Oahu open water beaches

MikeH

hey everyone,
i'll be in Oahu for a week in a couple of weeks...any suggestions on good open water swim beaches?

thanks!

Mike

swimmer25k

There's the Ala Moana swimming basin, which is about 1000 yards of in length protected by a breakwater. I've enjoyed training there in the past. Not being from there I'm sure there are some other spots, but this place is a very safe and easy option. There are some other pseudo-enclosed areas along the length of Waikiki beach. If you can find a kayaker the water outside of the reef is very nice to swim in. However, I don't know what the beach patrol has to say about that. Check out slowtwitch.com or the OW forum at www.usms.org and post your question there. You're bound to get some good info there.

caburke

I was in Oahu last month and had some great swims. There is a Waikiki Open Water Swimming club that you can locate with Google. They swim most weekends but for some reason cancelled the swim while I was there so I didn’t get to join them. In the ocean, I swam parallel to the shore along the whole length of Waikiki beach. It was beautiful water and the only real hazard was the shallow reef.

There’s an active Master’s group that trains at the University of Hawaii and they welcomed me. Check Places to Swim on the USMS website for exact times.

MikeH

Cool, thanks!

iswimlongtime

One of my favorite swims is out to the Mokes and back in Lanikai. It's relatively shallow the entire way and it is one of the most photographed spots of Hawaii! Although protected by reef quite far out, there was a tiger shark spotting a few weeks ago and you should always check the beach for man o' war to see if they are plentiful. Another thing to check... box jellyfish calendar (http://www.to-hawaii.com/jellyfishcalendar.html and http://oceansafety.ancl.hawaii.edu/v/2.0/index.asp?i=oahu&cat=rec)

Check with Kailua Masters Swimming for group open water swims on Saturdays.

HIswimmer

go to the Waikiki swim club site they have weekend swims at different places around Oahu. have to fill out an ability form. there are different groups for different speeds and distances. no one gets left behind.
just an fyi 8-12 days after the full moon is box jellyfish time, so not many brave the ocean during those days.full moon is may 14
there is also the Oahu open water swim group on facebook. they swim a different area each sunday.
it is always warm water and the people are very friendly. have fun.

evmo

Hawaii-local swimmer Bill G. asked me to post this on his behalf:

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Connect with Waikiki Swim Club on their varied ocean swims on different parts of the island depending on conditions-they request that you submit a swimmer assessment form and will add you to their visitor email list so you can join their groups:

https://www.waikikiswimclub.org/forms/swimmer-evaluation-form.html

Ala Moana is calm year-round and Waikiki is great now, as is the w side and soon the n. shore. Kailua swims are fine if it's not too windy due to man-o-war. We also plan around box jellyfish days (8-10d after full moon-dates listed on WSC site).

evmo

Had a lovely swim recently with a small group from Kailua Masters Swim Club. They meet Saturdays @ 0800 at Kailua Beach Park behind Kalapawai Market and swim out and around a small offshore island.

Recommended to give the island a wide-ish berth as shown above, due to shallow reef and crashing waves.