Hanalei Beach: A DREAMSCAPE FOR BEACHCOMBERS

Take off your shoes and treat yourself to the best beach walk in Hawaii, or perhaps the world: A two-mile run of sand is rimmed by jagged green cliffs that often are draped with numerous waterfalls. Hanalei Bay is beach life at its best, where nature and humanity mingle in harmony.

Being at Black Pot Beach, the center of life for surfers, kayakers, and beach lovers. It’s right at Hanalei Pier, a set for a number of Hollywood movies, with a covered dock house that is a cozy spot to sit on a rainy day, watch the sunset or get close to surfers. Local kids jump and fishermen try their luck. To the right of the pier is where surfers park for the long paddle out to the offshore breaks and where the Hanalei River enters the bay, a contemplative spot.

Continuing around the bay, you’ll see shore-break surfers and joggers and pass a number of beachfront homes set among palms and gardens. After about .5 mile on packed sand you come to the Hanalei City Pavilion, the main station for the Hanalei watermen (lifeguards).

From the pavilion, it’s about .75-mile to Waioli Beach Park, which ends at Waioli Stream. You pass picnic tables, lawn and ironwoods of Pine Trees Beach along the way. Pinetrees is surf city, home to world champ, the late Andy Irons, and his brother Bruce, who is also among the best surfers in the world.