Every beach photograph has one leaning into frame, and every beach has a story about a coconut coming through a windscreen. The palm is beautiful and the fruit is a hazard, and you can enjoy the first while respecting the second.
Where you’ll see it
The whole coast, planted and wild, lining beaches and gardens and town streets. They love sand and salt and do very well here.
What to know
Green coconuts are for drinking and the water inside a young one is the best thing on a hot afternoon; vendors on most beaches will open one with a machete. Brown mature ones are for the flesh. Both fall without warning, and a mature nut from the top of a tall palm does real damage. Have garden palms trimmed by someone who climbs, park away from loaded trees, and glance up before you spread the towel.
