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Hawaii · Oahu South Shore · Honolulu County · Honolulu

Diamond Head

also known as Diamond Head Beach Park, Leahi, Kulei Cliffs Beach Park, Cliffs, Lighthouse

advanced onlymedium crowds

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

On this page

Wind
- Month by month
Forecast
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
- Rescue
Hazards
Rules & access
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Nearby Kahala 3 km · Waimanalo 14 km · Kailua Beach 17 km · Kaneohe Sandbar 23 km · Hukilau Beach 46 km · straight-line distance

SeasonApr to Octthe months riders and schools name How windy15-20mixed Launchsmall to mediumaccess rules on record, below Watersea27°C in summer · 13 things riders flag LevelIntermediate to advancedwith a caveat, in the Level section Schools2named at this spot From the airportno transfer time publishedInternational Airport (HNL)

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Diamond Head is a wave spot on the south shore of Oahu, under Diamond Head Road and east of Waikiki. Reef breaks sit off the beach, Cliffs and Lighthouse among them, and it takes more south swell than anything else on the South Shore.

Getting on the water is work: park on the road, carry gear down the cliffside path, walk east along the sand 100-200 m, then launch and go, because the air under the cliffs is turbulent and does not reward standing around.

The bottom is reef, coral and rock, surfers stay in the lineup when it is windy, and bigger swell brings cross-currents, especially at Cliffs. There are no lifeguards and almost no facilities.

What the wind does here is unsettled: NE trades are workable but fickle and gusty, cleaner the more easterly they run, while the spot is also listed as only happening a few times a year on S, SSW and SW Kona wind, so ask someone local which version you are looking at before you commit to the walk.

The wind

locals call it trade winds / Kona

Direction

wind blows away from land — rescue cover matters here

Kite sizes

67891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

Character

mixed

Typical strength

15-20

Gusty and turbulent near the cliffs; cleaner farther out or when the flow is more easterly.

Hawaii trade winds dominate April to October regionally, while Kona/frontal wind is a winter/synoptic pattern. Diamond Head also has summer south-swell exposure.

Thermal or synoptic

trade wind and Kona/synoptic

The quiver, in words

The 15-20 kt band puts a 75-85 kg rider on 11-12 m, dropping to 9-10 m when the trades push past 20. A two-kite quiver of roughly 8-10 m and 11-14 m covers most Oahu days. Indicative sizing derived from the wind range; nobody publishes a size table for this beach.

Direction to shore

NE/E trades are cross-offshore to offshore at parts of the beach; S-SW Kona/frontal wind is onshore to cross-onshore for the south-facing coast.

Dominant direction

Unsettled. Standard NE trades are usable but fickle and gusty, cleaner as the flow goes easterly; the other answer given is S, SSW and SW frontal Kona wind.

Forecast

Month by month

Jan31
Feb64
Mar59
Apr, riders' month79
May, riders' month66
Jun, riders' month79
Jul, riders' month95
Aug, riders' month81
Sep, riders' month69
Oct, riders' month44
Nov72
Dec52

per cent of the month at force 4 or more

Ringed months are the ones riders and schools name: Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.

10Jan25°
13Feb25°
12Mar25°
13Apr25°
12May25°
13Jun26°
14Jul26°
13Aug27°
12Sep27°
10Oct27°
13Nov26°
11Dec26°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Month	Force 4+	Knots	From	Air	Water
Jan	31%	9.5 kt	ENE	22.2°C	25.2°C
Feb	64%	12.6 kt	ENE	22.3°C	24.5°C
Mar	59%	11.8 kt	ENE	22.8°C	24.5°C
Apr	79%	13.2 kt	ENE	23.1°C	24.8°C
May	66%	11.9 kt	ENE	23.7°C	25.1°C
Jun	79%	12.8 kt	ENE	24.6°C	25.9°C
Jul	95%	14.1 kt	ENE	25°C	26.3°C
Aug	81%	12.8 kt	ENE	25.6°C	26.6°C
Sep	69%	11.9 kt	ENE	25.7°C	27°C
Oct	44%	10.4 kt	ENE	25.3°C	27.1°C
Nov	72%	12.5 kt	ENE	24.1°C	26.2°C
Dec	52%	11.1 kt	ENE	22.9°C	25.7°C

modelled

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (2022-2024), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds. The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

ERA5 reanalysis grid point (modelled) · Open-Meteo historical weather API — ECMWF ERA5/ERA5-Land reanalysis, not a ground station · 2022-2024

The water

Type

sea

Standing depth

Shallow reef near shore with offshore reef breaks; not a standing-depth beginner lagoon.

