Wahikuli Wayside Park

Entrance Sign

The Wahikuli Wayside park located on the makai side of the intersection at Honoapi'ilani Hwy and Aliali'i Pkwy. and it's pretty big. It's over 8 acres in size, and stretches across a wide coastal area between Lahaina Cannery Mall and Ka'anapali. The park has 30 covered picnic tables, 20 bbqs, and 8 uncovered tables. However, at the time of writing (Janaury 2021), depending on which entrance you park at, you might find that many of the tables and bbqs are taped off and undergoing repairs. There are three parking areas that add up to a total of 106 available parking spaces. Each parking area provides access to showers, water fountains, and gender-separated bathrooms.

 

Rocky Shoreline

 

A big chunk of the park is pretty rocky on shore, but there are also a number of sandy beach spots that are great for snorkeling or just letting kids tumble around in the small waves on shore. If you decide to go for a walk, you may notice several features that are unique to the park. For one, Wahikuli Wayside Park is a rain garden. It has been specially constructed and maintained to catch and filter pollution caught by rainwater in the surrounding area. You can read more about it on the photo below, which was taken at the park.

Rain Garden Sign

 

Another feature of Wahikuli Wayside Park is the Wahikuli Interpretive Trail. Thanks to Wahukilu's skinny but long stretching boundaries, there's a well maintained sidewalk that stretches all the way across. At several points along the park's walking path, there are occasional signs such as the one in the photo below which talk about Maui. This sign mentions that many years ago, the 4 island chain that makes up Maui county was once one large land mass, and is referred to as Maui Nui.

Maui Nui Map

A unique feature I have so far only seen at Wahikuli Wayside park was that there were fishing line receptacles. Small stations near the parking lots where beachgoers could throw away fishing line that they find caught on the rocks. I hope anyone who finds fishing line takes the time to throw it away properly, and help keep the beach park clean and safe for everyone. Boss Frog's website mentions that Wahikuli Wayside is a great spot to see sea turtles, so if you want to make sure they keep coming back, do your part and keep the beach clean. Pick up your trash, as well as others' that you find.

Click and drag this 360 photo!

Sources:

Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/nX7pDmqteQs1Mteq6

Maui County, accessed January 22, 2021. https://www.mauicounty.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/121

Boss Frog, Accessed January 24, 2021. https://bossfrog.com/maui/snorkel-map/wahikuli-wayside-park/