Hawaii Magazine
The East Oʻahu town boasts beautiful beaches, scrumptious brunch spots and chic boutiques all within walking distance.
Dec 14, 2020
O‘ahu has a few coastal communities where you can shop, eat and hit the beach all in the same day and without a car. But Kailua, the once-sleepy community on the island’s Windward Side, is arguably the most diverse, with art galleries, hip coffee shops, beachy boutiques, world-class beaches and the largest wetland in the Islands all within walking distance.
Photo: Kayla Rivera
Photo: David Croxford
Considered the largest remaining emergent wetland in Hawai‘i, Kawai Nui Marsh sprawls over 800 acres and is home to four of the state’s endemic and endangered waterbirds. Walk about a 3-mile path that meanders through the protected wetland; it starts at Kawai Nui Neighborhood Park.
Officials Let Hawaii’s Waterfront Homeowners Damage Public Beaches Again and Again ProPublica 12/31/2020
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This story was co-published with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
In the winter of 2013, 45-foot waves barreled toward Oahu’s North Shore. The storm surge sent water gushing up a public walkway between Dean Hanzawa’s two beachfront homes. The ocean sucked sand and soil away from the yards and pulled a wall fronting one of the homes into a 45-degree angle toward the ocean, causing the property’s yard to split in half.