Wednesday – July 29: Ke-awa-iki beach is our destination this morning. The Ocean Sports Sea Smoke uses this area as their snorkel spot. The water and area is beautiful with a black and white sand beach.

We started off just south of mile marker 78 and followed the path as described in the Hawaii Underground Guide. The first part is lava road and the second part, around the private property is a trail. It took us about .92 miles and about 35 minutes to arrive at Keawaiki Beach. The a’a trail part is a little rough, just watch your step and go slowly, we did not like this part.

Once at the beach, we discovered another trail leading directly behind the beach to the highway. It is on pahoehoe all the way and is clearly marked with painted arrows on the lava field. The distance to the highway is .75 miles and you come onto the highway about 1/4 mile south of where the cars park. This is a much better approach. It is about 1 mile then, from the parking lot to the beach!

I would recommend you park just 1/4 mile south of mile marker 78, walk down (south) the Queen’s Highway to the second pahoehoe trail and proceed directly to the beach that way. The trail begins EXACTLY at the 55 mph speed limit sign for reference. See this track that I made on the iPhone transferred to Google maps.