Sand Island Park

Great place to view life around the industrial side of Honolulu and the beach appears clean with plenty of room to have a major gathering!
Downside is the constant noise of recycling, industrial noises, aircraft flying overhead.
Looks like a fun place to take the kids and fish!

Dusty, dirty and homeless people…
We came here from Alicia’s Market because there is no where to sit and eat there. This was a good choice at the time because it was a nice day and it’s along the water. You can see Honolulu from the park which is the best part of this area. Unfortunately, the place is really dirty from the soft dirt blown all around the park. The trees have very little shade so it’s very hot. Homeless people around the area doesn’t help too.
There is a lot of parking and it’s very easy to find. I think the there is a lot of parking because it’s not an ideal park to do anything at. If you need to find this park, you just drive toward the ocean on Sand Island Access Road and you’ll hit the park. Parking is on the left and there is ample benches with tables to use. Rubbish bins are also very abundant around the park. I will probably not be coming here again in the future unless I absolutely have to.

What happened to this park?
I thought I was here before when the parking lots were full and the grass was green. My friends and I used to have picnics here… it must have been a very long time ago…
Yesterday, the ground was dusty because the grass had dried up. We just had our lunch there at one of the many empty picnic tables with benches. There was a nice breeze and many open parking spaces.
I was afraid to even try to go to the restroom as there were sketchy people hanging around. We did walk closer to the water and took a few photos of the beautiful scenery, but had to cross the patchy lawn and avoided stepping on animal waste.
I wouldn’t bring visitors here, unless it was just a quick stop for the view of Downtown Honolulu, Aloha Tower, and Diamond Head. I would stay on alert mode and just do a brief visit.

coming to this park has become routine for my family and I every Sunday
the park is always busy
with many campers, fisherman and others enjoying the beach or park
there is ample parking and the park is fairly litter free
the bathrooms are well kept and not stink or dirty
we enjoy the scenic view of the harbor by aloha tower
a great park for family time

Pros:
Not crowded during the week and not too busy on weekends.
Great beach sounds and views of downtown skyline with diamond head in the background.
Enough parking and also campgrounds if that is your thing.
Tide pools that make the sometimes dangerous current a non-​issue in places.
Cons:
Bathroom facilities aren’t the cleanest. But still better than having no bathrooms at all.
When the current is strong there are strong waves with a lot of undertow.
Watch out for some beach trash. When I go here I will bring a bag to help clean up the area we are in.
Potential drug activity so don’t bring valuables or secure them properly and hidden. Personally I stay within eyesight of my vehicle just in case. But I have never had an issue in three years.
Other notes:
If you drive to the last beach section and choose to walk to the right on the beach there are occasionally nude sunbathers. So if you take offense to that sort of thing I would suggest not venturing that way. Be advised: Although I did not observe any lewd behavior on the beach I believe that some may be going on in the bushes behind that section.

This beach park will be better if it doesn’t have the garbage smell and trashed with beer bottles, cans and garbage. Love the waves here.

Decent park. It’s nice to come here and take a break from all the yuppies at Ala Moana or Waikiki. The bathrooms aren’t as bad as people say they are; Ala Moana’s is worse. It’s also not hard to find. You literally just follow one road all the way down. There’s plenty of parking. Try to avoid the locals — they’re either drunk as fuck or high as a kite.

its kinda smelly…
its kinda dirty…
the bathrooms are… just stay out of them if you can.
this has huge potential to be a nice park, IF it were better taken care of. came here to fish with some friends, and as you can imagine… we caught nothing. it was still fun, but i don’t know that i would come back to this location again.
plenty homeless people, plenty cats… :P

I can totally understand Als review– but don’t understand why Al still gave 5 stars.
Here is why I give 1 star.
It is extremely far way from most amenities. Many tourists do not even know where this is. It is difficult to get to — unless you know how to drive there. There are no buses– closest bus stop is still way out on Nimitz.
It is not a walk on the beach beach– It is not accessible like Ala Moana or Waikiki where it is clear and sandy to walk along, instead there are docks and drop offs and it is not fun to get to the beach.
Als point that there are squatters/​locals/​people that reside near or on the beach and make it their home– which makes it awkward. I do go in groups when I go here– I would not show up alone or with just a child to go play. If I was in a large group for a family function– which I do– I still act more on guard than I do when we do things at Ala Moana Beach.
Other info;
There are rehab day homes near the park. It is inside of an industrial park. It is near docks (oil spills are possible and not that clean to swim in when there are accidental spills from boats).
There are bathrooms that are really large– plenty of room to not be next to someone if you don’t want to be. Bring your own soap and toilet paper though– I nave never seen any there when I have gone.
It is a huge open space if there is a huge family gathering– plenty of parking during the day– again they close the only open gate at night time– so do not get locked in from the park rangers. I think it locks at dark — like 7 pm so don’t get locked in.

