Punaluʻu Beach
Hawaii Island · the United States · the Pacific Ocean
Volcanic · crescent bay · black sand · open ocean · local
Green turtles haul out on black sand between coconut palms and a freshwater spring.
Punaluʻu is on the Kaʻū coast of Hawaiʻi Island, between Nāʻālehu and Volcanoes National Park. It is a small crescent of black sand between low lava points, with coconut palms behind and a brackish pond at one end.
It is the best-known black-sand beach in Hawaii, and it exists because of how the island is made. Lava reaching the sea shatters into fragments; on the youngest island this happens often enough to build beaches, and Punaluʻu's sand is basalt rather than coral. Green turtles bask on it regularly, and hawksbills nest here — one of the few places in the state where they do.
The bay is small, the entry rocky, and freshwater springs rise through the floor, which makes the water noticeably colder than the surrounding sea and slightly hazy where the layers meet. Swimming is possible in calm conditions but the currents beyond the points are strong and the bottom is rock rather than sand. Most visitors come to look rather than swim. Kaʻū is the least visited district on the island, and the drive between Punaluʻu and South Point crosses lava fields with almost nothing on them; the beach is the only easy stop on a coast that otherwise offers none.
Facilities are those of a county park: car park, pavilion, toilets and a food stand. The turtles are protected by federal law and the required distance from them is posted; touching or crowding them carries penalties and is enforced. Taking the sand is prohibited, and signs say so because people did it.
Black sand made by lava meeting the sea, honu basking on it, and a federal law that sets the distance you keep. Do not touch a turtle and do not take the sand — both are prohibited, both happen, and the beach is not renewing because the eruption that made it stopped.
Watch Punaluʻu Beach
The record
- Setting
- Hawaii Island · the Pacific Ocean
- Shore
- crescent bay · black sand · 0.3 km
- Water
- open ocean
- Development
- local
- Access
- drive-up
- Facilities
- Parking · Toilets · Dining · Natural shade
- Best for
- Wildlife
- Season
- Year-roundUsable year-round. Winter surf can make the small bay unsafe; hawksbill nesting runs roughly May to December.
- Position
- 19°8.148′ N · 155°30.264′ W
Questions
Will you see turtles?
Frequently, though not guaranteed. Green turtles bask here regularly. Federal law sets a minimum distance; do not approach, touch or block their route to the water.
Can you swim at Punaluʻu Beach?
In calm conditions, with care. The entry is rocky, freshwater springs make the water cold, and currents beyond the points are strong. It is not a casual swimming beach.
Why is the sand black at Punaluʻu Beach?
It is basalt, formed when lava entering the sea shatters. Hawaiʻi Island is young enough that this is still happening, which is why its black beaches exist and the older islands' do not.
Can you take the sand?
No. It is prohibited, and the beach is small enough that removal measurably affects it.
What else is near Punaluʻu Beach?
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is about forty-five minutes north, and Papakōlea, the green sand beach, is a similar distance west plus a long walk.
