White Sands Beach Park

This very small park borders Aliʻi Drive. Facilities - include restrooms, showers, a lifeguard tower, and a parking lot. A coconut grove in the backshore provides some shade for sunbathers and picnickers. A shallow sand bar that fronts the entire beach slopes gently to the deeper waters offshore, providing safe swimming area. Throughout the year, a small shorebreak on the sand bar produces waves suitable for novice bodysurfers and bodyboarders. The attractive white sand of the beach, the park facilities, and the gentle shorebreak combine to make this one of the most popular parks in Kona, a favorite with visitors and residents alike. During the summer months and on weekends and holidays throughout the year, the park is usually crowded from end to end with sunbathers and bodysurfers.

When high surf rolls into Kona, however, the shorebreak at White Sands Beach Park is very strong and generates a powerful rip current that usually runs north into the open ocean. This becomes a serious hazard and occasionally results in near-drownings. The county lifeguards and Fire Department rescue personnel who are called to help report that they treat more injuries at this beach than at any other in Kona. When the shorebreak closes out, experienced bodysurfers move to the break directly outside the point fronting the comfort station where some of the best bodysurfing waves in the Hawaiian Islands can be found. The point break can hold rideable surf up to 10 feet and spectators line the shore to watch the big-wave bodysurfers in action. During the winter months the annual Magic Sands Bodysurfing Championship, the only bodysurfing contest held on the Big Island, attracts large crowds. Just south of White Sands Beach Park is a small rocky cove. Snorkeling and nearshore scuba diving offshore the cove are excellent.