First things first. Kauai beaches are dangerous! Yes, of course beaches in Kauai are among the very most beautiful beaches on the planet, but they are dangerous. All of them are. Over the span of time between 1970 and 1999 there were 193 drownings on Kauai beaches. The vast majority of those that drowned were visitors to the island, but 27% of them were island residents who in all likelihood were aware of the dangerous ocean conditions that exist on almost every beach on Kauai and they still were caught by the ocean’s fury.
Every Kauai Beach is prone to hazardous conditions
People drown on all the islands of Hawaii but beaches on Kauai have a particularly dangerous reputation most likely because they are so open to the outside ocean with no other land mass but its own shoreline to break the ocean swells. It sits a full two-thousand miles from any other land mass in all directions and the storms generated from even distant areas will bring waves and rough conditions and currents to each beach on this small but beautiful island. The bigger and rougher surf occurs in the winter months and primarily hits the northern exposed coastlines of the island where as the smaller summer south swell surf hits the southern shores in the summer. Both are dangerous, in fact the percentage of drownings in the summer can often approximate the winter months on many of these beaches.
Find a Beach that has a Life Guard Tower
Some beach locations are of course more dangerous than others but our main mantra in this section of our website is that “they are always dangerous”. Although we will include most of the beaches on the island in this section we will only recommend that you swim at beaches that have lifeguards and even at these, that you only go in after you have asked the lifeguards what portion of the beach you should be swimming at on that particular day as conditions vary daily. The lifeguarded beaches have drownings as well which is why we advise you to take this extra precaution.
Enjoy Your Kauai Beach. These Beaches are among the most beautiful in the world.
Now, if we haven’t petrified you to the point of not wanting to get into the water at all, if you take the precautions we’ve outlined above seriously, you can and should have a great time at the beach. These beaches of Kauai are beyond beautiful as evidenced by the fact that Hollywood has spent millions of dollars coming to this island to film movies at these spectacular beach locations. The water is generally pleasantly warm, the sand is a delight, the vistas and views are picture postcard perfect and the ocean activities on Kauai rank at the top of the list of fun things to do here. If you think first and you are smart about it, your days at the beach on Kauai will offer a highlight to your Hawaiian vacation.