This was a dream of a hike. Imagine hopping from beach to beach all day long. We followed the Ala Kahakai trail from Spencer Beach Park and hiked from beach to beach until, four beaches further, we reached Hapuna Beach. This is an ancient Hawaiian trail that linked fisher men's trails and Hawaiian Kingdom roads. In ancient times, it was 175 miles long. Today, only the section from Spencer Beach to Puako Bay on the Kona Coast has signage.
Spencer Beach Park is where we started our hike. The beach is maintained by the county and used by local people. On Christmas Eve, we strolled in the surf and listened to Hawaiian Christmas chants sung by a group of Hawaiians families gathered on the beach to celebrate the holiday and see the sunset.
Following the coastline and lava fields, we arrived at Mau'umae Beach. This small, secluded beach is also used by locals. It cannot be reached by car. The directions to get to this beach include, "park at telephone pole # 22 and walk."
After more beautiful shoreline walking,
we reached a very small unnamed beach
with a tide pool in the back.
To get to the next beach, Mauna Kea Beach, we had to hike by hole #3 on the Mauna Kea golf course. Notice that in order to hit the green, the golf ball must go over the inlet.
I took this picture for my brother and my son-in-law, who love to golf and will appreciate the hazard. The guidebook describes it as "vintage Hawaiian golf."
Mauna Kea Beach Resort with all the trimmings, but….
the south side of the beach was open to the public. It was calm and beautiful. This is my favorite beach so far on the Big Island, a half-mile crescent with beautiful fine sand and calm surf. I went for a swim.
After more hiking along the surf,
We reached Hapuna, another well known beach with a resort. A fine beach but not as stunning as Maunu Kea.
View from the south of Hapuna beach. This is where we lost track of the trail and had to turn back.
All in all another fabulous hike on the Big Island.
All these hikes look glorious!
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