Ko`Olina Lagoons

 


This week I am highlighting another one of my favorite beaches, Ko`Olina. These are actually lagoons on the westside of the island in a resort area called Aulani Disney Resort. These resort grounds house a small scale waterpark with pools, lazy rivers, and slides for family fun. It is your typical resort but that's not the draw for me anyways. Once you pull off the freeway you are guided into this resort area where you have a choice to pick one out of four lagoons to park and spend the day at. Any one of the four are relaxing and beautiful but for me personally I try to spend my day at the very last one called lagoon 4. I feel it is typically less crowded and I am drawn to the rock wall to the left where there are fish and critters in the water to snorkel with. Picture below...


The water is very calm and the rock wall gives you an opportunity to see and photograph some amazing sunsets. I just love to bring a book here and read all day. Another plus of this area is that the resort has it's own restaurant/shops so you can easily leave the beach, fuel up at the local pizza shop where you can get a slice and a soda for 7.00 bucks before heading back to your spot on the beach. 


One does need to be careful as you can see in the photo above there is always an opening where fresh seawater enters and exits. It tends to be very deep and the current near this opening can pull one out to sea which I have seen firsthand myself at one of the lagoons in the past, luckily there was a strong swimmer who was able to jump over the rocks and pull this man back in. 


The parking here is free you just need to make sure you get there early enough because once the parking lots fill up then you are out of luck and 3 out of 4 of the lagoons don't start with many open spots to begin with. You can park in the shopping area near the golf course across the street from the lagoon entrances and walk if you can't find a spot in the lot and it's not bad of a walk at all. I have ventured out of the beach and into the resort activity area but I found out you need a wristband that is given if you are a guest to utilize the facilities except for the beach bar/restaurant. As far as marine life in the water, I have seen little fish and crabs that are fun but no turtles as there is no food source for them at these lagoons which are all nice sand with algae/limu growth minimal.


Another characteristic of this beach is that on one side you have the calm lagoon, enclosed and safe but on the other side is the wild, beautiful ocean blue with waves that can't be stopped or contained. When you stand on the sand and look out you see both of these sights in one scene and it is breathtaking. I also will admit that when it gets too hot on the sand while I am reading I take my book and I go into the water to kneel down and continue reading and the only reason I can do this is because of how calm the water usually is.

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