Papa Bay - Beach? (Captain Cook: real estate, homes, neighborhood)

[thisbloominglife]

Calling Big Island peeps who may have been to the beach area below Papa Bay Estates (a subdivision in the Captain Cook area of South Kona). I've been window real estate shopping (what? A girl can dream! ) and came across some homes in that subdivision that look very nice and are reasonably priced for the sizes of the homes and the acreage they are sitting on. The listings mention that there is a 'private' (which I realize isn't really true since, from what I understand, there are no private beaches in Hawaii...so I suspect, in this case, 'private' might really mean, 'remote' and rarely accessed by tourists) beach at the bottom of the subdivision which can be accessed via he 4-wheel drive access road at the edge of the subdivision. Does anyone know anything about this beach? I know there's a beach at the bottom of Kona Paradise subdivision which is a black pebble beach (very pretty from the photos I've seen) and the two subdivisions are not that far from each other). Honaunau Bay is also near-ish to the area and I know it's a totally different kind of 'beach' with lava flats in place of sand. So, it kind of leaves wide open the question of what sort of beach might be at the bottom of Papa Bay estates.

What ever it is, it would be nicer than the beach I have right now...which is none...at least for six hours.

[meadowNC]

We drove by here... it looks "close" to Honaunau, but it's definitely much more remote, and it's set on a lava field. The drive to get down there is a bit harrowing. (What I learned on the BI -- what looks close on a map may be too far away to access comfortably -- the green sand beach being my prime example of that.) I personally wouldn't want to live in either Kona Paradise or Papa Bay without a 4-wheel drive.

It's definitely pretty in its own way, though. Regarding the beach -- I heard from locals that the undertow at Kona Paradise can be dangerous. Not sure about Papa Bay... I didn't see anything that looked like an accessible beach, but we weren't there long.

[thisbloominglife]

Thanks, Meadow!

I'm pretty sure the 'road' that they are referring to is probably more of a trail (that's what it looks like on google earth) and is likely unmarked. There are a lot of pretty homes in Kona Paradise - but from what I can tell from photos all the lots are quite steep (and very small).

Regarding distances - I'm notorious here on the mainland for underestimating distances from a map! :-p. It's only three inches away! Hehe!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

We drove through Papa Bay residential area, and went as far makai as we could go. There's a road with a big "Private" sign on it that I assume goes down to their beach. It looked like a really rough road, which may not even be much of a road.

[thisbloominglife]

Just an FYI for anyone else who may ever be wondering...

Spoke with a real estate agent regarding the shore line below this neighborhood and he informs me that it's rocky/lava flats. Hope that may help the next person who wonders.