Na Mokulua

Lanikai Beach or Kaʻōhao Beach is located in Kaʻōhao, a community in the town of Kailua and on the windward coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Although there is a widespread belief that the name Lanikai means "heavenly sea", that is a misconception and a grammatical error, since in the Hawaiian language, the qualifier (lani) comes after the noun (kai). The name Lanikai was invented in the 1920s by the developer Charles Frazier, who owned 300 acres of beachfront property in the area known to Native Hawaiians as Kaʻōhao. This small half-mile strip of beach is consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world. Adjacent to Lanikai Beach is a primarily upper-class residential area and because of this it is accessed through public beach access paths. Although the beach itself is public property, it is not state land and is not a county beach park like many beaches in Hawaii. There is no public parking lot and the area lacks facilities like restrooms, showers or lifeguards. As of July 1, 2014, parking violation fines have increased from $35 to $200 in an effort to keep people from illegally parking in the residential area surrounding the beach accesses. Parking violations are strictly enforced and include, but are not limited to, no parking within four feet of a driveway entrance or apron, blocking the unimproved pedestrian right of way (where a sidewalk would normally be), within 30 feet of a stop sign, within ten feet of a fire hydrant, or on or within 20 feet of a crosswalk. However, there are legal parking areas in downtown Kailua. During the weekdays, the beach is less crowded compared to the weekends, although it is still very difficult to find parking close to one of the public beach accesses. On weekends, the beach becomes extremely crowded and during vacation seasons such as winter and summer, the beach is almost completely packed every single day. Lanikai is a popular spot for photo shoots as renowned models and photographers frequent the place on nice days. What makes Lanikai Beach popular for photographers is having the two Islands in the background called the Nā Mokulua or "mokes". Kayakers will often row out to land on the larger northern island, but no one is allowed to land on the southern island as it is a bird sanctuary. Water temperatures are generally 75–80 °F (24–26 °C). It has extremely soft powdery clean white sand. Lanikai Beach is regularly voted as one of the best beaches in America and is the only beach in the USA that was voted as one of the best beaches in the world. Snorkeling in Lanikai Beach is a unique experience for visitors as well as locals due to its pristine seas and a variety of marine life.Due to its position on the Windward or east side of the island, Lanikai is recognized as being a great place to watch the moonrise over the Mokuluas, especially during the full moon. Occasionally during the year the sun will rise directly between the Na Mokulua islands.

Bellows Air Force Station (Bellows Field) is a United States military reservation located in Waimanalo, Hawaii. Once an important air field during World War II, the reservation now serves as a military training area and recreation area for active and retired military and civilian employees of the Department of Defense. Bellows AFS is operated by Detachment 2, 18th Force Support Squadron of the 18th Mission Support Group based at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Located on the opposite side of Oahu is the similar Pililaau Army Recreation Center, part of the Armed Forces Recreation Centers system. Created in 1917 as the Waimänalo Military Reservation on a former sugarcane plantation, the base was renamed Bellows Field in 1933 after Lt. Franklin Barney Bellows, a World War I war hero. Bellows Field was made a permanent military post in July 1941, and it was one of the airfields targeted during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The attack at Bellows Field killed two United States Army Air Forces airmen—George Allison Whiteman and Hans C. Christiansen—and injured six others. One B-17 bomber ("Skipper" 40-2049) was forced to land at Bellows during the attack when Japanese aircraft activity made landing at Hickam Field impossible. Bellows Field was used for recreational gliders in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A truck would tow a glider into the air, then the glider pilot would release the tow cable and then catch updrafts from the prevailing wind blowing inshore and deflecting upwards from the very nearby mountains. In this way the pilot could keep the glider in the air as long as desired. Bellows AFS was also the Air Force transmitter-facility site for long-haul high-frequency radio communications from the late 1950s until HF radio was largely replaced by the military satellite program. HF radio links were established using highly directional Sloping "V" antennas to Clark Air Base, Philippines, and McClellan AFB, California. Message circuits were originated or relayed at Hickam AFB, near Pearl Harbor, and sent to Bellows for re-transmission over the HF systems. The receiver site was geographically separated from the transmitter site to prevent RF interference from the high-power transmitters.

