On Walkabout On: The Leeward Coast of Oahu

The very last part of Oahu that my wife and I checked out was the Leeward Coast of Oahu.  This area is on the western side of the island centered around the city of Waianae:


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I have heard a lot of bad things about this side of the island because the locals are supposedly unfriendly to haole coming to this side of the island.  My wife and I experienced the local hospitality when we ate lunch at a Waianae Pizza Hut and the service was horrible and unfriendly and the food took for ever to come out.  It was lunch time and there was almost nobody else in the Pizza Hut but us; you would think the waitress would be happy to have a customer, but we discovered otherwise.

Despite this unfortunate encounter with local hospitality my wife and I drove the extent of the Leeward Coast.  Like the rest of the island the west coast of the island is quite spectacular as well.  This is considered the dry side of the island and compared to the Windward Coast it was much drier:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

There was some pretty nice beaches on the west coast that some decent size waves:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

With such waves that meant of course there was people trying to surf them:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Something else that really turned off my wife and I about this side of the island was how the beaches were filled with squatters that trashed the beautiful beaches:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

They even had junked cars sitting on the beach:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

It seemed to me that the Oahu authorities just gave up this side of the island to the beach bums in order to keep them consolidated in one area and away from the major tourist beaches:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Anyway all along the Leeward Coast the Waianae Mountains, the highest mountains on Oahu, provides a lush green backdrop to the dry coastal lands:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Much of the land composing these mountains is actually part of the US Army’s Schofield Barracks training area:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

My wife and I next stopped to check out this plaque pointing out the Kaneana cave:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Across the street from the plaque is the Kaneana cave:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

The ancient Hawaiians named this cave after Kane the God of Creation because the deepness of the cave reminded them of a woman’s womb.

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Once inside the cave it is easy to understand why they gave this cave such a name:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

In ancient times entrance to this cave was considered “kapu” or taboo because it was supposedly home to Nanaue’ the Shark Man. Fortunately I didn’t run into a Shark Man when visiting the cave though it was so dark maybe I missed him.

Here was the view from Kaneana looking south along the stretch of coast we just drove across:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Here is the view looking north towards the island’s northern most area, Kaena Point:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Below is a picture of the junky Dodge Avenger that we rented.  The car had just over 10,000 miles on it and it was making strange rattling noises and the radio stopped working after only two days.  Is it any wonder Chrysler needed to be bought out by the government when they are producing junk cars like this?:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

The beach located at the end of Highway 93 that spans nearly the entire west side of the island was pretty much deserted when my wife and I arrived there:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

There is supposedly some dangerous rip currents here which may explain why we didn’t see anybody trying to surf or bodyboard at this beach:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

Up above the beach we noticed this radar dome:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

We also noticed what appeared to be a residence or maybe a facility for the radar operators?

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

From the beach this is where hikers can walk to the very northwest end of Oahu that follows this large ridgeline that points like a finger at the neighboring island of Kauai:

Picture from Waianae, Oahu

All in all as nice as the scenery is on the Leeward Coast of Oahu it is really a location that should be last on anyone’s Oahu itinerary.  If you have time it is worth taking a drive over there, but if you don’t have time to check out this side of the island, don’t worry you are not missing much and the locals won’t miss seeing you either.

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Luke Kaakau
Luke Kaakau
12 years ago

Sorry about your experience at the Taco bell. =( But I do want to mention that all the squatters you saw on the beaches are being removed from where they were and clean up of those areas are about to start any time now. This side of the island tend to have a bad rap because that side always seems to be treated like the “ugly step sister.” They are always treated like second class citizens by its own government and its sad to be quite honest. You seen it first hand. On Oahu at least….you can tell which places… Read more »

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