The facts, with sources

Is there a pier
No. The Mākena Landing pier was dismantled during the Second World War.

Mākena cultural-historical genealogy, checked

What exists instead
A historic landing and boat ramp at Mākena Landing Park.

County of Maui parks study, checked

Hours
7:00am to 8:00pm daily.

Mākena Golf & Beach Club, checked

State boating facility
No. DLNR lists nine small-boat facilities on Maui and Mākena is not among them.

DLNR boating, checked

Mooring
A Mākena Bay mooring zone is defined at HAR 13-235-70, measured from Nahuna Point. A state permit is required to moor in it.

Hawaiʻi offshore mooring rules, checked

Ocean recreation area
Inside the South Maui Ocean Recreation Management Area, HAR 13-256-116. No Mākena-specific zones are designated within it.

Hawaiʻi ocean recreation rules, checked

Where the name comes from

Mākena Landing was a real port. Cattle from ʻUlupalakua Ranch shipped out through it, and by the 1920s Mākena Bay was one of the busiest landings on Maui, with interisland steamers calling and more than a hundred families living in the area.

The pier that served all that is gone. A cultural-historical study of Mākena records that the military dismantled the Mākena Landing pier during the Second World War, and that homes near the landing were razed. Improvements to Kahului Harbour had already been pulling traffic away.

The name outlived the structure, which is why people still search for a pier that hasn't existed in eighty years.

What you'll find if you go looking

A boat ramp and a historic landing area at Mākena Landing Park, with a restroom, one shower and interpretive signage about the site's history. Kayakers, shore divers and commercial operators launch from it. The lot is small.

It is not a state facility. DLNR's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation lists Hāna, Kāʻanapali, Kahului, Keʻanae, Kīhei, Lahaina Roadstead, Lahaina Harbor, Māʻalaea and Māla as its Maui facilities. Mākena appears in DLNR's boating pages only as an offshore mooring area.

We've seen it claimed that the state transportation department classifies Mākena as a small-craft facility. We could find no state record supporting that, and DLNR's own facility list contradicts it.

What the state does regulate in this bay

No pier and no state harbour does not mean no rules. Hawaiʻi's offshore mooring rules define a Mākena Bay mooring zone by metes and bounds, measured from the southwest tip of Nahuna Point, at Chapter 13-235 section 70. Mooring inside it requires a permit from the state, and outside a designated area anchoring is capped at 72 cumulative hours in any fourteen-day period.

The wider water is inside the South Maui Ocean Recreation Management Area, which runs from the eastern boundary of La Perouse Bay to McGregor Point and out 3,000 feet. Worth knowing what that does and does not do: the chapter that defines it never mentions Mākena again, and the sections that would set local zones for thrill craft or parasailing here are reserved and empty. Commercial operators still need a state commercial use permit for tours on state ocean waters no matter where they launched from.

The one seasonal rule that clearly reaches this coast starts at your feet. The Maui humpback whale protected waters are drawn from the shoreline at Puʻu Olaʻi Point, and between 15 December and 15 May nobody may run a thrill craft, parasail or water sled, or tow anyone doing either, inside that area.

Questions people ask

Is there a pier at Mākena?

No. The historic Mākena Landing pier was dismantled during the Second World War. The boat ramp at Mākena Landing Park is what remains.

What do people mean by Mākena Pier?

Almost always the boat ramp and historic landing at Mākena Landing Park, open 7:00am to 8:00pm daily.

Can you launch a boat at Mākena?

There's a ramp at Mākena Landing used by kayaks, shore divers and commercial operators. It is not a state boating facility, and parking is limited.

Why was the Mākena pier removed?

It was dismantled by the military during the Second World War, by which time Kahului Harbour improvements had already reduced traffic through Mākena.

Can you jet ski or parasail at Mākena?

Not between 15 December and 15 May. The Maui humpback whale protected waters are drawn from the shoreline at Puʻu Olaʻi Point, and thrill craft, parasailing and water sledding are prohibited inside that area during those months. Outside whale season, state rules only permit those activities in designated locations, and no such location is designated for South Maui.

Can you moor a boat in Mākena Bay?

There is a designated Mākena Bay mooring zone at HAR 13-235-70, and mooring in it requires a permit from the state. Outside a designated area, anchoring is capped at 72 cumulative hours in any fourteen-day period.

Sources for this page

Not affiliated with Hawaiʻi DLNR, the County of Maui or any emergency service. Where an agency and this page disagree, the agency is right.