Makapuʻu Point

The Makapuʻu Point Light on the island of Oʻahu has the largest lens of any lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Makapuʻu is the extreme eastern end of the Island of Oʻahu in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising the remnant of a ridge that rises 647 feet (197 m) above the sea. The cliff at Makapuʻu Point forms the eastern tip and is the site of a prominent lighthouse. The place name of this area, meaning "bulging eye" in Hawaiian, is thought to derive from the name of an image said to have been located in a cave here called Keanaokeakuapōloli. The entire area is quite scenic and a panoramic view is presented at the lookout on Kalanianaole Highway (State Rte. 72) where the roadway surmounts the cliff just before turning south towards leeward Oʻahu and Honolulu. The Makapuʻu area is reached approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) east of Waimānalo Beach on Kalanianaole Highway (State Rte. 72) or from the Honolulu side (south shore; Hawaiʻi Kai) travelling east along the same highway beyond Sandy Beach. The Makapuʻu Point State Wayside Park, a 38-acre (15 ha) roadside park, is about midway up the draw on the right-hand side coming from Hawaiʻi Kai. Features of special interest in this area include: Sea Life Park Hawaii – A large commercial park and aquarium featuring displays and shows of Hawaiian marine life.Makapuʻu Point Lighthouse is a 46-foot-tall (14 m), active United States Coast Guard lighthouse established in 1909. Construction for the lighthouse was prompted by the grounding of the steamer Manchuria in the predawn hours on August 20, 1906 on the reefs off Waimānalo. The lighthouse was automated in 1974 and its keepers quarters demolished in 1987, but the remnants are still visible. The lighthouse contains a roughly 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) French Fresnel hyper-radial lens, the largest lens in use in the United States. The lens is able to magnify and intensify the illumination of a single electrical 1,000-watt, 120-volt light bulb. It was damaged by a vandal firing a bullet at it, but the lens is still in service as it is no longer reproducible. A popular day hike along the access road to the lighthouse begins at a parking lot located south of the Makapuʻu lookout on Kalanianaole Highway. A second trail leads from the remnants of the keepers quarters to the lighthouse, but it is off limits to the public. The lighthouse itself is also off limits to the public and is protected by three locked gates. Makapuʻu Point State Wayside is part of the eastern end of Oʻahu encompassing Makapuʻu Head and the lighthouse at Makapuʻu Point. A paved road, open to the public for foot traffic only, leads out to the Makapuʻu Lighthouse. The trail is roughly 1.75 miles (2.82 km) long and rises mostly heading towards the south along the land-side of the ridge and curves around Puʻu o Kīpahulu (southern end of the ridge), then traverses the ridge bearing right towards the lighthouse, which is closed to the public. A trail leads up from the former Coast Guard residential area to a summit from which the islands of Molokaʻi and Lanaʻi may be seen across the Kaiwi Channel. On particularly clear days, the island of Maui can be visible. Of interest to hikers visiting the wayside park is the possibility of seeing Humpback whales in the waters offshore between the months of November and April. A telescope is available to the public at the summit lookout. There are so-called blowholes along the rocky shore below Makapuʻu Head which are sometimes active. Mānana Island is a 63-acre (25 ha) offshore tuff cone known as Rabbit Island because of its resemblance to a large rabbit's head rising out of the sea and because it was once inhabited by introduced rabbits after a rancher released them there. The island is now a protected bird sanctuary and thereby illegal to land there unless you have permission from the Hawaii Department of Land Natural Resources. Kāohikaipu – A low volcanic islet off Makapuʻu Beach Park; also a State Bird Sanctuary.Makapuʻu Beach Park and Kaupō Beach Park – All of the rocky shoreline and pocket beaches between the sea cliffs at Makapuʻu Point and the State Research Pier (Makai Pier) are beach parks open to the public. Wave conditions at Kaupō (western end) are more suited to young beach-goers and poor swimmers. Makapuʻu Beach is a popular body-surfing beach, but the shore break can be dangerous. Makai Pier – A long, concrete pier built by the State of Hawaiʻi to support marine research efforts in the Hawaiian Islands. This pier houses several commercial marine engineering firms and HURL (Hawaiʻi Underwater Research Laboratory). Ka Iwi State Scenic Shoreline - The coastal area that extends from Makapuʻu Point Wayside to Sandy's Beach. Included in this section is Pele's Chair rock formation and the beach/swimming spot that shares the same name.

Sea Life Park Hawaii is a marine mammal park, bird sanctuary and aquarium in Waimānalo near Makapuʻu Point, north of Hanauma Bay on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, United States. The park first opened in 1964, and includes exhibits that let visitors interact with the animals by swimming with dolphins, sea lions, and rays, taking a sea safari in the aquarium, and feeding the sea turtles. The park was acquired in 2008 and is operated by Palace Entertainment, the U.S. subsidiary of Parques Reunidos from Dolphin Discovery, which had acquired it in 2005.

