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 world famous Waikiki Beach draws millions of tourists to its white sands and turquoise waters each year, accounting for approximately 42 percent of the state’s tourist industry revenue – roughly $2 billion annually. But Waikiki Beach is also holding onto a secret of massive proportions: Waikiki is in fact an engineered beach that has been filled with imported sand for decades – and it is unfortunately in danger of being lost entirely.
Scientists say that a century-old stone wall that juts into the ocean in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is in impending danger of collapse. And according to University of Hawaii Sea Grant program scientist Dolan Eversole, without the structure, this stretch of Waikiki Beach would likely disappear within a matter of days.
The rest of the beach isn’t in great shape either – Waikiki Beach has faced erosion problems since the late-1800s, when hotels and homes were built too close to the natural shoreline. Seawalls and other structures blocked the natural tides of the rise and fall of the beach’s sand.
More than 80 structures were counted along the beach in 1950, and when taking into account rising sea levels claiming approximately one foot of beach each year, Waikiki Beach is in grave danger.
In order to combat this problem, colossal amounts of sand have been dumped onto Waikiki Beach, mainly from Molokai and other Oahu beaches. Some 380,000 cubic yards of sand were brought in during the mid-1900s – that’s enough sand to fill 116 Olympic-sized swimming pools! The practice was outlawed in the late 1970s, and not much has been done to help Waikiki Beach until recently.
In 2012, 27,000 cubic yards of sand was piped in from offshore and deposited on the beach. The sand was extended approximately 37 feet for a cost of $2.9 million, and would have to be done every five to ten years in order to combat the disastrous effects of erosion and rising sea levels.
It is actually estimated that the majority of sand on Waikiki Beach has been brought in from elsewhere – meaning that one of the world’s most famous beaches is almost entirely engineered. How crazy is that?
While Waikiki Beach might not be the most popular beach among locals, it is a massive tourist draw, and there’s no telling what will become of the famous Waikiki Beach in our lifetime. Tell us, did you know that this world-famous beach was almost entirely man-made, so to speak? For more in-depth information, check out this feature published on the Huffington Post last year.
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