Tides

No kite-specific best tide is published; lower tide exposes tidepools and reef flats at the beach.

Temperature

27°C summer · 23°C winter

Wetsuit

Shorts or rash vest in normal conditions.

Currents

Cross-currents can be a factor, especially at Cliffs when the swell is up.

25–27°C waterShorts or rash vest in normal conditions.

South-shore reef wave zone below Diamond Head Road, with named surf breaks including Cliffs and Lighthouse; reef, rocks, and changing surf limit swimming.

Your level

not for beginners hereintermediateadvanced

Not a beginner spot. Intermediate riders handle it and experts get the most out of it.

The scene

What riders come here for

wave

The surf crowd is mellow and spread out, thicker early on weekends when there is swell. Stay clear of the surfers in the lineup.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: small to medium

access rules on record

Somewhere else

Kahala, 3 km

Kahala Waimanalo Kailua Beach

Every spot within 40 km is on the map at the top of this page, with its distance under it.

Rescue

No lifeguard tower on this beach and facilities close to nothing, so the rescue plan is you, whoever you came with, and 911. Parking is roadside on a narrow dead-end stretch of Diamond Head Road above the cliff path, which is also what decides how quickly anyone reaches the sand. No kite-specific rescue arrangement was found.

Launch

Park along Diamond Head Road, carry gear down the cliffside path, then walk east along the beach about 100-200 m to a sand launch.

Space

small to medium

Rules & access

The water off this beach sits inside the Diamond Head Restricted Area, Hawaii Administrative Rules section 13-256-90, effective 24 February 1994 and carried unchanged into the April 2025 compilation.

The area runs from the low-water mark at the western boundary of the Diamond Head Lighthouse, out and back to the low-water mark at the eastern edge of Diamond Head Beach Park, and it is designated for surfboards, sailboards and manually propelled vessels; no motorised vessel may operate inside it.

Kiteboarding is not named anywhere in the chapter, so how a kite sits under the sailboard designation is not spelled out in the rule. West of the zone boundary the Waikiki speed zone begins, where everything is held to slow-no-wake.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Rider tips

Stay off the waves surfers are paddling for; the lineup has priority.
Launch and land fast. The air under the cliffs is turbulent.
Come back to the same patch of sand you left from: past the beach access path the wind goes offshore and gusty.
Keep the kite off the hillside, it is covered in kiawe thorns.
Bring water and whatever else you need. No lifeguards, no facilities.

Getting there

Airport

Honolulu International Airport (HNL)

Route

Just south of Diamond Head crater in Honolulu. Drive to Diamond Head Road, park on the roadside and walk down to the beach.

Staying

Honolulu and Waikiki are the nearest major accommodation bases; Diamond Head Beach Park is east of Waikiki.

No-wind days

Watch the surf, poke around the tidepools at low tide, snorkel when the waves lie down, walk up Diamond Head State Monument. Waikiki and Honolulu are ten minutes west.

Photos

Waikiki beach from Diamond Head crater, Oahu, Hawaii - panoramio — Aaron Zhu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

FAQ

Is Diamond Head suitable for beginners?

No, it is described as not a beginner spot, rated intermediate with expert appeal at best.

When is the best time to kite at Diamond Head?

April through October is the trade-wind season, with typical wind around 15-20 knots, though direction guidance is mixed between NE trades and rarer S-SW Kona wind.

What is the launch like at Diamond Head?

Riders park along Diamond Head Road, carry gear down a cliffside path, and walk east about 100-200 m to a small sand launch; wind near the cliffs is turbulent.

What are the hazards at Diamond Head?

The area has reef, rocks, and coral close to shore, cross-currents on larger swells, no lifeguards, and gusty or offshore wind right after the beach access path.

Last updated: August 2026