Mahuna Bay, Kona, Hawaii

ABOVE: Part of my Hawaii trip included a drive and hike to Mahana Bay. It’s located at the southernmost tip of the United States, Ka Lae (South Point) on the Big Island (Kona) of Hawai’i. It is a beach full of green sand. In order to get to the beach one must walk three miles on a four-wheel drive road. It is north of Kaulana Bay. The beach was made by volcanic phenomena. Instead of the sand turning black it turned green. Big chunks are called olivine. It is also known as peridot, the birthstone for August. The colour of the ocean was incredible. It was even more incredible to swim in it.

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ABOVE: A view of Mahana Bay showing the steep climb down the cove to reach the Green Sand Beach and Ocean.

ABOVE: Richly coloured sand of reds and browns surrounded by lava rock is part of the view as one walks the 3 miles to Mahana Bay.

ABOVE: Layers of hardened molten lava and volcanic rock formed the cove surrounding the beach of Mahana Bay. We can see where people have attempted to carve letters into the rock.

Mahuna Bay, Hawaii

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 2:21 pm and is filed under commercial, image archive, travel and tagged with image archive, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.