How to say Kaua'i beach names correctly, with meanings and cultural context
Every vowel in Hawaiian is pronounced: a (ah), e (eh), i (ee), o (oh), u (oo). There are no silent letters. When you see a long beach name, break it into syllables at each vowel and say them all.
The okina looks like an apostrophe and creates a glottal stop — a brief pause, like the break in "uh-oh." It is a consonant, not punctuation. Hawaiʻi has an okina: hah-WAH-ee (with a tiny pause before the last syllable).
Stress typically falls on the second-to-last syllable. Long vowels (marked with a kahako/macron) always receive stress. When in doubt, emphasize the second-to-last syllable and you will usually be close.
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Safe to Swim Hawaii is an independent passion project — not affiliated with the Hawaii Department of Health or any government agency. Water quality ratings are estimates based on publicly available testing data and geographic analysis. They are not real-time measurements and may not reflect current conditions.
Always verify current water quality conditions with the Hawaii DOH Clean Water Branch before entering the water.
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