Every year, millions of visitors to Hawaii — not to mention the islands' residents — safely enjoy its gorgeous beaches, challenging trails, breathtaking waterfalls and other distinctive natural features that turn many first-time tourists into repeat vacationers.
Yet every year the spectacular setting also proves fatal to a relative few, and injurious to far more.
In the days following the recent drownings of two Bay Area visitors to Hawaii — one hit by a wave at a Maui blowhole, the other falling from oceanside cliffs on the Big Island — I asked readers to share their insights on "trouble spots": places where nature's allure and power, combined with bad decisions, have been particularly hazardous.
(I also combed news and government wesites for incident reports and statistics.)
Fortunately, using common sense can almost always prevent serious mishaps. But it doesn't hurt to know before you go where potential problems may lie, and what other resources — besides your noggin — can help you avoid harm.
Beaches
Life's a beach and then you die? Not if you're paying attention...to posted warnings, current ocean conditions, the knowledge (or absence) of lifeguards and local beachgoers, and your own physical limitations. Most beaches are perfectly fine for sightseeing from the sand, and many have waters that can be entered safely on calm days, applying all the above-mentioned cautions. Sadly, every island has a sirenlike shoreline where risks are all too often unheeded.
Trouble spots: On Kauai, picturesque Lumaha'i Beach, nicknamed "Luma-die" by some, and Hanakapi'ai Beach, relatively remote but still popular as the first pit stop on the rugged Kalalau Trail, are subject to frighteningly strong rogue waves and rip currents.
The slippery rock ledges of Lumaha'i (whose widest sandy stretch is featured in "South Pacific") and the large sea cave at Hanakapi'ai also present tempting hazards; moreover, their North Side location makes them prone to big waves November through April, when the holidays and spring break bring more unwary travelers unused to the powerful Pacific.
The same applies to the west side's unprotected Polihale Beach. Staying well above the water line is recommended.
On Oahu, the "anyone can surf" attitude often gets people in over their heads, literally, on North Shore beaches during periods of big surf, while the year-round crushing shorebreak at Sandy Beach near the island's southeastern tip has sent many a would-be bodysurfer home with sprains, neck compressions and/or broken bones.
(President Obama, as others who grew up on the island, may know what he's doing at Sandy's, as locals call it, but that doesn't mean you will.) The ambulance standing by in the parking lot is one clue.
Conditions for similarly perilous shorebreak — mid-sized waves landing on hard-packed sand in shallow water — can also be found on Maui's Makena and D.T. Fleming beach parks and the Big Island's Hapuna and Magic Sands beach parks, which are often better for sunbathing.
A Valley Isle reader shared this typical anecdote from Makena, also known as Big Beach: "While visiting my orthopedic doctor recently, there were two gentlemen in the waiting room who, unknown to each other, had just broken their shoulder blades trying to swim at Big Beach. Two tourists, same beach, same day, same doctor's office. Makena is known as 'breakneck beach' to the locals and the surf here breaks right on the shore...it's gorgeous and alluring, but don't let the water fool you, this is a dangerous beach for swimming."
Read it and keep: The Hawaii Beach Safety website, a multi-agency project, is a handy guide to beaches with lifeguards: 29 on Oahu, 10 each on Kauai (not including Ke'e Beach, which added lifeguards a few years ago) and the Big Island, and nine on Maui.
Yet every year the spectacular setting also proves fatal to a relative few, and injurious to far more.
In the days following the recent drownings of two Bay Area visitors to Hawaii — one hit by a wave at a Maui blowhole, the other falling from oceanside cliffs on the Big Island — I asked readers to share their insights on "trouble spots": places where nature's allure and power, combined with bad decisions, have been particularly hazardous.
(I also combed news and government wesites for incident reports and statistics.)
Fortunately, using common sense can almost always prevent serious mishaps. But it doesn't hurt to know before you go where potential problems may lie, and what other resources — besides your noggin — can help you avoid harm.
Beaches
Life's a beach and then you die? Not if you're paying attention...to posted warnings, current ocean conditions, the knowledge (or absence) of lifeguards and local beachgoers, and your own physical limitations. Most beaches are perfectly fine for sightseeing from the sand, and many have waters that can be entered safely on calm days, applying all the above-mentioned cautions. Sadly, every island has a sirenlike shoreline where risks are all too often unheeded.
