Wild overnight parties — with nudity and no masks — force Maui to close popular beach

One of Maui’s popular beaches has been fenced off after Hawaii officials learned mass parties — including “nudity, illegal alcohol and other illicit substances” — were being staged late into the night on weekends.

Worse still, the culprits were not practicing social distancing or wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to a statement released by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources on Tuesday.

Pu’u Ola’i beach (also known as Little Beach) remains “temporarily” closed, and anyone found at the beach “could be cited for entering a closed area,” state officials said. The beach is part of Makena State Park.

“Social media posts from last Sunday show an estimated 400 people on the beach,” state officials wrote on Facebook. “The parties have the possibility of becoming so-called super spreader events.”

Reaction to the abrupt closure appeared to be largely in the state’s favor, with some labeling the revelers “entitled selfish fools” and demanding the National Guard be called to keep people away. “I seen a video of this. Hippies dancing naked with kids. Frickin’ weirdos,” wrote one man on the state’s Facebook page.

Little Beach has a reputation for being an “unofficial” nude beach in Hawaii, with lax enforcement of the state’s laws against public nudity, To Hawaii Travel Guide reports. “No beach in Hawaii is technically legally nude,” according to Black’s Beach Etiquette.

State Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell referred to the closing as an “extraordinary action” prompted by people exhibiting “egregious behaviors.” It is believed the crowds have included both visitors and people who live in Maui, he said.

The festivities, including group dances, have been going on for months and “it’s believed a participant in one of the Sunday parties was responsible for spreading the virus to others,” state officials said.

“We cannot continue to tolerate the lack of personal responsibility hundreds of people are demonstrating every Sunday at Pu’u Ola’i,” DLNR Chair Suzanne Case said in a release. “It’s too bad their astounding lack of personal responsibility penalizes everyone else who abides by the rules.”

Officers with the state’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement have made “repeated trips” to the beach to issue “citations for alcohol violations,” officials said.

“DLNR will be monitoring the compliance of this temporary closure and examining other more permanent solutions to impeding and eliminating this reckless and illegal behavior on public land that is a valuable recreational and cultural landscape,” the release said.

In an update posted Jan 27, the department said the party crowd is so desperate to reach the site that vandals used power tools to cut through the newly erected fence and gate.

“It’s maddening, frustrating, and disappointing, that individuals who feel entitled to enter a closed area make it hard on everyone,” State Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell said in a release. “This kind of senseless vandalism is an assault on everyone who pays taxes in Hawaii.”

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Wild overnight parties — with nudity and no masks — force Maui to close popular beach."