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Why I’m Not Taking My Valuables for a Swim (a local’s
Why I’m Not Taking My Valuables for a Swim (a local’s take on HPD’s beach advice)
#Valuables #Swim #locals
“Hello From Hawaii”
The Honolulu Police Department recently gave advice to the public on how they can keep their valuables safe at the beach. Their suggestion was for people to swim with their valuables in a waterproof bag. Well, HPD received a lot of criticism for this advice and I wanted to talk about what they…
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Just to clarify my beach locker suggestion, it would probably be better to have an attendant there as well to watch the lockers and also assist people. Whether it's open lockers or behind a counter at a kiosk, having some kind of storage for beachgoers at a minimal cost would really improve the beachgoing experience. 🤙
Make sense, Mahalo!
MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ONLY
Hey yall im willing 2 sacrifice myself & my time, 2 be a 'beachsitter', u can pay my 2 watch/hold onto ur belongings!
Lockers are a great idea. I have heard several stories about valuables getting stolen at Waikiki. The visitors just don’t know and they learn their lesson the hard way. I have people telling me stuff stolen out of their parked vehicles, again you don’t want to drive around with your valuables visible and then leave them while you are sight seeing or taking a dip
I thought you were going to write HELL NO in the sand.Hawaiis solution to crime is lock yourself in the house and dont come out!Why?Because Hawaiis corrupt justice system favors criminals over law abiding citizens.
I lived many years in Costa Rica and when you went to the beach surfing you brought nothing or it would be gone!Anyhing in your car would be taken and anything you leave on the beach,gone.
Okay, it's take your valuables for a swim day. Good idea. If you live on an island, everyone should learn how to swim, even your valuables!
I would love lockers here. This is why we do not do much shore diving here. So hard to deal with car keys and wallet.
Aloha! My wife and I were just in Waikiki and Kailua Town the last week of May for our 25th anniversary. Your channel was actually one of our primary sources of inspiration and research when planning our trip, so mahalo for that! On beach days, we left our wallets and bank cards, etc, either in the hotel safe or locked in the rental trunk, then kept our phones, rental car keys, and hotel room card in those watertight pocket lanyards. We only left things we could easily replace in our beach bag. This worked really well. We even had snorkel gear and body boards with our beach bag and had no issues at Waikiki Beach or Kailua Beach. 🤙
When i visited Honolulu i felt safe and welcomed. Everyone was so nice and friendly
I once found a bunch of bills floating in the water at Waiks out surfing. About 30 bucks worth. That was a happy day!
Excellent comments! Love the channel. Lived in Hawaii from 80 – 83. Was a wonderful place back then but had many of the same issues. Keep up the great work.
Beach lockers would be great. When we were there we left everything back in the hotel and just hope my Apple Watch would keep the salt water out enough that we could use it to pay for stuff and pray that the hotel key card in my pocket would survive. Our towels and sunscreen we just left them in a spot on the beach because them being taken would be annoying but not a big deal.
Here in Japan, I've left my backpack (with my wallet and phone inside) unattended while I went bodyboarding many times. I would watch my backpack while in the water, but I was so far out that I wouldn't be able to do anything if someone tried to steal it. Of course, nobody would touch or even look at my bag. Coming from Hawaii, that tripped me out. Good idea about the lockers in Hawaii👍 Hope they send you over to Japan for research😊
The beach lockers is a really good idea. You should bring this up to the tourism board. I bet they would seriously consider it.
As a local there is no way Im leaving my phone or valuables on the beach unless i have my eyes on stuff all the time.
I’ve had my slippers and towels stolen at Ali’is and I know people get stuff stolen at Waimea. Why chance um. I refuse to have my phone stolen. Double bag your valuables and put them in one of those “waterproof” bags and take it with you. Also don’t take a lot of stuff.