Great place for sea glass… go early! Beach is not the best for a swim and not an ideal Hawaiian beach, but a great place for treasure hunting beautiful sea glass

Great place to go during the weekday if you want to avoid the crowd! Also it’s very dog friendly :) Plenty of grass and sand for them to run wild! There’s a lot of green space for picnics and BBQ’s, but a lot of their pavilions are run down (due to the state not up-​keeping this park). Despite the rundown pavilions, their bathrooms are pretty clean compared to Ala moana or Sandy’s beach park bathrooms.

Great views across Honolulu harbor shoreline with the mountains as a backdrop.
I usually stick to the area at the beginning of the park. Great place to bring your breakfast or lunch and look across the water towards Aloha Tower & the rest of the downtown waterfront areas.

Park full of homeless people and campers. Also dusty as you know. Only good part of the park is the views across the harbor to downtown and toward diamond head.
Also not the best place to go swimming and/​or surfing. Since the rocks are sharp as attack. But I have been there for cleanups and the park has a lot of potential. Too bad it often gets neglected. I don’t always go there, but when I do, it’s for a friends bday BBQ. Otherwise nothing special about sand island. Better off going Kailua or Ala Moana.

Perfect beach for bbq’s, camping, swimming, etc. Bring the whole family, everyday if you can. There may be some hostile locals, but call 911 & see how hostile they’ll be after. Lol. Gotta make use of this beach and park, before its gone. So spread the word!

I have to admit. I haven’t been here in ages. But I must say this place didn’t really age all that gracefully. It’s ashamed sometimes to know that the State has let this park fall into such horrible shape. I wonder if it’s because this place isn’t a tourist trap like Ala Mona Beach Park, or world famous Waikiki Beach.
It’s sad because my parents used to bring me here a lot when I was a kid. I remember playing on the train replica as well as having barbecues here. I could play on that train for hours. Now, this same train is going to waste, with graffiti, not to mention it smells like someone urinated in it. I can’t believe that the State let this beach park get this bad. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. But in spite of that, lots of locals still use this beach park. And I will still continue to come here every now and then since this is where I spent my childhood. Weekend barbecues with family. Brings back memories.

This beach was kind of ‘ghetto’ compared to the others. although they had good shower facilities, there was more trash and the water wasnt as pretty (also very sharp rocks as you go further out towards the ocean so becareful!). but overall, a pretty nice place to get a nice, sexy tan. cool area to catch some nice boats too :)

Yo! Where the touristy hordes be at? Not another tourist in sight. And barely 6 kama‘aina. Barely a sentient soul’s in Sand Island Park Tuesday at noontime. Tons of empty picnic tables. Amazing amount of industry surrounding the park. Adequate amount of shade trees along paved paths heading makai side. There –is– the wonderful sight of O‘ahu’s verdant peaks & valleys from across Honolulu Harbor as cumulus clouds hang aloft. I dig Sand Island Park’s isolation. I dig it’s offshore views more. Wouldn’t call Sand Island Park a must-​see destination for most malihini. Not as «pretty» & «pristine» as other park’s on O‘ahu. But since I ain’t most malihini, I found it fun to finally plant my touristy flag on the former Quarantine Island’s park and spread out & chill-​out unencumbered by the masses.

This is an okay beach if you’re looking to get away from all the crowds in Downtown Waikiki or Downtown Honolulu and want to walk or jog around a secluded area. Not a whole lot to see other than distant views of Downtown Honolulu (like Aloha Tower and the Twin Apartment complexes). Wouldn’t recommend this park as a great area to swim, hang out on the beach or even do a picnic, however.

The park has changed a lot since I was a kid. I went there recently to look around for items that I could use for my art project, which was anything left behind by humans… trash mostly I would find. It was actually fairly clean, but as you go further towards the beach, there’s more rubbish. but more of evidence that people were living there or staying there for a while.
My professor shared with me a few interesting facts about this place that made me want to go there. He told me that Sand Island was once used as a quarantine site and as a camp for foreigners during WWII… and now it’s a park. Funny.
I was a little scared to go to this park alone, even during the day now. It wasn’t too bad. There were other people there, older people. People taking walks or fishing.
They still have that train that I used to play on as a kid, minus the slide. It had a really cool mural in the back though. I was very impressed. I like finding art like that.
It was an OK experience. It was much better going there when I was younger, but times have changed a lot.

Is that a piece of rebar sticking out of your stomach, or you just happy to see me? Actually, no, I just went for a swim at Sand Island.
If you’re looking for seclusion, youve come to the right place. There are only ever a handful of people here at the beach, but there’s a reason for that.
Its a HUGE beach park that begs for something exciting to be put there, but instead it looks abandoned, and good thing it closes at sundown because I definitely wouldnt wanna get stuck here when the gates close.
The beach is long, but theres concrete and rebar sticking out of the water. You might be able to get into the water a few feet, but Id make sure you could see the bottom at all times. If you want isolation youve come to the right place, but for anything else there are better alternatives.