Trouble spots: On Kauai, picturesque Lumaha'i Beach, nicknamed "Luma-die" by some, and Hanakapi'ai Beach, relatively remote but still popular as the first pit stop on the rugged Kalalau Trail, are subject to frighteningly strong rogue waves and rip currents.
The slippery rock ledges of Lumaha'i (whose widest sandy stretch is featured in "South Pacific") and the large sea cave at Hanakapi'ai also present tempting hazards; moreover, their North Side location makes them prone to big waves November through April, when the holidays and spring break bring more unwary travelers unused to the powerful Pacific.
The same applies to the west side's unprotected Polihale Beach. Staying well above the water line is recommended.
On Oahu, the "anyone can surf" attitude often gets people in over their heads, literally, on North Shore beaches during periods of big surf, while the year-round crushing shorebreak at Sandy Beach near the island's southeastern tip has sent many a would-be bodysurfer home with sprains, neck compressions and/or broken bones.
(President Obama, as others who grew up on the island, may know what he's doing at Sandy's, as locals call it, but that doesn't mean you will.) The ambulance standing by in the parking lot is one clue.
Conditions for similarly perilous shorebreak — mid-sized waves landing on hard-packed sand in shallow water — can also be found on Maui's Makena and D.T. Fleming beach parks and the Big Island's Hapuna and Magic Sands beach parks, which are often better for sunbathing.
A Valley Isle reader shared this typical anecdote from Makena, also known as Big Beach: "While visiting my orthopedic doctor recently, there were two gentlemen in the waiting room who, unknown to each other, had just broken their shoulder blades trying to swim at Big Beach. Two tourists, same beach, same day, same doctor's office. Makena is known as 'breakneck beach' to the locals and the surf here breaks right on the shore...it's gorgeous and alluring, but don't let the water fool you, this is a dangerous beach for swimming."
Read it and keep: The Hawaii Beach Safety website, a multi-agency project, is a handy guide to beaches with lifeguards: 29 on Oahu, 10 each on Kauai (not including Ke'e Beach, which added lifeguards a few years ago) and the Big Island, and nine on Maui.
Just as important, the site lists "recommended" and closed beaches, citing current conditions that are updated every 10 minutes based on National Weather Service forecasts, and includes detailed analysis of each beach's natural features and hazards. The Kaua'i Explorer website also provides valuable safety advice for Garden Island beaches, including tourist faves without lifeguards (Lumaha'i, 'Anini, "Secret" Beach, Kalapaki and Polihale among them.)
In addition, Hawaii novices should review the basic ocean safety tips on the Honolulu municipal site: "Always swim at a guarded beach; consult lifeguards about ocean conditions before you go into the water; heed all warning signs — they are there for a reason; never swim alone; never go out farther than you can swim; know your limits — if in doubt, don't go out."
The site also provides a guide to the warning signs, both permanent and temporary, found on all the islands, with photos showing the relevant hazardous conditions. First-time snorkelers would also benefit from the safety tips of www.snorkeling.info (yes, the buddy system works.)
Not online? Read the surf advisories in the local papers (you remember newspapers, right?), turn on the TV or radio news reports, or chat up the concierge or other island resident. On Kauai, the county's Ocean Safety Bureau has updated its official beach guide, distributed for free at the airport, fire department and a number of hotels and resorts. The brochure includes a map of lifeguarded beaches, an explanation of seasonal conditions and rip currents, and other safety tips.
Blowholes, baths and toilet bowls
While the Nakalele Point blowhole on Maui has come under recent scrutiny, the geographical phenomenon of surf spraying geyserlike through a hole in the lava rocks is not particularly common in Hawaii.
Perhaps that's what make them so enticing to daredevil antics, such as diving into the large one at South Point on the Big Island. And at Spouting Horn on Kauai and Halona Cove on Oahu, fences have been installed to block access to the blowholes (which can be viewed from lookouts) and the dangerously surging waters and slippery rocks that create them. That doesn't stop imprudent types from bypassing these barriers, but it does make them less of a trouble spot for some.
More problematic are the related phenomena of "queen's baths": large tidepools carved into rocks, refreshed — and occasionally overwhelmed — by the adjacent ocean, and "toilet bowls," similar openings in the rocks where the water forcefully rises and falls (as if being flushed.) Not far from Nakalele Point, the Olivine Pools have been the scene of several drownings — including a Bay Area couple in 2006 and a California man in 2004 — and numerous injuries when large waves swept over the lava shelf.
