Makua (Oahu)

[Kyle]From Poka’i, we made a short trip up the west coast of O’ahu to Makua, the very last beach before rounding the corner to the north shore, the first several miles of which was a prohibited military firing range. Practically, it was about seven beaches away, but it took us a while to make our way there in the fluky winds.

By road, Makua is right where the pavement ends after driving past many many other places on the way out of Honolulu. If you live in the city and want to go to as remote a spot as possible for your July 4th holiday weekend, you go to Makua. It seems that many people had the same thought and the beach was lined from one end to the other with tents and sun shelters. There were people playing on all manner of water toys during the day and campfires and picnics at night along with several amateur fireworks displays, and a wonderful smell of freshly caught fish on the barbecue.

A great place to spend our last night on Oahu

The beach was backed by a huge bowl of towering mountains sloping upwards at increasingly steep angles until rising vertically to a ridge that seemed barely wide enough to stand. It seemed to be Hawai’i at its most primeval.