Guide
Makena Landing and La Perouse: worth the drive, not the session.
Turtles, lava and the end of the road south. Good reasons to go. Here is why neither is where I book a session, and where I take you instead.
What they are
Two places people drive south for, and they are right to.
Makena Landing is a small landing on the Makena coast where people put kayaks in the water and go looking for turtles. It is more rock and water than beach.
Keep driving and the road narrows and runs out at La Perouse Bay, where the coastline turns to raw lava. It is one of the stranger landscapes on the island, and worth the drive on its own.
Why I do not book them
Lovely to visit. Wrong for a session.
- 01
Neither is on my permitted list
That settles it before anything else. I book sessions on six permitted beaches, and these two are not among them.
- 02
Lava is hard on everyone
Sharp, uneven rock is fine in hiking shoes. Barefoot, in a dress, holding a toddler, it becomes a session spent watching where everyone puts their feet instead of looking at each other.
- 03
There is not much sand
What makes a beach session work is room to move along open sand with the water behind you. A boat landing and a lava field do not give you that.
- 04
The turtles are not props
If you see them, give them room. They are the reason a lot of people go, and they are not something I would build a session around.
Where I take you instead
Maluaka, on the same stretch of coast.
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 wide enough for a large family group, which neither the landing nor the lava field is. If you want the drive south to be part of the day, book the session at Maluaka first, then keep going.
If it was the dark rock at La Perouse that caught your eye, tell me. I will be honest about whether one of the beaches I shoot can give you something close. The south-side beaches I book
Planning the day
Do the drive on its own clock.
Sessions are at their best thirty to forty-five minutes after sunrise, or near sunset if you book long enough for the color. The drive to La Perouse deserves daylight and time to spare. Put it after a morning session, or on a different day, rather than squeezing both into one evening.
Makena Landing is the easier of the two: park, get in the water, look for turtles. La Perouse is a longer drive and a rougher walk over rock that gets hot. Proper footwear is not optional on either, which is one more reason neither is a barefoot-in-a-dress kind of place.
And if a downpour or a storm watch rules out the morning, I call the session and we move it. I do not call it for anything less.
Frequently asked
Makena Landing questions
Not with me. La Perouse is not on my permitted list, and the lava makes it hard going for a session anyway. Maluaka is the permitted beach I use on the Makena coast.
No. It is not on my permitted list, and it is more rock and water than beach. Go for the turtles, and book the session at Maluaka.
Maluaka, on the same stretch of Makena coast. 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.