Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [388]
To get to the West End beaches, take the turnoff for the Kaluakoi Resort Area at the 15-mile marker. Pass the former golf course and follow Pohakuloa Rd south.
Papohaku Beach Park
Straight as a toothpick, the light-hued sands of Papohaku Beach run for an astounding 2.5 miles. The sand is soft and you can often stroll from one end to another without seeing another soul.
But just when you think you may have found the ultimate strand, consider a few leveling details. That intoxicating surf is also a viper’s nest of undertow and unpredictable currents. And there’s no easy shade. You can bring an umbrella but the often strong winds may send it O’ahu-bound. Those same breezes kick up the fine sand, which can simply hurt on blustery days.
So come here for the solitude but do so with your eyes figuratively, if not literally, wide open.
There are seven turnoffs from Kaluakoi and Pohakuloa Rds that access the beach and which have parking. The first leads to Papohaku Beach Park, a grassy place with picnic facilities under gnarled ironwood and kiawe trees. Bathroom and shower facilities are rugged. You can camp here but be sure to read the signs that explain which areas are soaked by the automatic sprinklers on which days. Click here for information on camping permits.
There are seldom any other campers here and the view of the stars at night and the sound of surf is mesmerizing. However the park can be popular with rowdy folks young and old and occasionally some try to stay the night. Guards are meant to check permits but you may be happier here if you are not alone.
Dixie Maru Beach
South of Papohaku, beach access is to small sandy coves surrounded by rocky outcrops. At the south end of the paved road there’s a parking lot with access to a small, round inlet, which the ancient Hawaiians knew as Kapukahehu. It is now called Dixie Maru, after a ship that went down in the area long ago. Dixie Maru is the most protected cove on the west shore, and the most popular swimming and snorkeling area. The waters are generally calm, except when it is stormy.
If you’re up for just finding your way as you go, it’s possible to hike south 3 miles along the coast to La’au Point, and see what all the fuss was about (see the boxed text, Click here). You’ll pass a couple of secluded mansions, the failed luxury camping resort and several utterly untouched beaches.
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Ni’ihau
Relatively small in population when Captain Cook anchored off it on January 29, 1778, Ni’ihau has fewer than 300 inhabitants today.
Part of the US, Ni’ihau, which is privately owned by the Robinson family, has long been dubbed by passing tour boats as the ‘Forbidden Island.’ Its ‘forbidden’ mystique – caused by lack of access to the public – also has a fascinating back story. Still today, only Robinson family members and Native Hawaiian residents and their guests are allowed there, plus a few government employees.
The fact that the Robinson family has been able to keep Ni’ihau relatively isolated has helped allow a culture all its own to be preserved: Hawaiian is the primary spoken language, adding to its time-capsule quality, as is a religious temperance introduced by the Robinsons that’s been in place now for roughly 146 years.
HISTORY
The culture of Ni’ihau and its people are inexorably linked to the Robinsons. Since their purchase of the majority of the island from King Kamehameha V in 1863, a purchase he is said to have approved of in part because of the antidrinking practices of the Robinson family, the isolated Ni’ihau has remained the only majority Native Hawaiian–speaking island in existence.
Deciding there was too much drinking in Scotland (and haggis and bagpipes, according to Keith Robinson, great-grandson of Ni’ihau co-purchaser Eliza Sinclair), the family