Amen to beach lockers! Just like train stations in Japan
they will fine a way to break into the lockers some how to bad
Maybe that’s a good business opportunity. I should open a business as an official beach stuff watcher. $100 an hour
Ah the good old days of pre-tech, when all you needed was license, actual car keys (not fob) and a few bucks. So, what if soggy, it's still cash, otherwise, hidden in car someplace as difficult to find. Alas, now tech car fobs that are electronic/battery, like the phone. Hard to travel without phone for the beach, in case, car problems and unable to fix. Possible, plastic ziplock/phone zipped up and buried under the sand for phone/fob, just do it without attention and watching out who's watching as you hide it. In the old days, I actually watched a buddy bury his car keys in the sand embankment on the walk down Hanauma Bay. He tossed it, buried it when no one around, and we walked off. Beach people are: families with kids, assorted/varied ages, singles, teens (singles/group) like Chris mentions. Young kids, like Chris & wife has, extra care as kids safety first. Older families, can round robin protection of stuff by adult. The singles, they take the minimal amount and on person as much as possible, even if it makes them look odd. Who wants to be stuck at isolated beach as dusk arriving to find car not there/broken into and no phone? The teens, minimal needed. The beach lockers suggestion will work only if someone there to ensure nobody would break into the lockers and steal/destroy stuff. Remember the surfboard lockers? It will only appeal to crowded touristy/family areas, which Waikiki & Ala Moana. The drawback with the lockers is that they might get exposed to salt by the ocean, meaning the locking mechanisms might get corroded over time, the last thing we need is constant users getting stuck with a lock that won't open and its late. No phone, no id, no money at a beach. Something to think, about lockers so close to sea air and un-monitored. On the burying, gotta watch out people using metal detectors, scouring the beaches for lost stuff. Hmmm, hey I found a car fob & phone?????
If you ever take the kids to Shark's Cove/Three Tables, there are lockers by the food trucks across the street. I haven't noticed them anywhere else. It's a good idea.
Photography is one of my main hobbies, so I'm often carrying a fairly expensive camera. I have used a big drybag to put all my stuff in and take it in the water. It's not bad, actually. With the air in it, I can use it to float around on. I also have one of those bouys for open water swimming that has a dry compartment in it. But I have certain beaches where I feel safe leaving my bag, so I go there if I want to go in the water and cool off.
Closer to home, I came back in from surfing one day and my slippers and towel were gone, so now I walk to the beach barefoot and drip dry on the way back.
Beach lockers make sense. Have it in a secured area with lots of cameras. It can be a joint venture between Waikiki hotels and the city to offset costs. If we depend on tourists to keep our economy going, we should take care of our tourists. Great idea, again! You should be a consultant to our politicians! 😅
Wouldn't it be nice if they had attended kiosks where you could leave your valuables for free or at a minimal cost. Lockers would be nice but the thieves would find a way to break in. Bottom line if you don't have any place to leave your valuables, don't go to the beach alone.
the OG gangster is back!!!! why i subscribed!
There's nothing you can do about someone else's stuff being stolen? Just watch and let it happen or TRY SCRAP??
Yeah its unbelieveable that they consider hawaii safe. Its getting worse all the time. I felt really safe when i was walking around tokyo more than waikiki
Aloha, Great idea yes we need lockers at our beaches! Peace of mind is key so we can fun.
Time for ABC Stores in Waikiki to start carrying hollow fake dog poop to hide your keys inside.
Small lockers at the beach is a great idea. Like the one at amusement parks or hotel safes where the user enter their own passcode.
Great ideas, The life guard was yelling at a known thief told us to get our stuff, that works to.
Wasn't there a couple ladies a few years back that tried the locker thing before at one of our beaches? What happened to them?
What if you bury your valuables in the sand underneath the goza that you use to sit on? Ofcourse you can put in ziploc before you bury or some other bag. Depending on the state to do something seems like a long-term and potentially costly scenario. I think for Waikiki a secure locker could be provided by the hotels. Potentially free to the guests and for a small fee for non-guests.
If you go to Hawaiʻi alone, especially as a tourist, you never have a buddy to guard your stuff at the beach.
When I went to the beach from my hotel in Waikiki, I just safety pinned my hotel key to my swim suit and left everything else back in the safe.
