Kawaihae, Hawai'i

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For the hawaiian band, see Kawaihae (band)

Kawaihae is a harbour and town on the west side of the Island of Hawaiʻi, 35 miles north of Kailua-Kona. The harbour includes a fuel depot, shipping terminal and military landing site. Outside of the man-made breakwall of the harbour is a popular surf spot and the Pua Kailima o Kawaihae Cultural Surf Park. The small town features a handful of restaurants and art galleries. To the north of the harbour is the Kawaihae Canoe Club and a small boat ramp. To the south is the Puʻukoholā Heiau and national historic site, built by King Kamehameha I in 1791. Also to the south is the smaller Mailekini Heiau and the Hale o Kapuni Heiau (shark heiau) which is submerged.

The Army Corps of Engineers dredged the harbour and built the breakwall between 1957 and 1959. In 1970 construction of a small boat harbour began to the south of the main harbour entrance by several institutions under the name of Project Tugboat. It was designed as a test of the use of high explosives to create harbours in hard substrate and as a proof of concept that small nuclear charges could be used for civil works projects. Over 100 tons of conventional explosives (roughly equivalent to the smallest nuclear charge that could be built at that time) were buried in the Kawaihae reef and detonated to clear the basin and the entrance.