Sightseeing on Hawaii 270 - Hawai'i Island

Retracing our path from the Pololū Valley during our February 2014 visit, we made a few additional stops.

Kēōkea Beach Park

Located one mile down Kēōkea Beach Road, this county park has picnic tables, restrooms, a pavilion with a kitchen and a rocky beach.  While it isn't a prime location for swimming or surfing, it was an excellent location to relax and watch the ocean.

Parking can be a bit of a problem on weekends

View from the pavilion

Pavilion with tsunami siren in the background

The pavilion contains picnic tables, a kitchen and restrooms

The rocky beach of Kēōkea Bay

Kēōkea Bay

A wave crashes ashore

The breakwater at Kalalae Point provides protected access to the water

A lone surfer takes on the waves beyond the breakwater

Kapaʻau

King Kamehameha I was born near here at Moʻokini Heiau on the coast west of Hāwī and the Upolu Airport.  The Hawaii legislature appropriated $10,000 for a statue to commemorate the 100th anniversary  of the arrival of Captain Cook to the islands.  It was sculpted by Thomas R. Gould in Florence, Italy and sent to Paris, France to be cast in bronze.  After a shipwreck in 1883, the casting was thought to be lost at sea near the Falkland Islands, but it was recovered and placed at Kapa'au while a replacement statue was placed at ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu.

The original King Kamehameha I statue

Copies of this statue are located in Honolulu and in the US Capitol Building

Upolu Airport Road

After seeing wind turbines from a distance, we decided to drive down Upolu Airport Road to see if it went near them.  The two mile road actually forms the western border of the wind farm.  Upolu Airport was built by the federal government in 1927.  The general aviation airport consists of a single 3800' long asphalt runway with an airplane tie down area and a small service building.

The Hawi Renewable Development Wind Farm at Upolu Point has been in operation since 2006

The wind farm consists of 16 Vestas 660-kilowatt wind turbines

The coast of Maui is 30 miles from the Upolu Airport

Admission to all attractions mentioned in this post is free.

While there is not a Kēōkea Beach Park website, the county does provide a map and description of the park at http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/pl-n-kohala-map2.