Kailua (Hawaiian pronunciation: [kɐjˈluwə]) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koʻolaupoko District of the island of Oʻahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko'olaupoko. It is 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Honolulu – over Nu‘uanu Pali. In the Hawaiian language Kailua means "two seas" or "two currents", a contraction of the words kai (meaning "sea" or "sea water") and ʻelua (meaning "two"); it is so named because of the two former fishponds in the district (Kawainui and Kaʻelepulu) or the two currents that run through Kailua Bay.Kailua is primarily a residential community, with a centralized commercial district along Kailua Road. The population was 50,000 in 1992. In 2017 census, the population had dropped to 38,000. The population was 40,514 at the 2020 census. Places of note in Kailua include Kailua Beach Park, Kaʻōhao or Lanikai Beach, Kawainui Marsh, Maunawili Falls, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii. It was home to Barack Obama’s winter White House.

Boettcher Estate, also known as Kalama Beach Park, is a former beachfront estate in Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii, with a house designed by Vladimir Ossipoff and landscape designed by Richard Tongg.

Kaʻelepulu Pond, also known as Enchanted Lake, is an estuary in Kailua, Hawaii. The Hawaiian name Kaʻelepulu literally means "moist blackness". Historically a 200-to-400-acre (81 to 162 hectare) Hawaiian fish pond, and later a fishery made up of 190 acres (77 hectares) of water and 90 acres (36 hectares) of marsh, Kaʻelepulu was partially filled in and built on beginning in 1959. Today the pond covers about 95 acres (38 hectares) in total, including wetland and some small islands, and has been subject to fish kills and algal blooms as a result of pollution from surface runoff; the Enchanted Lake Residents Association advises residents not to eat anything taken from it.

Waimānalo (Hawaiian pronunciation: [vɐjmaːˈnɐlo]) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the District of Koʻolaupoko, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii, United States. This small windward community is located near the eastern end of the island. In the Hawaiian language Waimānalo means "potable water"; it is so named for the many brackish ponds in the area that were used for irrigation. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 6,057. About 1000 meters east of Waimānalo is the neighborhood of Waimānalo Beach. Waimānalo has a small commercial center along Kalanianaʻole Highway, but is separated from the shoreline and Waimānalo Beach (the longest stretch of sandy shoreline on Oʻahu) by Bellows Air Force Station. Waimānalo is noteworthy for its local flavor and large agricultural lots in the valley that extend back towards the Koʻolau from the center of town. Numerous plant nurseries are found in this area. There are no hotels in Waimānalo.Waimānalo is the site of Sea Life Park, located near Hawaiʻi Kai on Kalanianaole Highway. The U.S. postal code for Waimānalo is 96795.

Mōkōlea Rock is an islet in Kailua Bay along the windward coast of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi and located east of Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH). Like most of the small islets off the coastline of a major island in the Hawaiian Islands, Mōkōlea is a State Bird Sanctuary containing many types of birds. Access to the islet requires a permit, and is only allowed to people involved in protecting the islet's fauna. The islet is more commonly known to local residents as "Birdshit Island", "Birdshit", or simply "Bird" because its black lava rock surface is heavily coated with bird droppings.There is no vegetation on the islet, which is actually three connected outcroppings, the highest of which is no more than 25 feet (7.6 m) above mean sea level. All three consist of barren, jagged lava. Mokolea is part of the windward rim of the Kawainui volcanic caldera. About 300 feet (91 m) from this outcropping on the side facing Kailua Beach a shelf juts up from deep water to a depth of 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m). The shelf is a moderately interesting spot for scuba diving, although much of the time the area is rough, and anchoring a boat is difficult. Mokolea has been described as a shore dive by some, but it should not be attempted from the shore due to strong currents and the distance between the dive spot and Kailua Beach.

