Secret Beach Hawaii

It was November of 1979, when I first learned of Secret Beach, Hawaii. It's called this for a reason. Hardly anyone knows of its existence and those that do, have to jump through a lot of paperwork to gain access to the pristine white sand, palm trees, and secluded ocean access to the opening of Kaneohe Bay. Once you make it there, you won't regret it. Even today, in the summer of 2021, Secret Beach has hardly changed. Let's hope it stays that way for a long time to come.

On my first trip, the goals of our small group were to hang out on the beach, catch some rays, maybe do a little surfing, and maybe some reef fishing. When we arrived, we were met by two Marines in an open-air jeep that escorted us across a military airport runway to an overgrown jungle. They told us to exit the jeep and pointed in a direction for us to keep walking. They said we would eventually run into the beach. The senior Marine said he would come by later to check on us, otherwise, they would be back to pick us bright and early the following morning. They left us standing on the side of this runway just as two very loud F4 Phantom military jets took off for who knows where.

We hiked our way through the "jungle undergrowth" and found the beach roughly 200 yards in front of us. We unpacked and went swimming. Just before dusk, two of my friends went looking for driftwood for a campfire while me and my other buddy decided to do some spearfishing along the reef. We had already been warned and received the safety briefings about Kaneohe Bay, hammerhead, and tiger sharks, but didn't give it much thought as we walked out to the edge of the reef with our spears in one hand and our face masks and swim fins in the other.

The edge of the reef is roughly three football field lengths from the beach, so you're walking in ankle to shin-deep water all that way with the exception of some isolated pools that may be 5-10' deep. We got to the reef's edge and sat down with our legs dangling off the side, put on our facemasks and our swim fins, then stood up on a ledge and jumped into the deeper water. Our plan was to fish the side of the reef for mahi-mahi, parrot, and maybe some bluefin fish. That with some ice-cold beers and fire-roasted potatoes sounded really good after a day of swimming and hanging out in the sun.

Kaneohe Bay is a beautiful place and the water is crystal blue and the bottom is mostly white sand. This provides for underwater clear visibility for several yards and makes it a preferred spot for snorkelers and scuba divers to travel to from all over the world. It is also known to be a large breeding area for the hammerhead shark. Back in the late 70s and through the 80s, there were weekly shark attacks in Kaneohe Bay, almost all caused by overzealous scuba divers getting too close to a female hammerhead shark during a breeding period. When Johnny and I jumped from the reef into the bay, we well understood the risks, but what we didn't know at the time was just how dangerous these waters could be at certain times of the day.

Johnny was the first to enter the water and I splashed right behind him. The place we chose to jump put us in water about 30' deep and when we entered the water, we intended to sink to the bottom and then push off with our fins and move along the bottom of the reef on our initial dive. Instead, Johnny landed on top of a large tiger shark that I later guesstimated was maybe 9' long. I know this because I hit the water right behind Johnny and landed to the left of him and the tiger shark and I came eye to eye with that monster. The shark and I were staring right at each other for a brief second.

There was blood everywhere. The blood clouded the water and all I could think was the shark must have bitten Johnny or me. Before I could regain my senses and put some distance between the shark and me, the shark had decided to do that for us and was gone. I don't believe I have ever seen an animal move as fast as that shark moved. Johnny and I had the same idea and we were both already climbing out of the water and back onto the reef. Once we made it out of the water, we checked each other out and discovered the blood was coming from abrasions on Johnny's chest and arm where he most likely rubbed against the shark, and the reef when he jumped in the water initially.

We sat there rehashing what had just happened and then broke out in laughter. We imagined the shark was probably doing the same thing we intended to do, just surfing the reef looking for a couple of mahi-mahi for dinner when all of a sudden, two giant humans jump on him and try to go for a ride. We could only imagine the story he was telling his buddies. After a few more minutes had passed, we looked at each other and I suggested we should try again. Johnny pointed to the water and several dorsal fins that were now cruising up and down the reef.

It was almost dark, save for the last remnants of sunlight dancing off the water and the sharks were most likely feeding now. They were probably looking for the source of that blood too. So we stood up, gathered our stuff, and walked back to the beach. When we got on shore, the campfire was going strong and the potatoes were already roasting, wrapped in foil, and tucked in the coals near the fire's edge. Our buddies asked where the fish was and after our incredible story, they laughed along with us. Then one of them took some hot dogs and hamburgers from the beer cooler and life was good again.

We had just finished eating when that senior Marine from earlier came walking up. He was dressed in his civvies, so we invited him to stay and have a beer with us. I shared our shark story with him and he sat there sipping on his beer while he took it all in. Then he shared his story with us. Just two weeks prior, he had dropped a group of 5 campers off here in the same location who had the intention of doing some night fishing. They had been warned to stay ashore at night, but two of them disregarded the warnings and went out on the reef anyways.

The Coast Guard figured a rogue wave must have knocked them off the reef because they never returned to shore that night. A search was conducted and the body of one of the campers was found between Oahu and Maui in a current channel that runs between the islands. A few days later, the partial remains of the second camper were found inside the belly of a large tiger shark that had been caught in Kaneohe Bay. He went on to tell us how lucky we had been and that he hoped we would learn from that experience and not test our luck again.

We agreed and then he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a stringer filled with mahi-mahi and bluefin. He had caught them on a rod and reel the old-fashioned way, standing on the beach and casting a lure into the water. We feasted well that night on both fish and knowledge.