Monday, April 18, 2011

Papakolea Beach












Papakolea or Mahana Beach is not an advertised beach per say...one reason is probably because its not easy to get to. Day 2 on the Big Island we found ourselves travelling to the south point of the island (Ka'u) to see the green sand beach located in a bay half-circled at the base of a cinder cone, Puʻu o Mahana. The olive color of the sand comes from the presence of a greenish, semi-precious stone named, appropriately enough, olivine. The erosive force of the ocean washing into the base of Pu'u o Mahana cinder cone has extracted olivines out of the cinder. These are deposited on the sand, giving the sand a green tint.

This is another adventure where 4 wheel drive is needed, but not necessary. The drive takes you to a makeshift parking lot where you can opt to hike or drive to the beach. I guess you know how we got there...There are some locals there who offered to drive you there in their 4 wheel drive vehicles for a donation. We wanted the full experience. Sooo off we went on the 2 mile rugged dusty hike down the twisty turvy road. It took us an hour. The road hugged the coast and the views were amazing! The hike was one thing...once we got there we literally had to climb to the beach (shaped like a giant bowl, you have to climb down the side of the "bowl" to reach the beach).  There were very few people at the beach when we arrived (maybe 15). The water is not safe for swimming, there is a strong undertow. Shane just had to try it out. He said that the current was crazy strong, he didn't stay in for long.

After our adventure to green sand beach we headed back to the resort to watch a beautiful Hawaiian sunset & relax in the hot tub. We ate dinner at the Hilton (where Dog & Beth got married), it was just down the street. WOW what a resort! It had a tram inside it! The restaurant we ate at was called Kamuela Provision Company. it was beach side...tiki torches an all. Very nice! We ate lemongrass poached jumbo shrimp cocktail, Waimea tomato salad, I had the Ginger steamed monchong and Shane ate Mauka Makai.

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