Lanikai Beach or Kaōhao Beach is located in Kaōhao, a community in the town of

Kailua Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko' ...

and on the

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

coast of

Oahu, Hawaii Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

. Although there is a widespread belief that the name Lanikai means "heavenly sea", that is a misconception and a grammatical error, since in the Hawaiian language, the qualifier (lani) comes after the noun (kai). The name Lanikai was invented in the 1920s by the developer Charles Frazier, who owned 300 acres of beachfront property in the area known to Native Hawaiians as Kaʻōhao. This small half-mile strip of beach is consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world. Adjacent to Lanikai Beach is a primarily upper-class residential area and because of this it is accessed through public beach access paths. Although the beach itself is public property, it is not state land and is not a county beach park like many beaches in Hawaii. There is no public parking lot and the area lacks facilities like restrooms, showers or

lifeguards A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED fi ...

. As of July 1, 2014, parking violation fines have increased from $35 to $200 in an effort to keep people from illegally parking in the residential area surrounding the beach accesses. Parking violations are strictly enforced and include, but are not limited to, no parking within four feet of a driveway entrance or apron, blocking the unimproved pedestrian right of way (where a sidewalk would normally be), within 30 feet of a stop sign, within ten feet of a fire hydrant, or on or within 20 feet of a crosswalk. However, there are legal parking areas in downtown Kailua. During the weekdays, the beach is less crowded compared to the weekends, although it is still very difficult to find parking close to one of the public beach accesses. On weekends, the beach becomes extremely crowded and during vacation seasons such as winter and summer, the beach is almost completely packed every single day. Lanikai is a popular spot for

photo shoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images that are taken ...

s as renowned models and photographers frequent the place on nice days. What makes Lanikai Beach popular for photographers is having the two Islands in the background called the

Nā Mokulua Nā Mokulua, or just Mokulua (meaning, in Hawaiian, "the two islands") are two islets off the windward coast of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. The islets are often photographed and are located about 0.75 miles off Kaʻōhao (Lanikai), a neighborho ...

or "mokes". Kayakers will often row out to land on the larger northern island, but no one is allowed to land on the southern island as it is a bird sanctuary. Water temperatures are generally 75–80 °F (24–26 °C). It has extremely soft powdery clean white sand. Lanikai Beach is regularly voted as one of the best beaches in America and is the only beach in the USA that was voted as one of the best beaches in the world. Due to its position on the Windward or east side of the island, Lanikai is recognized as being a great place to watch the moonrise over the Mokuluas, especially during the

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180°). This mea ...

. Occasionally during the year the sun will rise directly between the Na Mokulua islands.

References

Beaches of Oahu {{Hawaii-geo-stub