Halona Blowhole Lookout - Oahu, HI
Posted by: 
Raven
N 21° 16.939 W 157° 40.621
4Q E 637244 N 2353968
Located right on Hwy 72 and 10-15 minutes from Honolulu, Oahu, this scenic lookout offers 3 distinct views of the island's southeastern shoreline: Sandy Beach & Makapuu Point, the blowhole itself, and a small cove made popular by several movies.
Waymark Code: WMVQ89
Location: Hawaii, United States
Date Posted: 05/17/2017
Views: 5
The Halona Blowhole Lookout is a popular scenic spot on Oahu's southeastern shore right on State Hwy 72 near Hanauma Bay, about 10-15 minutes from Honolulu. It is an area with steep sea cliffs offering panoramic views of three distinct locations:
[1]
To the left (East) of the lookout is the entire stretch of Sandy Beach, popular among experienced bodyboarders and bodysurfers for its pounding waves and powerful shorebreak. This beach is unfortunately one of the most dangerous ones on the island, colloquially called "the beach of broken necks" or "Broke Neck beach" due to numerous inexperienced swimmers having become paralized by severely underestimating the waves' strengths.
Behind Sandy Beach is "Makapuu Point", a gently sloping hill on the island's Easternmost point.
[2]
Right in front of the parking lot is the "Halona Blowhole", for which the lookout is named: this ocean geyser was formed by a molten lava tube from volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago. The geyser is created when breaking surf entering the lava tube is compressed as the tube becomes smaller and smaller causing the pressure to increase forcing a stream of water to shoot up, sometimes as high as 30 feet into the air. Basically, the larger the waves, the larger (and thicker) the spray.
People sometimes attempt to hike down to the blowhole to get closer to it, but the area is dangerous and some people have died while trying to approach it. The sea cliffs are steep, slippery and sharp: it is best to stay at the lookout point and enjoy the views from a safe distance.
On a clear day, the neighboring islands of Molokai, Maui and Lanai are faintly visible on the horizon from this particular viewpoint... but due to distances, getting a good picture of them is almost impossible.
Below Halona is the Kaiwi channel, one of the most dangerous, unpredictable ocean channels in the world.
[3]
To the right (West) of the blowhole is Halona Beach Cove ("Halona" means "Peering Place" in Hawaiian). This small cove was made popular by a love scene in the 1953 movie "From here to Eternity", and is therefore sometimes also known as "Eternity Beach".
The rocky point to the west of the beach cove is called Bamboo Ridge. It has been a popular fishing spot since the 1920's: the location was named after the fishermen's bamboo fishing poles that could be seen along the edge of the cliff in the past.
Describe - Highway or Road number: Kalaniana’ole Highway (Hawaii State Highway 72)
Closest town or city: Honolulu
Number of parking spots available: 39
Name if a website describes this location.: [Web Link]
Winter View: yes
Summer View: yes
Year around access ?: yes
Comfort station on site: no
Is a photo of an "Information Sign"included?: Yes
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