a gently-sloping shoreline of smooth lava rocks mixed with finely pulverized black sand – was once a picturesque bay fringed with coconut palms and frequented by swimmers, surfers, boaters and boogie boarders of every stripe. Back then the place was known as “Pohoiki Bay” (POE-HOE-EE-KEY), and boasted the only viable surf breaks along Puna District’s entire  Kalapana Coast – an otherwise rocky and unforgiving swath of the island’s windward side with very few safe swimming spots.

Old Pohoiki featured a formidable concrete boat ramp that sloped down to the water’s edge, delivering swimmers, surfers and boaters into a miniature manmade inlet of protected ocean, made possible by the giant pier of stacked lava boulders and cement blocks that look like reused WW2 tank traps. This breakwater used to jut out into the bay, protecting the boat ramp and creating a shallow, placid swimming area that was immensely popular with kids. Lava tour boats would launch and haul out from here, and it was a truly spectacular sight to see a bustling throng of swimmers part down the middle to let the boats go through, all beside the many warning signs posted on the pier saying “No Swimming”.

These concrete structures are still there at Pohoiki, but are thoroughly surrounded by (and in places covered in) giant drifts of black sand and crushed lava stones created during the 2018 Lower Puna Eruption. The arrival of all this new material extended the coastline out to sea several hundred feet, and created expansive, hilly tracts of jet black gravel that seem highly unstable in some places. Now the boat ramp leads to nowhere; walls of lava rock enclose it in a stagnant, sometimes sickly green looking lagoon. This uninviting green hue contrasts sharply with the crystal-blue waves breaking across the beach, which mellow out enough on calm days for swimmers to ply the waters close to shore.

Favorable conditions at Pohoiki are rare, though, and getting in the water here can be extremely hazardous, and a non-starter for those who aren’t strong swimmers. This is obviated by the well-outfitted lifeguard crew making use of four-wheelers, life rings and multiple observation posts. Since the beach is so new, locals haven’t had time to familiarize themselves with safer areas, and much of its underwater structure is constantly shifting and rearranging with the swelling surf and stormwater runoff.

Many visitors to the beach decide to stay out of the water, opting instead to explore the many nooks and crannies along the coast and get a first-hand look at how dramatically lava flows can change a place. Some are shocked to see just how close Pohoiki came in 2018 to complete destruction; the wall of jagged lava rock making up the beach’s new northern boundary nearly encircles the parking lot. 

Considering that the flow had advanced south along the coast many miles at this point, destroying many other well-loved swimming spots like Kapoho Tidepools and Ahalanui Beach Park, it is nothing short of a miracle that somehow the wall of destruction stopped just a stone’s throw from the beach’s only access road. Had the fury of the eruption kept up for just a few more days, and had a few more million gallons of lava come crashing down the hill from Leilani, and it’s highly likely that Pohoiki today would be but a cherished memory.

Creating Black Sand With Fire And Water

The scale of the 2018 eruption was mindbogglingly, starting with the cropping up of two-dozen volcanic fissures in the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, which went on to feed a miles-long lava river that steamrolled downhill to the coast and completely destroyed the quiet, affluent seaside village of Kapoho. 

It destroyed hundreds of homes, consumed miles of public roads, severed electricity and water lines and forced thousands of Lower Puna residents to evacuate, at an estimated cost of recovery of 800 million dollars. The flow also created nearly 900 acres of new land along Big Island’s eastern coastline, in a swath of barren lavafield that stretches from Kumukahi Lighthouse in the north to the very edge of Pohoiki Beach in the south. 

At its height, the main fissure in Leilani feeding the river was pumping out tens of thousands of gallons of lava per second, which made its long, looping journey down to the ocean. Once the molten rock entered the cool seawater, it exploded; this is thanks to a strange phenomenon where lava – measuring in the thousands of degrees Fahrenheit – rapidly cools and fractures in the water, creating trillions of tiny particles that wash back to shore as beach sand. This phenomenon is what filled in Pohoiki Bay and created the isolated, rocky beach that still manages to draw a crowd. 

How To Get There

Back in the day, the trip to Pohoiki Bay was an easy one – it could be accessed from three directions, and via a nearly straight shot from the town of Pahoa. Getting to Pohoiki Beach now is a bit more complicated, though, thanks to the 2018 Lower Puna Eruption destroying large sections of highway that have yet to be rebuilt. 

Both the Highway 137 north and Pohoiki Road routes are no longer viable, leaving the only access to the beach via Highway 137 south, otherwise known as “Red Road”. This way takes visitors through the tiny fishing village of Opihikao and past its prominent church, which is an easy-to-spot landmark. Just a few miles past the village is a hand-carved wooden sign on the right side of the road for MacKenzie State Park – a sprawling forest of ironwood trees and tall, scraggly sea cliffs great for hiking and wave-watching.

For awhile the park was the end of the road, as several pioneering lobes of lava from the eruption had crossed Highway 137 north of there and completely cut off Pohoiki. Several months after the volcano became dormant again, County of Hawaii bulldozers were hard at work clearing those overrun sections and building a series of steep temporary gravel roads in order to regain access. Crossing these rugged, rocky patches between stretches of asphalt is still to this day the only way to reach Pohoiki Beach.

There are two ways to get to the village of Opihikao from the main lower Puna District town of Pahoa. Both begin on Highway 130 following signs for the village of Kalapana. Roughly three miles outside of Pahoa is a left-hand turn for Kamaili Road – a steep and winding route that meanders down the hill, snaking past livestock pasture, homestead farms and towering green jungle. This is the shorter of the two routes, but is incredibly steep in some spots and demands alert and cautious driving, especially in rainy conditions and low visibility.

The longer route involves staying straight at the turn for Kamaili Road and continuing along Highway