Kokololio Beach Park on Oahu

On our way back to Waikiki from the Polynesian Cultural Center, my travel companion and I stopped at Kokololio Beach Park, 30 miles and a world away from the most famous beach on the planet.

Oahu, Hawaii

Though we could see a couple of other people on the beach, they were hundreds of feet from us, and the park felt nearly undiscovered. Trees separate it from the sight and sounds of King Kamehameha Highway a few yards away.

Oahu, Hawaii

Not a ship spoils the intimacy of the nose-rub between the indigo waters and the periwinkle sky.

Oahu, Hawaii

No snack shacks and sundry shops salt the boardwalk it doesn’t have.

Oahu, Hawaii

No lotion bottles and pastel blankets blemish its sand.

Oahu, Hawaii

No beach balls or rubber rafts litter its waters.

Oahu, Hawaii

Unburdened by the people and plastics that pepper what usually passes for paradise, the beach felt like she welcomed her visitors. As my feet sank into the soft sand, her incoming waves tugged at my ankles, like warm mittened fingers.

Leslie Carbone

Since we faced eastward, we couldn’t see it, but we knew that the sun was setting on our last day in Hawaii. And though the beach felt ante-lapsarian, staying till dark in an unknown area didn’t seem smart for two tourists alone, and so we left, more sated than sorrowful.

All in all we had only about 15 minutes at Kokololio, but they made one of the best quarter-hours of our five-day trip. In these days of facebook, twitter, and YouTube, it’s easy to get one’s promised 15 minutes of fame many times over. Fifteen minutes alone is much more rare, and much more rewarding.

Kokololio Beach Park on Oahu

5 Comments

  1. I’ve not been to the islands but I can’t imagine a beach in Hawaii being so pristine and unspoiled. Maybe a diversion from the annual Las Vegas trip to the islands is in order.

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