– If possible, situate yourself near the lifeguard station.
– Take a little things as possible when going on a beach outing. Tourist can have their things locked up at their hotel.
– Anti-tourist rhetoric needs to stop also. Too many locals speak badly about tourism, and that in fact makes them targets of crime. If Californians and Nevada natives did that, going to places like Disneyland and Las Vegas would be something else altogether.
– Personally, I would want my items stolen without my knowledge. seeing someone take your things can lead to a confrontation, and if it escalates, someone could get hurt over 'stuff'. Hence burglary is thought to be less of a violent act as robbery, as the later usually involves fear/violent tactics.
– A funny tactic a friend of mine did when he went to the beach, he used to put a pair of size 20 slippers in plain sight in the car, and move the driver's seat back as far as it can go; giving the impression that someone 'big' owns the car.
– The nicer/cleaner the car, gives the impression that the person who owns/rents it is well-off. Leave your car dirty and messy when going to the beach. Leaving valuables in the trunk, console and glove compartment, etc…are the first areas a thief will search.
– [sarcastic joke] Worse comes to worse, someone can always bury their items in the sand and dig them up when the day is done…if they can find them.
ho bradah……good advice for the trip to jpn! 🙂
Or they could just get tough on crime, and actually do something about theft. They could go to Japan, but all we need to do is look at the culture. Japanese culture is ingrained in collective cooperation and honesty, while holding value to one’s property and privacy.
What a sad world we live in when going to the beach in HI has become almost impossible.
Its basically the same thing the mayor said, that the police cant be everywhere so you have to take care of it yourself. LOL
Beach lockers can be targeted also unless security is watching. It's like school lockers ..many break-in and vandalism occur.
What I do is not try to go to a crowded beach. I bring a pop-up tent and take it down close to the water but not too close. It is easy to find my tent when I'm on the beach and it is easy to see who is around it . And if I get hot and tired I can always go inside and relax. I have taken this to the beach many times and had no problems. The thief doesn't know if someone is in there and it is too obvious that they're taking stuff.
Beach lockers are the answer.
Phone can be credit and car keys. Some of the water tight bags are quite good. It also helps that most phones are water resistant as well.
Charging a fee could finance the whole operation 👍
Just leave your valuable at home or in your hotel room. I just leave my drivers license and a credit card in my car. My key i have em tied to my swim trunks. If they rob my car and steal anything can be easily replaced. If my towel and slippers get stolen at the beach, can replace that too.
Some time before you were probably born friend (early 1980s) I lived on Big Island (Kona) and later was a Honolulu cop. You didn't take valuables to the beach, period. In fact, passing through Hawaii a few times in the military (1970s) you didn't take valuable to the beach. The only thing that's changed are more expensive possessions, more people and a lot more thieves. In fact, downtown, both Waikiki and local club areas you didn't leave visible change or sunglasses or a Walkman (dating myself) visible on the center console in a locked car especially after dark. Broken window, stolen stuff. Agreed, having someone trusted to watch your stuff is best but what if you are alone? Today, an ID card is a lot more valuable than it ever was in 1984. Moreso than a CC now. We got along fine without cell phones for decades – leave the phone home (not in your car either where it'll get cooked or in case someone jimmies your locks – likely.) Enough cash for the day or CC. Your keys or fob. There are plenty of waterproof pouches to wear around the neck or waist. Buy a good one too like the kind whitewater rafters and canoeists use, today a car fob is a lot more expensive to replace than a key ever was (can't wear it around the neck or wrist anymore) and a little salt water will destroy it. Honolulu has been a thieves paradise for 50 years and just getting worse with the economy and now Honolulu's drug problem. 50 years ago at street level apartments or private homes it was rare to see iron gates and bars on windows and doors. And today? HPD will take a report, or should I say they'll ask you to do it on-line. You are SOL for much coming from it either except a lot of grief.
I live on Kauai. I truly appreciate the beach locker idea🤙
Yes, Waikiki does need beach lockers.