Beach Bums - Part 26

 Kauai

The island of Kauai, in Hawaii, has many beautiful beaches.  Officially, nudity is not legal on any beach in Hawaii, but nudity has been practiced on many secluded beaches for years.  Donkey Beach, above, on the eastern shore of Kauai, used to be one of these.  You had to hike through sugar cane fields to get to the beach.

In 2009 that changed, when a paved hiking and bike trail that runs for miles along Kauai's eastern shore was extended.  Now the trail runs right above the beach, and it leads to this picnic pavilion with a view of the whole beach.  With so much public exposure, Donkey Beach is no longer a good place to be nude.

Another nude beach is Secret Beach, just north of the Kilauea Lighthouse, which is visible near the end of the ridge in the background (click on the photo to enlarge).  Secret Beach is at the bottom of a cliff and can only be reached by descending a steep trail.

Secret Beach is hardly a secret – all the guidebooks mention it – but its steep access trail discourages visitors, and its large size (3000 feet long) means that you could have it almost to yourself.  The far end is clothing-optional.

On the southwest corner of Kauai is Polihale State Park.  The beach is reached by a long drive on a dirt road.  The beach is huge – 17 miles long.

It's a state park, and park rangers do enforce the ban on nudity, but that's assuming that they find you, and on a 17 mile beach that can probably be avoided.

But these days, the best nude beach on Kauai seems to be Larsen's beach, on the northeast corner of the island.

The beach is secluded.  Access is not easy, involving a drive down an unmarked dirt road, then a hike down a long gentle trail, which may be closed due to a land dispute, or a short but steep rocky trail.  Once you get there, the beach is sandy and two miles long.

Swimming is unsafe due to strong currents, but wading the shallows near the shore is perfectly fine.  A nice place to enjoy the sun, the shade (there are trees right along the shore), and the warm water, au naturel.