Pāpōhaku Beach
Pāpōhaku Beach is one of Hawaiʻi’s largest white sand beaches that stretches from Maunaloa town to the western coast of Molokai Island. It is also known as Three Mile Beach with three miles of soft sands uninterrupted down Molokaʻi's west coast.
It is one of the longest and widest white-sand beaches in the Hawaiian Islands. Low sand dunes and thorny kiawe trees make up the backshore. It is a great beach for a long shoreline stroll, but swimming isn't safe here due to strong rip currents. Papohaku Beach doesn't have a protective reef, so it is fully exposed to the open ocean. Strong surf can occur at any time of the year. Since nothing blocks the waves, they break forcefully and can wash up high on the beach, which can pose a danger to anyone walking near the water's edge, especially children. Occasionally, experienced bodyboarders go out and surf here, but this is not a beach for other water activities.
History
- For many years in the past, Papohaku Beach was the location of the largest sand mining operation in Hawaii. In the early 1960s, sand was taken from here and shipped to neighboring Oahu for use by the construction industry. This operation ended in 1975. A concrete tunnel on the beach is all what remains of the former sand mining industry.
- Papohaku Beach was also the location of military exercises during World War II.
- Waikīkī Beach on Oahu took sand from Pāpōhaku years ago to help build up its own shores.
- It is used as the start point and finish point of Molokai Channel crossings by channel swimmers.
External links
- Crossing The Molokai Channel Is A Huge Success
- Aloha and Arigato by Norihito Yoshioka
- Iskander Sagarminaga's Molokai Channel Crossing Started Off Tough in the Dark - and Ended Up Tough in the Dark
- Edie Hu Becomes First Woman to Cross from Oahu To Molokai
- Paul Leonard’s Molokai Channel Redux Is A Success
- Haley Chasin Sets Molokai Channel Women's Record
- Yasemin Altintas and Murat Öz Abort Tandem Molokai Channel Crossing after Bite from a Cookiecutter Shark
- Aysu Türkoğlu Encountered an Unusual Calm Across Molokai, but She Had to Overcome a Strong Underwater Current
- Lorelei Schmidt Travels Cross Country to Cross Molokai in 19 Hours 38 Minutes
- Paul Leonard Is Hit By Cookiecutter Shark In The Molokai Channel
- Shocking Start, Tough Middle, Great Outcome for Tsanko Tsankov
- Caitlin O’Reilly Becomes Youngest Oceans Seven Swimmer In History
- Six Down, One To Go: Caitlin O’Reilly En Route To Oahu
- Oceans Seven Rivalry: Aysu Türkoğlu versus Bengisu Avcı
- Anatomy of a Record across Molokai - The Story of Andreas Waschburger
- Michael Moreau Manages Molokai Past Midnight
- Anshuman Jhingran Crosses the Molokai Channel on a Beautiful Night
- Cameron Keith Crosses Molokai With A Thunderous Finish
- Mányoki Manhandles Molokai
- ll's Well That Ends Well In The Open Water
- Stephen Junk Completes Sixth Channel Of Oceans Seven
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Cameron Bellamy, Steve Walker Make Molokai
- Steve Walker Succeeding With One Arm And A Broken Foot
- Mark Tan Freestyles To His Fourth
- Halani Moss-Vete Swims in Her Sanctuary in a Tribute to her Mother
- Daniel Vivero Swims Through The Night
- Mark Makes Molokai
- Around And Around And Across Goes John Batchelder
- Papohaku Beach, Molokai's Largest Sandy Beach
- When Stephen Redmond Faced The Great Wall Of China