Signs warning of danger there and at the Queen's Bath in Princeville, Kauai, where the intrepid have drowned or been hurt by rough waters and sharp rocks, do not dissuade the constant stream of visitors, many of whom are intrigued by guidebook descriptions with idyllic photos. Some even confuse Queen's Bath with an even less protected inlet at the bottom of the cliffside trail used to reach the tidepool; the often fearless young locals playing there unintentionally inspire greenhorns foolishly to imitate them (as a number of alarming YouTube videos and Flickr photos attest.)
Many locals grew up playing in the now-closed Toilet Bowl at Oahu's Hanauma Bay, where the high numbers of visitors have led to a proportionately high injury rate.
You can also find online videos of cliff-divers jumping into an even more roiling aquatic commode at South Point on the Big Island. Simply put, it's just foolish for visitors to follow their lead, even if it looks like fun.
In addition, Hawaii novices should review the basic ocean safety tips on the Honolulu municipal site: "Always swim at a guarded beach; consult lifeguards about ocean conditions before you go into the water; heed all warning signs — they are there for a reason; never swim alone; never go out farther than you can swim; know your limits — if in doubt, don't go out."
The site also provides a guide to the warning signs, both permanent and temporary, found on all the islands, with photos showing the relevant hazardous conditions. First-time snorkelers would also benefit from the safety tips of www.snorkeling.info (yes, the buddy system works.)
Not online? Read the surf advisories in the local papers (you remember newspapers, right?), turn on the TV or radio news reports, or chat up the concierge or other island resident. On Kauai, the county's Ocean Safety Bureau has updated its official beach guide, distributed for free at the airport, fire department and a number of hotels and resorts. The brochure includes a map of lifeguarded beaches, an explanation of seasonal conditions and rip currents, and other safety tips.
Blowholes, baths and toilet bowls
While the Nakalele Point blowhole on Maui has come under recent scrutiny, the geographical phenomenon of surf spraying geyserlike through a hole in the lava rocks is not particularly common in Hawaii.
Perhaps that's what make them so enticing to daredevil antics, such as diving into the large one at South Point on the Big Island. And at Spouting Horn on Kauai and Halona Cove on Oahu, fences have been installed to block access to the blowholes (which can be viewed from lookouts) and the dangerously surging waters and slippery rocks that create them. That doesn't stop imprudent types from bypassing these barriers, but it does make them less of a trouble spot for some.
More problematic are the related phenomena of "queen's baths": large tidepools carved into rocks, refreshed — and occasionally overwhelmed — by the adjacent ocean, and "toilet bowls," similar openings in the rocks where the water forcefully rises and falls (as if being flushed.) Not far from Nakalele Point, the Olivine Pools have been the scene of several drownings — including a Bay Area couple in 2006 and a California man in 2004 — and numerous injuries when large waves swept over the lava shelf.
Signs warning of danger there and at the Queen's Bath in Princeville, Kauai, where the intrepid have drowned or been hurt by rough waters and sharp rocks, do not dissuade the constant stream of visitors, many of whom are intrigued by guidebook descriptions with idyllic photos. Some even confuse Queen's Bath with an even less protected inlet at the bottom of the cliffside trail used to reach the tidepool; the often fearless young locals playing there unintentionally inspire greenhorns foolishly to imitate them (as a number of alarming YouTube videos and Flickr photos attest.)
Many locals grew up playing in the now-closed Toilet Bowl at Oahu's Hanauma Bay, where the high numbers of visitors have led to a proportionately high injury rate.
You can also find online videos of cliff-divers jumping into an even more roiling aquatic commode at South Point on the Big Island. Simply put, it's just foolish for visitors to follow their lead, even if it looks like fun.
Know before you go: Witnesses, rescue personnel and residents who see the aftermath have been devastated by the unnecessary loss of life at Queen's Bath and the Nakalele blowhole — and one can only imagine the pain of those left behind. Is yet another video/photo op really worth it?
