Honokōwai Beach is an important natural, cultural, and aesthetic resource that supports a wide variety of cultural, recreational, and economic uses. The beach also acts as a natural buffer that absorbs wave energy and reduces exposure of the backshore land and infrastructure to erosion and flooding. Honokōwai Beach also provides a rare combination of perpendicular shoreline access, public parking, public restrooms, and ADA-compliant lateral shoreline access. The channel that bisects the fringing reef at Honokōwai Beach is also unique in that it provides direct access to the offshore waters. In addition to the direct and indirect benefits of the beach itself, the adjacent properties support the local economy.

 

The nearshore coastal environment along the Honokōwai shoreline are very complex. As a result, beach width and sand volume at Honokōwai Beach are constantly changing due to seasonal and episodic variations. The southern portion of the beach is widest during the winter months, when the North Pacific swell dominates and pushes sand to the south, where it accumulates on the updrift side of the seawall fronting the Maui Kai Condominiums. The beach narrows during the summer months, when southerly swell dominates and pushes sand to the north. During periods of seasonal fluctuation, portions of the beach become narrower and flatter, which exposes the backshore to erosion. 

 

In 2016, a combination of persistent North Pacific swell and elevated water levels produced high waves, strong currents, and abnormally high tides that caused significant erosion and beach loss at Honokōwai Beach. The backshore area was exposed to erosion and a vertical escarpment (steep slope) formed along the shoreline. The escarpment was 5 to 8 feet high along the southern portion of the shoreline and 3 to 5 ft high along the central and northern portions of the shoreline. The eroded embankment created a risk to public health, safety, and welfare, and impeded public access to and along the shoreline. Large sections of the embankment collapsed onto the beach including trees, root balls, boulders, and large blocks of terrigenous sediment. The erosion exposed and damaged infrastructure including a concrete walkway, shower pads, irrigation lines, electrical wiring and propane gas lines. The erosion also threatened the northern flank of the Maui Kai Condominiums. The shoreline retreated 6 to 12 ft in just a few months, compared to the historical average erosion rate of -0.55 feet/year (ft/yr). 

 

Approximately 5,600 square feet (sf) of land located above the high-water mark was lost to erosion, and over 1,000 cubic yards (cy) of alluvial sediment (i.e., clay, silt, boulders)) was discharged into the ocean. Unlike beach sand, this land located above the high-water mark, also known as fast land, is generally not capable of being restored by natural physical processes (e.g., accretion), so the loss of fast land can be considered permanent.

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Photos showing the impacts of the 2016 beach loss event are shown in the gallery below.

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