Day 6 - Black sand Beach

Punalu'u Beach is also called Black Sand Beach. The beach has black sand made of basalt, which is is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of the planet and created by lava flowing into the ocean which explodes as it reaches the ocean and cools. Punalu'u is frequented by Critically Endangered Hawksbill sea turtles and Green turtles, which can often be seen basking on the black sand.

Huge sign asking people not to remove the black sand.

Here we are getting off the bus and walking on the black sand beach..

Checking out the view of the ocean...

They were so cute!  look at the one on the right, he is twisting his neck so that part of the face is against the sand...

Some of us got so close to these turtles.. I saw someone trying to pet the turtles and one of the kids were yelling: "don't get too close the turtles if not they are going to freak out"

When I took this picture I was not aware of that we were not suppose to get so close to the turtles.

I think we all got too excited to see the turtles that we did not see the sign asking to stay at least 15 feet (including taking pictures).  We were like a foot or 2 feet away from the turtles.  Good thing they did not seem to care... They continued to rest quietly on the sand.

Kevin trying to imitate the position of the turtles.

A local guy out fishing with a net...

The beach is actually pretty small.  Here we are at the end of the beach where they have table so people can sit and eat.

View of the ocean from where we sat.

I spotted this boy on the beach with his dog! He told me the dog is a mixture of whippet, Sharpei and something else that I cannot remember.  No trace of Sharpei on this dog that's for sure but he was friendly and he let me pet him.

Inside the shop..There are a lot of merchandise in this store.

We have reach the southern part of the island and If I remember correctly from this point, it is another hour or maybe longer. Total time of the tour was about 9 hours.

Next... Dinner at Sansei Seafood & Sushi Bar