Years ago, getting to Donkey Beach in East Kaua’i was risky business. People would park their cars on Kuhio Highway, wait patiently for vehicles to pass before crossing the highway and descending a hilly slope to the beach. And because
Years ago, getting to Donkey Beach in East Kaua’i was risky business.
People would park their cars on Kuhio Highway, wait patiently for vehicles to pass before crossing the highway and descending a hilly slope to the beach.
And because the sugar companies grew cane around the beach, beachgoers watched nervously for cane haul trucks that rumbled by.
Once at the beach, people hid in the brush to avoid detection by sugar cane employees and possible prosecution for trespassing.
Now, the obstacles that made it tough getting to the beach – a top choice among nude sunbathers and fishermen because of its relative remoteness – will become a things of the past.
The developer of the Kealia Kai subdivision, a luxury residential project, recently donated 59 acres to Kaua’i County for use as a park.
Unlike in many cases where new landowners and longtime residents butt heads over maintaining public access, Kealia Kai’s gift enhances access to the beach.
The gift of land and access opens the way for Kauaians to roam through and use an area traditionally closed for decades because it was used for cane cultivation.
Once the county park is established, residents will most likely be able to drive to the beach, fish late into the evening, build camp fires and hold family picnics on the beach, surf in gentle waves and ride bicycles on the property.
In a move that protects access, developer Thomas McCloskey of Colorado acceded to demands by the Kaua’i County Council to keep the area open 24 hours a day and not to post security officers at the beach.
Still concerned about security, Mayor Maryanne Kusaka has ordered the county Public Works Department to review security concerns on the property.
If safety is an issue for government types, it isn’t for residents who either walk or ride their bicycles daily on a cane haul road leading to Donkey Beach.
Many start out from Kealia Beach, perhaps the most popular beach among residents and visitors because of a wide beach area and inviting waves for surfing, and head north a cane haul road.
Bringing a sense of calm is the cool, light trade winds, overhead white clouds and the deep blue ocean, sometimes revealing seasonal Humpback Whales that break to the surface.
For a change of pace, one can hike along the coastline to look for glass fishballs, coveted because they are rare.
The few fishermen who visit the area plant themselves under shoreline trees for a day of fishing in solitude.
In the distance, one can barely hear the rumble of civilization on Kuhio Highway – a steady stream of vehicles that motor up and down the road.
A sense of security pervades the area. People like Joe Prigge, a Hawaiian and Kapa’a businessman, greet people with wave and smile and talk story. Prigge once served as a caretaker of the property.
The area is quiet for now, but is likely to get busier one day if Councilman Bryan Bapiste, a mayoral candidate in this election year, follows through on his plan to build part of a bicycle or pedestrian on the cane haul road leading to Donkey Beach.
People care for the area.
Through Kusaka’s Ho’olokahi program in February, volunteers, including a group of Kaua’i Fil-Am Jaycees led by then-president Carmen Centeno and Beth Tokioka, Kusaka’s public information officer, cleaned up the beach.
Kusaka described the cleanup project as a success.
The area around Donkey Beach was originally part of the Makee Sugar Company until 1934, when it became part of Lihue Plantation Company when LP bought Makee and consolidated their sugar growing and milling operations.
Lihue Plantation continued to use the land for cane cultivation until 1990, when it ended its use of 3,300 acres between Kealia and Anahola, apparently because of declining profitability.
The ahupua’a of Kealia, consisting of 6,700 acres, which includes Donkey Beach, was sold by Amfac Land Company in 1998 to Kealia Plantation LLC.
Donkey Beach derives its name from donkeys and mules who were once grazed in a pasture near the beach. The pack animals were used to carry seed cane into the fields for planting, and were later used to carry fertilizer to the areas.
Humans in the form of “hippies” discovered the area in the early 1970s, eating mushrooms that grew in the area and began swimming there, according to local residents.
Because of the remoteness of the beach, nude sunbathing became popular and was promoted in tourist publications.
In subsequent years, the activity seemingly spurred intensified efforts to keep people out of Donkey Beach, for reasons of liability.
Until now.
With the donation of the 59 acres of coastline area, future generations of Kauaians will have access to a property that had been legally closed to their parents and grandparents for decades.
