Guide
Big Beach and Little Beach, and why I drive past both.
The best-known beaches in Makena sit inside Makena State Park, and neither is on my permitted list. What they are actually like, and where I take you instead.
What they are
One very long beach, and a small one over the rocks.
Big Beach is the long stretch of sand at the south end of Makena, inside Makena State Park. It earns the name. Little Beach sits over the rocky headland at its north end, and it is a fraction of the size.
Both are on most visitor lists for the south side, and both are worth seeing. Neither is somewhere I book sessions.
Big Beach is worth an afternoon. Go on a day you are not doing anything else, look at the water before you get in it, and keep the session for a beach where I can control what is behind you.
Why I drive past
Four reasons, in order of how much they matter.
- 01
Neither is on my permitted list
Permits are pulled per beach. Big Beach and Little Beach are not on the list I shoot under, and that decides it before anything else does.
- 02
The shorebreak
Big Beach is known for a heavy shorebreak. That is the opposite of what I want with a toddler at the water’s edge or a dress in the shallows, and it is not a risk I would ask a family to take for a photograph.
- 03
Long and popular cancel each other out
A long beach is useful when I can move along it to get away from people. A long beach that everybody has heard of fills along its whole length, so no end of it is ever really empty.
- 04
Little Beach is not a family beach
It has a reputation, and the reputation is earned. I will leave it there.
Where I take you instead
Maluaka gives you the space, on a beach I can shoot.
Far enough south to be clear of the hotels. A long, wide beach that never feels crowded early in the morning or near sunset. It is the beach I would choose for a large family or a reunion on this side of the island, and it is worth the extra drive south from Wailea for exactly that.
If you are staying further north, Polo Beach does the same job closer to the resorts. A long, open stretch with two or three beaches effectively joined together. If one end fills up I move to the other, and my permit covers both.
If what you liked about Big Beach was the scale, tell me. A long, wide beach with nobody in the background is exactly what Maluaka gives you early in the morning, and it is the reason it is on my list. The beaches I do book, ranked
Timing
Whichever beach, the hour matters more.
Thirty to forty-five minutes after sunrise the south side is calm and close to empty, and the trade winds have not filled in. For a big family that is the difference between a clean group frame and a long wait for the beach behind you to clear.
Book forty-five minutes if there are young kids. Thirty is enough to get the group shot but not enough to let a toddler warm up. Family sessions
Frequently asked
Big Beach questions
No. Big Beach is in Makena State Park and is not on my permitted list, so I do not book sessions there. Maluaka is the permitted beach I use on the same stretch of coast.
Also not on my permitted list, and not a beach I would choose for a family session even if it were.
Maluaka. It is long and wide, far enough south to be clear of the hotels, and it never feels crowded early in the morning or near sunset.
Next step
Tell me where you are staying.
I will come back with a beach, a time and the reason for both — usually inside the hour.