Wailua Beach

As promised, here are photos of the beach that Sonja and I go to most often because it is the closest to our house. It’s about a mile away, just across the main highway. We used to walk there, but sometimes we go at lunch and take the car to go quicker.

Looking left:

Wailua Beach looking towards the condos

Looking right:

Wailua Beach looking towards the river

The beach is probably almost a half-mile long, at the far end (to the right) is the Wailua river mouth. The river makes the water murky at times, but it’s better right now in the summer. The waves here are moderate because of the wide sandy beach, but there are surf breaks over low rocks at either end. During the summer, the waves are low and you can snorkel over the rocks to the left. The main highway is right next to the beach, but you can barely see it through the vegetation and you can’t hear it all because of the waves.

For now, the beach is mostly deserted except for a few tourists during the day, and some local kids in the afternoon. That will change soon because the Coco Palms hotel on the other side of the highway will be entirely rebuilt with some 300 rooms and condos. The hotel was made famous as the setting for Elvis’s Blue Hawaii movie, but it has been closed since it was battered by hurricane Iniki in 1992. The old buildings will be torn down early 2006, and reconstruction finished by 2008, according to this article.

If you like the view, there are other condos right above the beach for sale: $675,000.

Printed from: http://great-hikes.com/blog/wailua-beach/.
© 2024.

1 Comment   »

  1. Dick Pence says:

    I stayed near the wailua river in 1964 .I remember my Dad saying that this was the location for the movie “DONAVANS REEF”.
    Those were the happiest days of my life!!
    Have you heard this also? and if so ,maybe ill come to visit again.

    dick pence
    san pablo , ca.

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