Onekahakaha Beach Park

This is a Great sheltered beach! This beach has showers, tables, shade trees, grills, restrooms and an occasional life guard. If Hilo had a Waikiki beach this would be it. Except this beach is cleaner, larger, less crowded and more scenic.
If you feel like exploring the other side of the rock wall, don’t underestimate the waves. I only go over with children on low tides and calm waters.
I’ve only had one negative thing here but I can’t blame the beach. A hippy lady decided she was going to soap up and wash her clothes in the ocean where children where at play… some people

Super chill beach spot for the littlest of us. Several pools, soft sand and nice families frolicking about.

This is definitely a beach to bring your small kids to swim and explore. Its actually not a beach but there’s a few nice big sandy bottom tide pools and it looked fairly shallow with a great view of the coastline.
Prime real estate or a good spot is at a minimum so you might want to get here early for a good spot.
Parking was tight when we got here but we did manage to get a stall eventually.

Wow what a blast from my past, as a youngster had so much fun swimming here every day that I could. Brings back fun memories of my visits to my grandparents 40 plus years ago. Many thanks to those who contributed pics of the swim area.

BEST beach if you have kids. Not to deep, no waves. Only down side is that sometimes it is really really really crowded and hard to find parking.

I will be honest, I’m a Richardson’s Beach fan and will always be. I went there today at 2:00 and couldn’t get a parking spot in their parking lot or up the street :(I drove around and decided to check out OBP for the first time. Somehow got parking (very, large parking lot which is great). As a single girl in her 20s, this didn’t really appeal to me. It’s mainly babies (hey if you like kids swimming with diapers next to you, this is your kind of beach!), little kids, families, and pregnant Hawaiian women smoking (I’m not kidding).
Most likely wouldn’t go back to. Will just get to Richardson’s earlier and check out some of the other beaches on this side of the island.
Pros–
–lots of parking
–lots of places to sit
–pretty
–lifeguard

Best baby beach in Hilo or Puna areas!
Blocked ocean water with no waves.
*May be referred to as the keiki pond or keiki beach.
Lot of keiki Friday mornings.

Great place for friends and family gatherings.
Nice spot for picnic lunch.
Warm waters.
Giant «Honu» (sea turtles), and other sea life to explore.
Great place for all age groups.
Had a great day here!

Onekahakaha Beach Park is simply a great place to bring the family. You’ve got a picnic areas, grassy areas, shallow waters shielded by breakwaters, and even the occasional ice cream/​shave ice truck.
The keiki (li’l ones) will just love this place based on the beach alone. With a wide range of depths from about 1 – 4 feet, youngsters of all ages and swimming abilities will enjoy the warm tropical waters here. If you bring your dive mask or swim goggles, you might even be able to catch a glimpse of some native aquatic life in their natural environment.
So, why not five stars? Onekahakaha killed my BlackBerry. Sure it was my fault that I left it in my board shorts, but that was only because I was so distracted with the natural beauty of this place and the inviting waters. Don’t be so surprised if the same thing happens to you…
I have a panoramic shot of the beach park, but it’s way too big to upload to Unilocal.If you’re interested, click here:

Excellent beach for anyone visiting Hilo. There is a sandy area suitable for kids (well protected from the surf). Lots of lava rock areas throughout, great for spending an afternoon tidepooling. We have taken our niece and nephew here on many occasions, bringing a basic fishing pole. It is quite easy to catch small reef fish (pick up a telescoping pole from Walmart, some 2lb test fishing line and small #12’s AH hooks — use raw shrimp as bait). Find an area with knee deep water and you should catch fish all day long.
There are picnic benches (bring a table cloth) and county restroom facilities (hold your breath) and trees to provide shady areas. Lifeguards are present, not exactly when tho.
There are more beach parks further east, I wouldn’t recommend any area beyond this park as any tourist headed out there will get a taste of hawaiian sovereignty–

This was the first beach I went to in Hawaii.
It’s incredibly beautiful, the color of the water is amazing. There’s a few surrounding tide pools, which have sea turtles in them, and rocks to sit around them.
We had a picnic there, and it’s a little windy, but the scenery can’t be beat!
It’s very rocky, but has great spots to sit and look out at the ocean.
There’s also a small beach area further down, and a walled in swimming area.
I enjoyed the water, and laying in the sun here.
It’s a lovely place to walk around in, and there’s even trees to sit in the shade if you want.
This place is really gorgeous, if you’re in the area, you really should stop.