Introduction

Welcome to PapakoleaBeach.Com, your online resource for everything to do about Papakolea Beach in the beautiful Island of Hawaii. While the place is relatively famous, there is very little information that could be currently gathered for the particular enjoyment of this area. That being said, PapakoleaBeach.Com is here to ensure that any information on Papakolea Beach could be posted and sorted out properly for the benefit of the adventurers who would like to have a gander at this lovely wonder of the world. In the end, all we\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re hoping for is to bring people who have experienced coming to this American beach together so we could encourage more people to understand why Papakolea Beach is so special.

In this site, we give you most basic information about Papakolea Beach, and it will be up to you, who love it, to share your experiences and add more details so that we would be able to more properly present the wonders of this beach to those who have not had the privilege of getting there. It would be, after all, quite a shame if very little could be said about Papakolea Beach, save for “it is in Hawaii” or “it is one of the only two American Beaches that has green sand – the other being Guam”. We invite you to contribute to this site and express just how much this place has touched you.

About Papakolea Beach

This section of the site is dedicated to some of the basic information about Papakolea Beach and what makes it unique – its green sand. Like what you must already know (either by the name or through the introduction to this site), Papakolea Beach is a beach found in Hawaii in the United States of America. Sitting at South Point in Hawaii\\\\\\\'s Ka\\\\\\\'u district, Papakolea is (again) one of the two green sand beaches in the United States – the other one being in Hawaii. The green sand is actually due to the fact that the beach is near a cinder cone which produces the aptly-named semi-precious crystals called olivine, also known as Hawaiian Diamond. The cinder cone in question has eroded and collapsed since its last eruption (the Island is full of volcanoes after all!), but the olivine it produces tends to stay on the shores of the beach without being washed away by the waves of the sea.

If you have any information regarding the peculiarities of Papakolea Beach, you are encouraged to post them here. In fact, you are encouraged to even post pictures or drawings of the beach (both with people and without people) in order to show and highlight the best features of Papakolea Beach.

Getting to Papakolea Beach

Getting to Papakolea Beach is (excuse our pun) no trip to the beach. That is to say, it isn\\\\\\\'t really that easy – it\\\\\\\'s very, very out of the way and quite secluded. Also, there are all sorts of things that you have to do before you even get to START your journey to Papakolea Beach. For one thing, you still have to ask permission to visit the area from DHHL or the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and if you\\\\\\\'re DRIVING there – well, you REALLY have to apply for a permit at the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. The permit, last we checked, costs about twenty-five American dollars, so you better be prepared to shell out that much; and even then you\\\\\\\'re not allowed to drive out there without the company of a local. You don\\\\\\\'t have to pay for a permit if you\\\\\\\'re hiking, but you still have to ask for permission from the DHHL, who you can contact at this number: 808-974-4250. Or you can just go to their address: 160 Baker Avenue Hilo 96720.

If you have any information, tips, or specific directions that lead up to Papakolea Beach in Hawaii, you are encouraged to post them here. Map images are appreciated, as well as clear instructions of how to get there. Precautions related to hiking are also to be posted here.

Papakolea Beach Tips

We all understand that some of you think even trying to get to Papakolea Beach is too much trouble to be worth it – but that\\\\\\\'s hardly the case! The Papakolea Beach is actually beautiful enough to make the rather difficult trek worth it. And if you still happen to have doubts, then perhaps this section on enjoying Papakolea may just be the thing for you. Who knows, maybe all you need is a guide to assuage your fears that you\\\\\\\'d do something wrong and mar your Hawaiian vacation. Just relax, breathe, and remember what we\\\\\\\'ve posted here.

First and foremost, you have to be prepared for not swimming at all, because the currents will pull you away, and there are no lifeguards. We know you\\\\\\\'re thinking: “WHAT? What\\\\\\\'s the point of going to the beach if you can\\\\\\\'t swim?” Well, there are more things that you can do apart from swimming – you can sunbathe a bit, for one, or just take in the sight, because you will likely never be able to see anything like it again, save for itself. Take a few photographs for memory.

If you have tips for enhancing one\\\\\\\'s experience of Papakolea Beach, then you are encouraged to post them here. We ask that you be very specific and that you be honest about the pros and cons of certain activities.

Papakolea Beach Reviews

If you\\\'ve been to Papakolea Beach yourself, then we by all means encourage you to post your reviews here. Cite links to your blog about the experience, talk about who you were with, what you saw, what you heard, what you smelled, what you tasted, what you felt. Show us pictures, post audio or video files of your experience if you can. You can write anyway you want – although we would prefer prose, you can allow yourself to be inspired and you can post poems or mosaics. You can discuss the positive and negative aspects of your experience, provided that you do this in a respectful manner. Remember: this site is dedicated to Papakolea Beach, and as such, we would like for more people to understand how truly special it is, even if it includes having to warn people about possible cons of visiting the area.

We also remind you that this is a proper website, and as such anything with foul material will not only be disallowed from being put up here in this section but would also cause the contributor to be banned from posting to this website again via email. Swearing is inadvisable; you can express your sentiments just fine without them.

Otherwise, you are welcome to post anything Papakolea Beach that you want, so we could share the experience with the rest of the world.