Ho'okipa Beach Park

Ho'okipa Beach Park, Maui

Ho'okipa Beach Park, located on Maui's well-known Hana Highway (Road to Hana), is one of Maui's most famous windsurfing and surfing beaches. Major ocean-sport competitions have taken place here, and several watersport events are held here in many years.

At this cliff-lined beach, surfers come from many places to ride the unique break. The waves can be sizeable and the currents challenging, so beginner surfing is discouraged. Spectators can watch surfers and windsurfers from an elevated overlook point. To reduce overlap between the two sports, surfers usually have the bay to themselves in the mornings and windsurfers in the afternoons.

Ho'okipa Beach has a large coral reef area that helps break up incoming waves, so when the ocean is calm, swimming and snorkeling may be possible. Still, there are better beaches on Maui for those activities. In the winter months, the waves can reach heights of 15 feet (4.6 m) or more at Ho'okipa.

The beach itself is little more than a strip of white sand behind a wide, rocky shelf. The nearshore ocean bottom is a mixture of reef and patches of sand. Because of this, the main water activities are windsurfing, surfing and fishing. Green sea turtles, or honu, are often seen resting near the shoreline, so keep a respectful distance and never block their path to or from the ocean.