Big Island, HI

My wife and I visited this beach when we met her Mom and sister in Kona for Christmas. This is a nice little beach in the heart of Kona town, right off Ali’i Drive. This beach is right next to Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel, and offers many different activities, including swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, and boating. So it’s sort of like the busy beach hub of ‘downtown’ Kona.

We went snorkeling here. One of the interesting features of this beach is the small peninsula (looks like a tiny island from the beach) which features what looks like an ancient Hawaiian temple—it has a palm thatched roof with tiki statues in front of it. My curiosity was much too much for me and so I snorkeled over to it. I walked out of the water onto the peninsula (it’s a peninsula and not an island since it does connect to land via a narrow strip). There’s a sign posted there which explains that this was “[king] Kamehameha’s retreat, where he might meditate out of sight of others, yet have a commanding view of the approaches from the sea and his plantations on the slopes of Mt. Hualalai.” Of course! It all became clear to me then.

We took some pictures out here and then got back into the water to snorkel our way back into the beach. Along the way we saw some tropical fish—yellow tangs, unicorn fish, puffer fish, and some pencil slate sea urchins. The water here is not that clear, but is clear enough to do a short snorkel. For serious snorkeling, you should check out Kahalu’u Bay or the Captain Cook Monument. But for being a few minute’s walk from our hotel, this was pretty cool. There are many different rental operations here, so it’s a good place to find something for everyone.

After the beach, we walked right across the street to a restaurant on the second floor of a row of shops for some lunch. To sum up, this beach is fantastic if you’re staying in Kona and don’t have that much time (i.e., you have to leave for the airport in a couple hours, but want to do something fun in town, as was the case for us).