Hawaiʻi Kai & East Oʻahu: The Honest Guide

East Oʻahu is the stretch of coast running from Kaimukī around the island's southeast corner to Waimānalo. Hawaiʻi Kai itself is a 1960s marina suburb — canals, strip malls, a Costco — which is not why you drive out here. You drive out here because the twelve miles of Kalanianaʻole Highway past it are among the most dramatic road on the island, and because three or four of Oʻahu's best-known outdoor experiences are strung along them within twenty-five minutes of Waikīkī.

Hanauma Bay is the headline: a flooded volcanic crater, a protected marine life conservation district, and the best easy snorkeling on the island. It is also the most heavily managed site on this page, and going without checking first is the classic visitor mistake. Non-resident entry requires an advance online reservation, slots are released on a rolling basis and go quickly, the bay is closed two days a week — currently Mondays and Tuesdays — and everyone entering watches a short conservation video before going down to the sand. Rules and hours here have changed more than once in recent years, so confirm the current ones on the City and County of Honolulu's site before you commit a morning to it.

A serious word about Sandy Beach, a few minutes further along. It is beautiful, it is popular with locals, and it has a shorebreak that lands directly on hard-packed sand — it is consistently among the leading sites for spinal and neck injuries in the state, and it injures strong, experienced swimmers, not just tourists. Watch it from the overlook. If you do go in, go only when lifeguards are on duty and ask them about conditions first. This is not the beach to find out how good you are.

The rest is more forgiving. The Makapuʻu Lighthouse Trail is fully paved, about two miles round trip, family-friendly, and delivers a genuinely great view of the windward coast and — in winter — one of the better shore-based whale-watching spots on Oʻahu. The Koko Crater Railway Trail, the 'Koko Head Stairs', is roughly a thousand railroad ties straight up an old military tramway; it is a stairmaster with a view and people underestimate it constantly, so bring water and go early. Hālona Blowhole and the cove below it, and Sea Life Park out at Makapuʻu Point, round out the drive. For food, Hawaiʻi Kai is where you stop — the marina at Koko Marina Center is the closest cluster of restaurants to Hanauma Bay, about five minutes back west.