Mākaha Beach is one of the original homes of big-wave surfing. Native Hawaiians have lived along the leeward coast of Oʻahu for centuries; the Waiʻanae moku — the long ahupuaʻa district running from Kahe through Nānākuli, Mā'ili, Waiʻanae, Mākaha, and Mākua to Kaʻena Point — has its name from wai (water) and ʻanae (the prized mature mullet of the brackish muliwai pools that once produced fish in large amounts along these beaches). The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa was the Royal Center of the district in the late 1600s and 1700s, with the largest population of the moku at the time of European contact in 1778. Kamehameha I unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1795. The first Christian missionaries arrived on Oʻahu in 1820, Stephen Waimalu was installed as the first Hawaiian minister of Waiʻanae in 1850, and Benjamin F. Dillingham received the franchise in 1888 to extend his Oahu Railway and Land Company along the Waiʻanae coast. Hawaiʻi entered the Union as the 50th state on August 21, 1959. In 1952, the Waikīkī Surf Club — founded by John Lind — and the Waiʻanae Lions Club organized what they called the Mākaha International Surfing Championships, and held the first running of the contest at Mākaha Beach in 1953-1954. It was the world's first international surfing competition. The event ran through 1971 as the unofficial world championships of surfing, and in 1962 it became the first televised surf contest ever, on ABC's Wide World of Sports. In 1969, Greg Noll caught what surfers of the era called the biggest wave ever ridden, at Mākaha; in 1977, the Mākaha-born lifeguard Richard "Buffalo" Keaulana — the 1960 Mākaha International champion, descended on his father's side from Kamehameha I and on his mother's side from Kekaulike — founded Buffalo's Big Board Surfing Classic at Mākaha Beach, and the Classic still runs every February. Behind Mākaha and Waiʻanae the Waiʻanae Mountain Range rises to Mount Kaʻala, the 4,025-foot summit that is the highest peak on Oʻahu. Mākaha Valley holds Kāneʻāki Heiau, a 15th-century wahi pana that the Bishop Museum restored in 1970 and opened to respectful public visits Tuesday through Sunday in 1990. On the Westside since time before contact.
The Mākaha era began in the 1930s when Honolulu surfers first ventured west to ride the leeward-coast waves, and accelerated in 1952 when John Lind's Waikīkī Surf Club and the Waiʻanae Lions Club organized the Mākaha International Surfing Championships. The first running of the contest at Mākaha Beach in 1953-1954 was the world's first international surfing competition; the event grew through the 1950s and 1960s into the unofficial world championships, drew thousands of spectators out to the Westside every November and December, ran on ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1962 as the first televised surf contest ever, and continued at Mākaha until 1971 — when global surf attention shifted to the North Shore breaks at Pipeline and Sunset Beach. Greg Noll caught what surfers of the era called the biggest wave ever ridden, at Mākaha, in 1969. The Mākaha-born lifeguard Richard "Buffalo" Keaulana — born 1934, with a royal genealogy that ran through Kamehameha I on his father's side and Kekaulike on his mother's side, and the 1960 Mākaha International champion — founded Buffalo's Big Board Surfing Classic at Mākaha Beach in 1977, featuring canoe-surfing, tandem surfing, bullyboarding, bodysurfing, and longboards, and the Classic still runs every February. Behind the surf, in Mākaha Valley, Kāneʻāki Heiau is one of the most thoroughly restored ancient heiau in Hawaiʻi — a wahi pana that the Bishop Museum restored across the 1970s and opened to respectful public visits Tuesday through Sunday in 1990. The heiau is sacred ground; visitors observe quietly.
Why People Visit Waiʻanae Hawaiʻi
- Watch the surf at Mākaha Beach Park — one of the original homes of big-wave surfing, with winter waves up to 25 feet off Mākaha Point. The 1953-1954 Mākaha International Surfing Championships were the world's first international surfing competition. Buffalo's Big Board Surfing Classic, founded by Buffalo Keaulana in 1977, runs every February. Powerful backwash and rip currents in winter; calmer water and good shore-side viewing in summer.
- Swim at Pōkaʻī Bay — the protected swimming bay at Waiʻanae, the safest swimming on the leeward coast, named for the voyaging chief Pōkaʻī of Kahiki who brought niu (coconut) to the Hawaiian Islands. The peninsula on the south side of the bay holds Kūʻīlioloa Heiau, the three-platform navigation heiau dedicated to Kū in his dog form; respect the site, do not climb the platforms.
- Visit Kāneʻāki Heiau in Mākaha Valley — one of the most thoroughly restored ancient heiau in Hawaiʻi, a wahi pana sacred site that the Bishop Museum restored in 1970 and opened to respectful public visits Tuesday through Sunday in 1990. Access through the Mākaha Valley road; check current visiting hours; this is sacred ground, observe quietly and follow posted respectful-access guidance.
- Hike toward Kaʻena Point State Park — the westernmost tip of Oʻahu, where the Waiʻanae and North Shore coasts meet, a seabird refuge and Hawaiian monk seal habitat, sacred in Hawaiian belief as the leaping place of souls. Walk in from the Waiʻanae side along the old Dillingham railroad bed.
- Look up at Mount Kaʻala — the 4,025-foot summit of the Waiʻanae Mountain Range, the highest peak on the island of Oʻahu, sacred in Hawaiian tradition and often cloud-shrouded. The summit access trail is challenging.
- Walk the Waiʻanae Small Boat Harbor on Pōkaʻī Bay — one of Oʻahu's principal commercial fishing harbors, with the ahi-tuna fleet and views toward the Waiʻanae Range.
- Stroll Mā'ili Beach Park — the long lawn and sandy beach park south of Waiʻanae along Farrington Highway.
- Drive Farrington Highway (Route 93) along the Waiʻanae moku from Nānākuli north through Mā'ili and Waiʻanae to Mākaha, with the Pacific on your left and the Waiʻanae Range on your right.
- Look for honu (Hawaiian green sea turtles) and Hawaiian monk seals along the leeward beaches — both protected; stay 50 feet away.