At the very least, enormous respect must be given to the forces that brought these places into being. Stay well back from blowholes and "toilet bowls." Remember baths" — "troughs" might be a less enticing word — will be subject to the same seasonal and storm high surf (or worse) than those of nearby beaches, and conditions can change quickly. (In my more than 15 Kauai visits, usually December-May, I've never found the Princeville or Polihale Queen's Baths safe to visit.)
Even on the calmest summer days — when solitude seekers will have yet another reason to avoid the area — sightseers should use extreme caution. Walk carefully on the slippery rocks far from the water's edge, check the wave pattern before getting in, face the ocean at all times and remember, as the warning signs advise, you do indeed enter at your own risk.
Waterfalls and pools
Kauai has two of the most easily viewed, captivating cascades: Wailua Falls and 'Opaeka'a Falls, offering safe lookouts off well-paved roads.
The steep cliffs that form them would seem to be forbidding enough, but — as with the recent tragedy at Yosemite's Vernal Falls — barrier-eluding sightseers have been carried over the falls and/or drowned swimming in their pools, while hikers have plunged to their deaths trying to reach the pools via unmaintained and unmarked trails.
Warning signs and fencing have increased following the 2006 deaths of a California woman and her cousin, who assumed a warning sign on a left-hand trail to keep out did not apply to a path on the right. (Their families recently won a lawsuit against the state, in part due to the earlier, nonfatal fall of a Bay Area teen at the same spot, which led a state worker to recommend safety improvements that had not been implemented when the women fell.)
Deaths and lawsuits have also led to more stringent warnings and barriers at Maui's 'Ohe'o Gulch, formerly touted as the "Seven Sacred Pools," near Hana in Haleakala National Park.
It is still permissible to swim in the seven-plus mini-waterfall pools, but gauges and weather forecasts help rangers determine when the risk of flash flooding — which can sweep bathers out of the pools and into the rough ocean below — is too great to keep the pools open. Sadly, an 8-year-old Maui girl was killed May 31 by a rockfall at the base of nearby Waimoku Falls, along the Pipiwai Trail.
Oahu residents still mourn the closure of Sacred Falls State Park in 1999, after eight people on the trail to the 80-foot falls were killed and another 50 hurt by a massive rockfall.
(Their families also won a lawsuit, arguing the warning signs at the trail's start were inadequate.)
In case you've hiked to one of the few waterfalls without a warning sign, remember that all cascades can carry rocks. There's also the possibility of contracting leptospirosis by bathing in waterfall pools, particularly after heavy rainfalls that may have swept dead animals into the stream.
The high rate of injuries and sporadic fatalities of those swimming at Kipu Falls on Kauai, where a rope swing tempts visitors to take the plunge, has also led some to call for its closure.
As someone who visited there years ago as part of a paid, guided tour that included another rope swing and waterfall swimming hole, it's hard for me to believe the Kipu pool is especially hazardous. But then again, I balked at entering via the rope swing — and I don't work in the local ER, as one closure advocate does.
At the very least, enormous respect must be given to the forces that brought these places into being. Stay well back from blowholes and "toilet bowls." Remember baths" — "troughs" might be a less enticing word — will be subject to the same seasonal and storm high surf (or worse) than those of nearby beaches, and conditions can change quickly. (In my more than 15 Kauai visits, usually December-May, I've never found the Princeville or Polihale Queen's Baths safe to visit.)
Even on the calmest summer days — when solitude seekers will have yet another reason to avoid the area — sightseers should use extreme caution. Walk carefully on the slippery rocks far from the water's edge, check the wave pattern before getting in, face the ocean at all times and remember, as the warning signs advise, you do indeed enter at your own risk.
Waterfalls and pools
Kauai has two of the most easily viewed, captivating cascades: Wailua Falls and 'Opaeka'a Falls, offering safe lookouts off well-paved roads.
The steep cliffs that form them would seem to be forbidding enough, but — as with the recent tragedy at Yosemite's Vernal Falls — barrier-eluding sightseers have been carried over the falls and/or drowned swimming in their pools, while hikers have plunged to their deaths trying to reach the pools via unmaintained and unmarked trails.
Warning signs and fencing have increased following the 2006 deaths of a California woman and her cousin, who assumed a warning sign on a left-hand trail to keep out did not apply to a path on the right. (Their families recently won a lawsuit against the state, in part due to the earlier, nonfatal fall of a Bay Area teen at the same spot, which led a state worker to recommend safety improvements that had not been implemented when the women fell.)
