If you’ve been told that Maui’s Baby Beach is an excellent place for young children to play and swim, you were mostly told something correct. Maui’s Baby Beaches are fantastic for children! But note that we use the plural form of that linking verb. This is because there are multiple Baby Beaches in Maui and so it is important to be more specific when researching which one you are planning a trip to as different ones will have different amenities and points of interest, with the one thing they share being that they are generally all boast calmer waters, making them a good choice for young children. This review, however, is for one specific Maui Baby Beach and that is the one located in North Shore near Baldwin Beach Park, also referred to as Baby Beach, Sprecklesville Area if you are using Google Maps.
You can reach this North Shore Baby Beach via two ways. First, you can enter through the aforementioned Baldwin Beach Park. The plus side of entering this way is that you will have immediate access of all the great amenities this beachfront park has. Such amenities include full restrooms, showers, and picnic areas. There is even an active lifeguard station here. However, the drawback to entering here is that Baby Beach isn’t technically covered by the lifeguard station as North Shore’s Baby Beach is technically a 0.6-mile walk west of Baldwin Beach Park. That translates to about a ten-minute walk for adults across mostly sand, but also some pebbled areas. This may be somewhat a challenge for a family with young children and/or a lot of beach gear to lug.
The alternative way is to go is through the residential area of Sprecklesville (hence this beach’s alternative name of Baby Beach, Sprecklesville Area). To reach it this way, you will zig-zag through a couple of back streets in the Sprecklesville neighborhood, until you find yourself going north on Kealaki Place. This small avenue dead-ends in a parking lot on packed red dirt with Baby Beach just to your right. The downside of this approach is that while you enjoy fast access from car to the beach, you get no amenities in return. There’s also paid parking: here.
Once you’ve reached Baby Beach from whichever route you take, you will surely quickly see just what draws so many people here. This beach is that ideal Maui undeveloped beach. You will find soft white sand running down to gorgeous clear waters with minimal waves. These calm waters and sandy bottoms make the lagoon area an ideal spot for swimming, whether the swimming is being done by a young child or an adult wanting to enjoy just a lazy, sunny day in the water.
A unique aspect of Baby Beach North Shore is that it has something of a natural lazy river. The unique current here won’t push swimmers offshore, rather those entering the lagoon at the western end of the cove will notice that if they lay back, the current will gently push them eastward, along the beach. This soft shoreline-adjacent current makes Baby Beach a great place to bring blow-up tubes at.
Other desirable aspects of this Baby Beach include tide pools for children to explore caught marine life and a wooded area where you can set up hammocks or otherwise escape the harsh mid-day sun.
Insider Tips:
-If you are visiting Maui during the summer, make sure to visit this Baby Beach in the morning. That’s because from mid-March to mid-November the trade winds really pick up and with them, choppier waters and wind-blown sand. High winds during the afternoon are often cited as the biggest drawback to this beach.
-The generally calmer waters and protected lagoon make this a popular hangout by sea turtles. You’ll often find them lounging on the beach in the morning and snorkelers are apt to catch sight of them just offshore, swimming and hunting in a reef that’s located about 50 feet out.