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Review of big island beaches including sand, snorkeling, swimming and big island beach resorts in Kailua Kona, Kohala, Waipio, Hilo and the South Coast.
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The main tourist centre of Kailua-Kona Town in the centre of the dry and sunny west coast has surprisingly few beach locations along its hotel-lined coastline. Where white sand emerges there are usually crowds, especially at weekends. Of the two small beach spots worthy of mention, Kamekahonu Beach in the heart of town and facing a lovely restored Hawaiian temple is good for swimming. Along Ali'i Drive is the popular White Sands Beach with good swimming and snorkelling - but, every year after the winter storms (Jan-April), the sand gets completely washed away and reappears in May. Further south is Kahalu'u Beach, a rich fishing area about 5 miles to the south of town. The water offshore is shallow and protected and you'll see lots of fish, but the waters a little further out are dangerous with currents and sharks.
There are several nice sand beach locations a five minute walk north of Kailua Town just beyond Honokohau Marina. Honokohau is a quiet secluded beach popular with nudists and has an interesting ancient Hawaiian temple half submerged in the water. You can walk for almost a mile along the coast here and find natural swimming pools and green turtles.
Less than 10 minutes north of Kailua Town, just past the airport, are several attractive beaches but neither have safe swimming. Pine Trees is renowned for its wild waters and surfing, whilst Kona Beach State Park is calmer and is a popular fishing spot for locals. Both make nice beach strolls.
The best snorkelling on the Big Island is at Captain Cook (Napoopoo Bay) and Honaunau Bay about 15 miles to the south of Kailua Town, although the beaches here are mostly rocky. This is a rural residential area with several very quiet seaside villages. Ke'ei has a small beach with rock pools and Hookena, a little further south, has a long stretch of grey sand beach which has great swimming and body surfing with showers and camping facilities.
Back to Big Island Map
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