Punaluu Black Sand Beach

When we visited Punaluu there were two sea turtles basking on the beach. The sign said they had only taken to doing this in recent years. They were resting there unmoving except for occasional eye movements the whole time we were strolling about. There are several black sand beaches in Hawaii, and even a green sand beach. To reach the green sand beach requires quite a hike, so we did not see it. The color of the sand is determined by the parent material, in this case black lava, but high amounts of olivine in the green beach lava makes the sand greenish. You can see the rough rocks at the edge of the water.Standing on the rise near the pavilion and looking out into the water it was possible to see several turtles in the water. Hannah counted about 20.