Hawaii Day 7: Kailua Beach

Woke up early and headed off to Kailua Beach on the Eastern Shore of Oahu. As with many other things, Americans refer to this beach as the "Best Beach in the World". I decide to check out for myself and rate it against the Philippine beaches that I have come to love over the last 8 years of my parents being based there.

A 2 hour ride brings on the Scenic Pali Highway me to the sleepy town of Kailua and locals are very helpful in guiding me to the beach. A 15 minute walk later, I get to an approach point into the beach where a big sign on the pine trees bordering the beach says "No Swimming; Water contaminated by open sewage line and exposure may cause illness".

This puts a serious dampener on my mood in addition to the fact that some smart ass real estate developer thought that pine trees would look nice on the beachfront. Near the lifeguard station, I see the open sewage line. Its quite disgusting and erases my intention of swimming in this particular beach.

I walk 2 miles away from the sewage line and see that many people swimming in these waters trying to break 4-5 foot waves. This area seems harmless and the sewage must have been sufficiently diluted by now, so I read the newspaper on the beach for a little bit before joining the other swimmers in the ocean.

An hour of swimming later, I head back towards the main town and see several nice homes on the beachfront. Apparently Elvis used to have a beach house in this neighborhood but no one seems to know where its located !!