Olomana High & Intermediate School part of Hawaii Department of Education, is an alternative-education school which offers classes for students in seventh grade through twelfth grade. Located at 42-471 Kalanianaole Highway Kailua, Hawaii 96734, United States, the school has about 250 students attending.

Kailua High School is a four-year public high school located in the Kailua CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States on the island of O‘ahu. The school serves students grades 9 through 12. As of the 2000 U.S. Census the U.S. Census Bureau defined the school as being in the Maunawili CDP, but as of the 2010 U.S. Census it was redefined as being in Kailua CDP.

Ulupō Heiau on the eastern edge of Kawai Nui Marsh in Kailua, Hawaiʻi, is an ancient site associated in legend with the menehune, but later with high chiefs of Oʻahu, such as Kakuhihewa in the 15th century and Kualiʻi in the late 17th century. It may have reached the peak of its importance in 1750, before being abandoned after Oʻahu was conquered in the 1780s. The site became a territorial park in 1954, was partially restored in the early 1960s, marked with a bronze plaque by the State Commission on Historical Sites in 1962, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.The massive stone platform of the heiau measures 140 by 180 feet (55 m), with outer walls up to 30 feet (9.1 m) high, its size and scale indicating both its cultural importance and the chiefly power of its patrons. Many of the stones may have been transported from as far as Kualoa, more than 10 miles (16 km) away. Although it probably began as an agricultural heiau (mapele) with springs feeding crops of taro, banana, sweet potato, and sugarcane along the fringes of the 400-acre (1.6 km2) Kawai Nui pond full of mullet and other fish. However, the great warrior chief Kualiʻi may have converted it to a heiau luakini, with an altar, an oracle tower (anuʻu), thatched hale, and wooden images (kiʻi).Kailua, with its ample supplies of pond fish, irrigated fields, and canoe landings, was a center of political power for Koʻolaupoko, which often vied with Waialua for control of Oʻahu. After defeating the forces of Oʻahu high chief Kahahana in the 1780s, Maui chief Kahekili lived in Kailua, as did Kamehameha I after conquering Oʻahu in 1795. In later years, Queen Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III, inherited most of the land in Kailua after the death of her husband in 1854, most of it acquired in 1917 by Harold Kainalu Long Castle for his Kaneohe Ranch. The acquisition of land for Kaneohe Ranch brought about changes to the area due to the grazing and ranching of livestock.

Waimānalo Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the City & County of Honolulu, in the District of Koʻolaupoko, on the island of Oʻahu in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. This small windward community is located near the eastern end of the island, and the climate is dry. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 4,823. This neighborhood is close to, but somewhat separate from Waimānalo, although the two form a single community. Waimānalo Beach (the town) lies along the eastern half of Waimānalo Beach (the beach), with an overall length of nearly 5.5 mi (8.9 km), the longest stretch of sandy shoreline on Oʻahu. Waimānalo Beach has sparse commercial development along Kalanianaole Highway, and is noteworthy for its local flavor and proximity to Makapuʻu Beach and Sea Life Park, which lie closer to Makapuʻu Point at the east end of the island of Oʻahu. There are no hotels here.The U.S. postal code for Waimānalo Beach and Waimānalo is 96795. Kazuo Sakamaki, the first prisoner of war taken by U.S. forces during World War II, was captured on December 8, 1941, on Waimānalo Beach the day after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and surrounding targets in Honolulu by Imperial Japanese Navy forces. The Anderson Estate, which was featured in the TV series Magnum, P.I. as "Robin's Nest", is located in Waimānalo Beach.

Plantation Estate is a single-story, wood-frame, 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) Pacific Ocean-front house at 57 Kailuana Place in Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii, which former President Barack Obama rented for use during his Christmas vacations from 2008 to 2016. The house is less than one mile (1.6 km) south of the Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Obama exercised at the Semper Fit Center at the base and attended dinners there during his visits. He also swam in the ocean at the base of Pyramid Rock.