Mānana Island is an uninhabited islet located 0.75 mi (0.65 nmi; 1.21 km) off Kaupō Beach, near Makapuʻu at the eastern end of the island of Oʻahu in the Hawaiian Islands. In the Hawaiian language, mānana means "buoyant". The islet is commonly referred to as Rabbit Island, because its shape as seen from the nearby Oʻahu shore looks something like a rabbit's head and because it was once inhabited by introduced rabbits. The rabbit colony was established by John Adams Cummins in the 1880s when he ran the nearby Waimānalo plantation. The rabbits were eradicated about a hundred years later because they were destroying the native ecosystem, an important seabird breeding area. Mānana is a tuff cone with two vents or craters. The highest point on the islet rises to 361 ft (110 m). The island is 2,319 ft (707 m) long and 2,147 ft (654 m) wide and has an area of about 63 acres (25 ha). Mānana's only sand beach is a small storm beach on the west to south-west (leeward) side of the islet. This sand deposit, located above the reach of the normal waves, is about 30 ft (9.1 m) wide and curves around to the western side of the island. Another volcanic islet named Kāohikaipu sits right next to Mānana. Manana was formed by the Honolulu Volcanic Series. These series of eruptions were responsible for creating other tuff cones such as Punchbowl Crater. Mānana is a State Seabird Sanctuary—home to over 10,000 wedge-tailed shearwaters, 80,000 sooty terns, 20,000 brown noddies, 5–10 Bulwer's petrels, and 10–15 red-tailed tropicbirds, and numerous Hawaiian monk seals. It is illegal to land on the islet without permission from the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Koko Crater Botanical Garden (60 acres) is a botanical garden located within the Koko Crater (Koko Head) on the eastern end of Oahu, Hawaii. It was given the dual title of the Charles M. Wills Cactus Garden by the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation, in recognition of his contributions to the garden, in 1966. The garden is part of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens, and first established in 1958. Its hot, dry climate is suitable for Plumeria and Bougainvillea cultivars in the outer crater, kiawe (Prosopis pallida) and koa haole (Leucaena leucocephala) trees, and four major collections organized by region (Africa, the Americas, Hawaii, and Pacifica). Other collections include adeniums, alluaudias, aloes, baobabs, cacti, euphorbias, palms, and sansevierias, as well as a native grove of wiliwili trees (Erythrina sandwicensis). A loop trail (2 miles) runs through the collections. They have about 500 trees and 200 species of trees.

Hālona Blowhole is a rock formation and a blowhole on the island of Oahu, Hawaii off of Hanauma Bay at Hālona Point overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In Hawaiian hālona means "lookout".

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.

Henry J. Kaiser High School is a WASC-accredited, four-year public high school located in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the East Honolulu community of Hawaiʻi Kai.

Hawaiʻi Kai, also known as Maunalua or Koko Marina, is a largely residential area located in the City & County of Honolulu, in the East Honolulu CDP, on the island of Oʻahu. Hawaiʻi Kai is the largest of several communities at the eastern end of the island. The area was largely developed by Henry J. Kaiser around the ancient Maunalua fishpond and wetlands area known as Kuapā (meaning "fishpond wall"). Hawaiʻi Kai or Koko Marina was dredged from Kuapā Pond starting around 1959. Dredging not only transformed the shallow coastal inlet and wetlands into a marine embayment, but was accompanied by considerable filling and clearing of the pond margins. In 1961, Kaiser-Aetna entered into a lease agreement with the land owner, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, to develop the 521 acre (2.11 km2) fishpond into residential tracts with a marina and channels separated by fingers of land and islands upon which house lots and commercial properties would be laid out and developed. Nearly all of the low-lying lands surrounding the marina have since been developed, and neighborhoods now extend back into the several valleys and up the separating ridges.

Hanauma (; Hawaiian: [həˈnɔumə]) is a marine embayment formed within a tuff ring and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu in the Hawaii Kai neighborhood of East Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands.Hanauma is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Island and has suffered somewhat from overtourism. At one time, this popular tourist destination accommodated over three million visitors per year. In 1956, dynamite was used to clear portions of the reef to make room for telephone cables linking Hawaii to the west coast of the US.

East Honolulu is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the CDP had a population of 50,922, making it the 2nd most populated CDP in Hawaii, behind Honolulu.

Maunalua Bay is a bay in the southeast of Honolulu, the capital of Hawaiʻi. The bay extends about 6.3 miles (10.1 kilometers) from the southern tip of Diamond Head, the Black Point, also called Kūpikipikiʻō , in the west to Portlock Point, also known as Kawaihoa Point, to the east. On the land side, just to the east of Diamond Head is the upmarket suburb of Kāhala. Following are several affluent hillside suburbs like Hawaii Loa Ridge, a gated community that occupies an entire slope. In the east is the suburb of Hawaii Kai, built by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser after World War II. Hawaii Kai has a marina, shopping centers, including a Costco, Walgreens, Longs, and Safeway, and numerous restaurants such as the well-known Roy's and Kona Brewing Co. pub. On the headland leading to Koko Head is the suburb of Portlock, which is a part of Hawaii Kai. The name Maunalua (from Mauna = mountain and [ʻe]lua = two, in the native Hawaiian language) refers to the designation of the area what is now referred to as "Hawaii Kai." The mountains, located inland from Portlock Point, are the 645 feet (197 meters) high Koko Head, and about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) east thereof, close to Hanauma Bay the Koko Crater, the walls of which rise up to 1,207 feet (368 meters). According to one legend, Maunalua was one of the first settlements when settlers arrived in Hawaiʻi around the 12th century. Native Hawaiians originally lived there by fishing and cultivating sweet potatoes (ʻuala) along the coastal plains at a place called Ke-kula-O Kamauwai. Maunalua was formerly famous for having the largest Native Hawaiian fishpond (loko iʻa) on Oʻahu. The 523 acre fishpond known as Keahupua-O-Maunalua had a wall or kuapā which originally spanned from Kuliʻouʻou headland and to what is now Portlock. The pond was used primarily to raise mullet (ʻanae) and was also home to a multitude of endemic or indigenous waterbirds. The area continued to be important for fishing and agriculture until the 1950s when the fishpond was filled for housing development.