Kāneʻohe Bay

Kāneʻohe Bay, at 45 km², is the largest sheltered body of water in the main Hawaiian Islands. This reef-dominated embayment constitutes a significant scenic and recreational feature along the southeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu. The largest population center on Kāneʻohe Bay is the town of Kāneʻohe.

The Bay is approximately 8 mi (12.8 km) long and 2.7 mi (4.3 km) broad, with a mouth opening of about 4.6 mi (7.4 km) and maximum depth of 40 ft (12 m) in the dredged channel. It has one of the two barrier reefs in the archipelago, the other being the 27 mile barrier reef of Molokaʻi island, and also has extensive development of shoaling coral reefs within a large lagoon. Two navigable channels cut across the northern and southern ends of the barrier reef. The deeper, northern channel, located off Kualoa Regional Park, provides entrance from the North Pacific Ocean to a ship channel dredged the length of the lagoon between 1939 and 1945. The lagoon contains extensive patch and fringing reefs and its southern end is partly enclosed by the Mokapu Peninsula. This peninsula is occupied by Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Kaneohe, Hawaii

Kāneʻohe is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and located in Hawaiʻi state District of Koʻolaupoko on the island of Oʻahu. In the Hawaiian language, kāne ʻohe means "bamboo man". According to an ancient Hawaiian story a local woman compared her husband's cruelty to the sharp edge of cutting bamboo; thus the place was named Kāneʻohe or "Bamboo man". The population was 34,597 at the 2010 census. Kāneʻohe is the largest of several communities along Kāneʻohe Bay and one of the two largest residential communities on the windward side of Oʻahu (the other is Kailua). The commercial center of the town is spread mostly along Kamehameha Highway.

From ancient times, Kāneʻohe was important as an agricultural area, owing to an abundance of rainfall. Today, Kāneʻohe is mostly a residential community, with very little agriculture in evidence. The only commercial crop of any consequence in the area is banana.

Features of note are Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden and the new Hawaiʻi National Veterans Cemetery. Access to Kāneʻohe Bay is mainly from the public pier and boat ramp located at nearby Heʻeia Kea. Access to Coconut Island (restricted) is from the state pier off Lilipuna Road. Marine Corps Base Hawaii lies across the south end of Kāneʻohe Bay from the central part of Kāneʻohe, although the town stretches along Kāneʻohe Bay Drive to the base perimeter.