Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [55]
Most county beach parks are well maintained with free parking, rest room facilities, outdoor showers, lifeguards and picnic areas. These parks also function as communal backyards, where families celebrate birthdays with barbecues and go camping on weekends. Smack-dab in Honolulu is Ala Moana Beach Park (Click here), one of the prettiest beaches this side of the equator. Waikiki’s famous strand of white sand is also protected as public parks (Click here).
On the Windward Coast, Waimanalo Beach Park (Click here) and Kailua Beach Park (Click here) are a paradise of gentle waves, while east of Hanauma Bay, Sandy Beach Park (Click here) has beautifully violent waves beloved by bodysurfers. Some of the most famous North Shore surfing breaks occur just offshore from modest county beach parks, including ′Ehukai Beach Park (Click here), home to Pipeline. Pupukea Beach Park (Click here) is a conservation success story of protecting tide pools and sea turtles. The Wai′anae Coast doesn’t register on many tourists’ itineraries, but its beach parks are blessedly free of crowds, save for territorial locals.
State parks include iconic Diamond Head State Monument (Click here), with hiking trails that summit the landmark volcanic tuff cone. Farther east is idyllic, crescent-shaped Hanauma Bay (Click here), the island’s premier snorkeling spot. On the Windward Coast there’s the wild and rugged coastline of Malaekahana State Recreation Area (Click here). Occupying the sacred northwestern tip of the island, Ka′ena Point State Park (Click here) is a spectacular sight of lava cliffs and furious crashing waves. Political tensions exist between some state parks and some rural communities over land-use rights, especially in the Windward Coast’s remote valleys.
Although O′ahu has no national parks, the federal government oversees the USS Arizona Memorial (Click here) at Pearl Harbor, the Windward Coast’s James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge (Click here) and the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (p80), which encompasses some of O′ahu’s offshore waters.
Camping
For general information about camping in Hawaii, including safety tips and advice, Click here.
On O′ahu, you can pitch a tent at many county and some state parks that are fairly evenly spread around the island, but none are close to Waikiki. All county and state park campgrounds on O′ahu are closed on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Some are open only on weekends.
Ostensibly, this is for park maintenance, but also to prevent permanent encampments by homeless people, especially along the Wai′anae Coast, where camping by nonlocals is not recommended. Most other county beach parks are found along the Kamehameha Hwy on the Windward Coast, in the shadow of the majestic Ko′olau Range.
Choose your campground carefully, as some roadside county beach parks can be late-night hangouts for drunks, drug dealers and gang members. Some of O′ahu’s safest campgrounds, which have 24-hour security guards and locked gates, include the Malaekahana State Recreation Area (Click here), part of which is open daily to campers, on the Windward Coast; county-run Ho′omaluhia Botanical Garden (Click here) on the Windward Coast; and Kea′iwa Heiau State Recreation Area (Click here) above Pearl Harbor. Of the 15 county parks that allow camping on O′ahu, the most well-protected is at Bellows Field Beach Park (Click here), fronting US Air Force property on the Windward Coast.
You must get camping permits in advance, either by phone or in person:
Division of State Parks (Map; 587-0300; www.hawaiistateparks.org; State Office Bldg, 1151 Punchbowl St, Honolulu; 8am-3:30pm Mon-Fri) State-park camping permits ($5 per night) may be applied for up to 30 days in advance.
Department of Parks & Recreation (Map; 768-3440; Frank F Fasi Municipal Bldg, 650 S King St; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri) Free county-park camping permits are issued no sooner than two Fridays prior to the requested date.
You can also pick up county-park camping permits at satellite city halls, including at Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center