Doris Duke Beach and Rock Walls

Oahu, HI Print   Leave a comment

Description

Rest on the perfect golden sand of Doris Duke Beach (Ka'alawai Beach) and dip into the clear cool water. You'll usually only be sharing the beach with one person, or two at most. My favorite place to swim is to the left as you walk down the stairs onto the beach. It's like a pool there- the water is super clear and deep and feels especially refreshing, and there are bouncy waves. Float to your heart's content! At high tide, the pool effect is gone, so come at lower tide.
Just to the left of this idyllic beach is the Doris Duke house, where the wealthy Duke family heiress had a massive lava rock wall built and her home situated atop it. She filled her home with exotic treasures from the Middle East. She also had a rock wall built at the shore to form a place to park her husband's yacht. You can swim and snorkel in this sheltered area between the walls, but don't get speared in the okole! (There are spear-fishermen here sometimes).
If you're hungry, head to nearby Kahala Mall for a bite to eat.

Photo Gallery

A perfect beach you can have to yourself!	Looking down pretty Kulamanu Place toward the ocean.	This spot affords a very refreshing swim!
Coconut trees galore line the beach.	It's wonderful to swim here by the rock steps.	You can swim around the corner to Doris Duke's rock wall, that was built for her yacht.

Directions

Click "satellite" on the map and zoom in to see how nice this place is! You can see the Doris Duke swimming pool where Duke Kahanamoku practised for the olympics.
From Kahala Ave, take Papu Circle. Turn right on Kulamanu Street and then left on Kulamanu Pl. Park as soon as you see a space, and then walk down to the end of Kulamanu Place, where you will find stairs going down to the beach!
Or you can walk down a beach access path from one of the overlooks on Diamond Head Rd and walk along the sand to this beach.

This is an interactive map, you can zoom and move it.

Overall Visitor Rating:

Will 09/06/2012 17:48	I want to be there now!
Liam 11/30/2010 22:40	Thanks for publishing this beautiful pic and info. It has brightened my dreary day and I'm going to daydream about being in Hawaii on this beach all day long :)
duncan v 05/25/2010 16:15	mate, awesome
Jenni Rae 10/22/2009 20:24	New Goal in life - I want to go to every beach in hawaii :)