Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
are held here occasionally). Paddle out on the northernmost end of the beach. Give locals
their space here.
Sleeping
Kawohi Lani
VACATION RENTAL $$$
(Precious Heaven; 877-526-8352;
www.blacksandsbeach.com
;
Punalu'u Beach Park; 3-bed house
per night/week $275/1750)
This unique property is the only vacation rental on Punalu'u
Beach Park. Just steps from the water in the shelter of coconut trees, it comprises one
three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on stilts with a large deck, and a one-bed cottage
(per night $175). One of the nicest situations in Ka'u.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Naʻalehu & Around
POP 1070
Tiny, low-key Naʻalehu is the southernmost town in the USA - a title it milks for all it's
worth. The most prominent landmark is the abandoned historic theater with a giant
honu
painted on the roof
.
Along with its towering banyan trees and pastel plantation homes,
Naʻalehu has a lost-in-time rural feel.
This is Kaʻu's commercial center, and it has a grocery store, laundromat, library, gas
station, ATM, post office, police station and a half-dozen churches.
Beaches
Whittington Beach Park
BEACH
This small beach park has tide pools to explore, a bird-festooned fishpond and the ce-
ment pilings of an old pier that was used for shipping sugar and hemp until the 1930s.
The ocean is usually too rough for swimming and, despite the name, there is no beach.
Green sea turtles can sometimes be seen offshore.
Bathrooms, with no potable water, and sheltered picnic pavilions are grouped together
near a pretty, pondlike inlet. Camping on the grass is allowed with a county permit. The
turnoff for the park is between mile markers 60 and 61. Look for it at a stop sign on the
makai
(seaward) side of Hwy 11, just below the rise to the Honuʻapo Bay lookout.