Deaths and lawsuits have also led to more stringent warnings and barriers at Maui's 'Ohe'o Gulch, formerly touted as the "Seven Sacred Pools," near Hana in Haleakala National Park.
It is still permissible to swim in the seven-plus mini-waterfall pools, but gauges and weather forecasts help rangers determine when the risk of flash flooding — which can sweep bathers out of the pools and into the rough ocean below — is too great to keep the pools open. Sadly, an 8-year-old Maui girl was killed May 31 by a rockfall at the base of nearby Waimoku Falls, along the Pipiwai Trail.
Oahu residents still mourn the closure of Sacred Falls State Park in 1999, after eight people on the trail to the 80-foot falls were killed and another 50 hurt by a massive rockfall.
(Their families also won a lawsuit, arguing the warning signs at the trail's start were inadequate.)
In case you've hiked to one of the few waterfalls without a warning sign, remember that all cascades can carry rocks. There's also the possibility of contracting leptospirosis by bathing in waterfall pools, particularly after heavy rainfalls that may have swept dead animals into the stream.
The high rate of injuries and sporadic fatalities of those swimming at Kipu Falls on Kauai, where a rope swing tempts visitors to take the plunge, has also led some to call for its closure.
As someone who visited there years ago as part of a paid, guided tour that included another rope swing and waterfall swimming hole, it's hard for me to believe the Kipu pool is especially hazardous. But then again, I balked at entering via the rope swing — and I don't work in the local ER, as one closure advocate does.
Read it and keep: As the outdoor safety page on the Hawaii State Parks website states: "Steep valley walls, sea cliffs, and waterfalls are subject to rock slides and falls. Use extra caution in these areas." To prevent contracting leptospirosis or other diseases, it advises, "Avoid entering streams and ponds when you have open cuts or abrasions on your skin. Do not drink the water without first boiling or using purification tablets."
It's also helpful to recognize these warning signs of a flash flood: "Increase in the speed of the stream flow, rapid rise in stream level, a distant rumbling upstream and the smell of fresh earth. Be prepared to move immediately to higher ground and never attempt to cross the stream when the water level is above your knees."
Hiking and climbing
Hiking in Hawaii can be an exhilarating experience, but as the state parks site states: "Hawai'i's mountains are porous, crumbly weathering basalt. They are not suitable for roping or climbing."
The fantastic weathering along Kauai's Napali Coast has created just enough space for the 11-mile Kalalau Trail, which requires permits — and strength and wits — to go beyond the 2-mile point at Hanakapi'ai Beach. Those first two miles are frequently attempted by poorly shod, out-of-shape visitors, who don't realize how narrow, steep, rocky and potentially slippery the trail becomes after leaving Ke'e Beach
. (I know the locals running it barefoot with surfboards make it seem easy, but then so do mountain goats; if you're not local or a mountain goat, it's best to be careful, as I found out the hard-on-the-'okole way. Oh, and bring water.)
On Oahu, local and visiting hikers have gotten injured, lost or stranded after falling or going off various trails in, among other places, the lush Manoa and Kahana valleys and the steep cliffs of Olomana. On the Big Island, death and serious injuries have resulted from leaving marked trails or venturing into closed areas inside Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and the active volcanic sites in the Puna district. (You shouldn't need to fall into a steam vent or fall through a fragile layer of newly formed rock into lava to know that's a bad thing.)
Know before you go: The state parks website also includes these important reminders: "Plan your hike by knowing the terrain to be covered, the length of the trail, weather conditions, time of day, and hazards along the trail. Allow ample time to return before nightfall by figuring 1.5 miles per hour. Carry proper equipment, including a first aid kit and plenty of water. Wear proper shoes and clothing. Stay on the designated trail and be extra cautious when crossing streams and walking on wet, slippery trails or on loose, crumbly soil or rock. Hike in a group and keep track of those in your party."
It all seems so obvious, doesn't it? But when you're bedazzled by the exotic, overconfident in your abilities or underprepared for wilderness, your vacation can end sooner than you think. As a Californian, I appreciate the advice of Denis Scott, who relocated to Oahu some years back: "Hawaii is an amazing place to visit...but it is a different place. It is its own place—culture, land, ocean, etc. Come to learn and experience. And by learn, sometimes that means watch or enjoy, not do or hop in."
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