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"The coconut trees, lithe and graceful, crowd the beach like a minuet of slender elderly virgins adopting flippant poses"

~ William Manchester

 

Punaluʻu Beach (also called Black Sand Beach) is a beach on the Big Island of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The beach has black sand made of basalt and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools. This volcanic activity is in the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.

 

Punaluʻu is frequented by endangered Hawksbill and Green turtles, which can often be seen basking on the black sand.

 

Rare and endangered native animals known at Punaluʻu and Ninole are the honu ea (Hawksbill turtle), honu (Green turtle), Hawaiian Monk Seal, native bees, orange-black damselfly, and other anchialine pool fauna.

 

More from the source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punaluu_Beach.

 

January 6, 2010, Big Island, Hawaii, the beautiful punaluu bay.

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Uploaded on April 28, 2010
Taken on January 6, 2010