Green Sand Beach

I think everyone knows that there are white, black, and yellow sand beaches, but did you know there are also red, green, and pink? I have a mini bucket list going that includes seeing at least one beach in all of these colors. I had all ready seen black and yellow before our trip to Hawaii, but on the big island I was able to check off white and green as well.  Next year, in Maui I will be checking off red!

We started off day 5 bright and early. It was an hour and ten minute drive from the treehouse to Papakolea Beach, also known as the Green Sand Beach. We also had a 2 1/4 mile hike ahead of us and wanted to get started early.

It is a lovely drive. There were many warnings in the guide books about lack of gas stations, but you will be driving through several small towns and they all had gas stations. You will be driving almost to the southernmost point of the island (which also happens to be the southernmost point in the United States). As you can tell from the photo above, when you get close the road will no longer be ‘exactly’ two lanes. Two cars fit, but you need to slow down as you pass one another. This was another one of our “Are you sure we are going the right way, Mom?” drives. If you follow the directions in Fodor’s Hawaii Guidebook exactly, you will find it. In fact, you are traveling on a highway until approximately the last 12 miles…which is where you may occasionally wonder, did we go the right way. It is very windy in this area and you will see many unusual looking trees growing along the side of the road that have been twisted into incredibly interesting shapes by the wind. You will also see hardened lava going right into people’s yards in some areas. I’m not sure if the houses came before the lava or vice versa. Eventually you will park in a ‘sandy parking lot’. We knew we were in the right location because there were many people in 4 wheel drive vehicles sitting there, waiting to offer people rides to the beach, for a cost. I’ve since read that it is illegal, due to the erosion the vehicles cause, for anyone to drive to the beach. I am not sure when that went into effect, but there were many people selling rides in 2014.

We did bring cash with us, but we had intended to walk at least one way because we wanted to see everything. The hike is rather grueling. There is absolutely no shade for the 2 1/4 mile hike, which feels more like 4 miles, and the wind blows continually. You might think that would feel good, but it is a hot wind. It does not feel refreshing, it just makes you incredibly thirsty.  It is a beautiful hike for the adventurous….or the foolhardy….depending on your point of view.

From this photo you can see the complete lack of shade, the whole hike resembles the photo above; black rocky shorelines with rust colored hills and minimal vegetation. You can also make out one of the trucks driving someone to the beach. Whatever you do, do not try to drive your rental car out here. You will get stuck and have to pay to have the car towed. It is almost always expressly forbidden in your rental car agreement to drive here.

I was actually shocked that the pick up trucks could make it to the beach. The whole way there is uneven, undulating ground. I don’t think most of the trucks ever got above 5 miles an hour. Whichever way you choose to get there, bring PLENTY of water and PLENTY of sunscreen!

I have to admit there were times on the hike when I was starting to wonder if it was worth it…..it was. It is absolutely breathtaking! Only one other couple beat us to the location and they took a ride, so we considered them to be lazy cheaters. The good thing about them arriving right before us is we were able to watch how they climbed down to the beach, which is actually an old cinder cone. The sand is green because it contains olivine crystals which form in volcanic eruptions.

I was quite intimidated by the climb down. I kept saying, “Are you sure we should do this?” I was met by three incredulous stares and, ‘Yes, of course we should do this.” There is a rickety metal ladder that brings you down the first 10 feet, then you follow a mostly unidentifiable path which zigzags its way down to the beach. It is steep and hard to get tracking because it is sand. We managed to get down with me only calling for someone to come back and help me five times….or so….

There are no bathroom facilities, lifeguards, etc., you are on your own here. The guidebooks/websites all have warnings about the current. It can get very strong here, especially near the end of the bay which opens to the ocean. Everyone we observed stayed in the front half of the bay. The waves were very strong and my husband and kids (16 and 20) had a blast playing in them. Even though we reapplied sunscreen repeatedly my husband and son got pretty bad sunburn here. We went shopping before our next trip to the beach to buy my son and husband UV protection shirts to wear for the rest of the trip. They worked really well and we plan on buying more before our trip to Maui.  Although there is little shade here, if you arrive early enough you can pick a spot that is under a cliff ledge and get some relief from the sun.  I sat there for a while and watched locals cliff dive off the middle cliff in the photo above.

I was stunned by how many shades of blue were in the water in the bay, simply gorgeous. Had it not been in the 90’s we probably would have stayed longer, however, I was starting to become concerned about how much sun we were getting and we still had the 2 1/4 mile hike back to the car. We stayed for over an hour, long enough for our 16 year old to run out of steam and realize that he should get out of the sun. By the time we left there were probably about 25 more people who had arrived.

We climbed back out of the cinder cone, easier than going down, then climbed up the cliff to get this shot. You can tell from the photo that people do stay relatively close to the shore. We did not see anyone venturing out near the opening. My daughter was annoyed that we opted to hike back. To be honest, riding in the back of a pick up truck seemed like it would be a jarring, uncomfortable ride and held no appeal to my husband or myself. We still had plenty of water for the hike back. So we reapplied sunscreen and headed back to the car. I will say that air conditioning never felt so good! Our next adventure began as the sun was setting and we arrived at Holei Sea Arch at the end of Chain of Craters Road.

It is illegal to take sand from this beach. I am a believer in leaving nature as I found it, not taking it with me, no matter how much I may want to. I really wanted to here, but we left it all behind….at least we thought we did. When we got home and I went to throw our bathing suits into the laundry I noticed a little green sand spilling out of the pockets of my husband’s bathing suit. Apparently the water was so turbulent that it was constantly churning up the sand and some had deposited itself into my husband’s and son’s bathing suits. I excitedly collected the less than 1/16 of a teaspoon and put it in a little bag. I felt kind of guilty and wondered if I should try and return my less than 1/16th teaspoon of sand when my husband said to me, “Really, you are going to send this tiny bit of sand to Hawaii’s DNR and say, ‘Sorry, I found this in my bathing suit’. What exactly do you think they would do with this bag of bathing suit sand? You really think they want it back?” In the end I decided not to become known as ‘the crazy woman who tried to return bathing suit sand’ and have it safely stored at home. 

So far, this is my favorite beach that I have ever visited. I’m wondering if the Red Sand Beach will give it a run for its money next year. What is your favorite beach? (Note, it sure did, click on the link to take a peek.)

As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available as Fine Art Prints and Digital Downloads for purchase at full resolution through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure the image is available.)

Some of our favorite beaches

Anini Beach

Hapuna Beach – White Sand

Waianapanapa State Park – Black Sand Beach

The Red Sand Beach

 

 

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