How we score Hawaiʻi Island beaches

Ocean Safe reads live ocean data and turns it into a conservative, plain-English conditions score — the same engine on every island we cover, tuned per beach by its own orientation and hazards.

Where the data comes from

Live surf and wind from Open-Meteo's marine and forecast models; tides from NOAA. We refetch through a cached proxy so conditions never go blank.

What we will never do

We never label a beach "safe." Known-hazard beaches are flagged as watch-from-shore and can never score green. Always check posted signs, county lifeguards, and weather.gov.