This beach is one of our favorite beaches and is about a 30-45 minute drive north of the condo. Unfortunately, it is a lot of other people’s favorite beach too. All beaches in Hawaii are public, however, to get to some of them easily you have to pass through resort areas. Sometimes these resort areas can limit the parking. This is one of those beaches. There is only a certain amount (25-30) of parking passes given out each day. Once they are given out then you have to wait until another car leaves. This actually makes it nice if you are one of the ones they let in. It makes for a less crowed beach. The key to this beach is to get there early. If you arrive after 9am, especially in the high season you will be turned away. This beach has two coral reefs and stretches for about half a mile. The bay is only about 10 ft deep and great for swimming activities but be careful as there are no life guards on duty at this beach. After you park, you will walk down a golf cart path to the beach. There are public restrooms at the bottom and showers. We like the south end of the beach. There is more shade and sun combination and the waters tend to be much more tranquil. There is also some decent snorkeling around the reef to the south. If you like to lay out on the beach and soak up the sun or if one of you likes the shade and one likes the sun, you can easily position yourself in sun and shade on the south end of this beach. On the north end, you will find a hotel beach bar if you want to grab a drink or some food. This is also a nice beach to get some exercise in as it is fairly long. The water here is beautiful but if the wind picks up, it can get a little choppy. I would certainly make this a must visit beach and, again, get there early! In the evening, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel shines it floodlights in the water, which attracts planktons fed by the harmless manta rays. It also has a Manta Ray Point, which allows visitors to have a view of the mysterious evening creatures from underneath. The video below is for Hapuna and Mauna Kea Beaches. Mauna Kea is at the end.
