Here's The Story Of The Fascinating Shipwreck In Hawaii You Can View From Shore
By Megan Shute|Published May 21, 2017
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Megan Shute
Author
With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
The Hawaiian Islands are home to countless incredible wonders – both natural and man-made. If you head about a half hour north of Lanai City – in a vehicle with four-wheel drive – you will find Shipwreck Beach, a windy eight-mile stretch of sand that has been the site of various shipwrecks. As a matter of fact, the hull of a 1940s oil tanker is still beached on the reef, giving the beach a sense of surreal beauty.
Accessible only on foot or by four wheel drive vehicle and located on the northeastern shore of Lanai, Shipwreck Beach - also known as Kaiolohia - not only provides excellent views of the shipwreck in the Kalohi channel, but the beautiful island of Molokai as well.
The Kalohi Channel is notorious for its numerous reefs and powerful currents, and because of this, many ships have met their watery demise here in the shallow channel.
The first documented shipwreck took place here in 1824, and just two years later, an American ship - the London - sunk here. The ship was rumored to have been carrying a large cargo of gold and silver, but no one knows exactly how much of the cargo was recovered.
Popularly referred to as a World War II Liberty ship, the ship is actually a ferrous concrete oiler without a name that was given residence here as an economical means of disposal.
We can almost guarantee that you’ll have the beach to yourself - except maybe the occasional sea turtle basking on shore - and the rocky stretch of sand is often considered to be one of the best beachcombing beaches in the country, according to Travel + Leisure, that is.
