Red, black, green: Sand spans rainbow on Hawaiian beaches

KALAPANA, Hawaii — Go ahead, sink your toes in the sand on Hawaii’s famous beaches. But you might be surprised by the color of that sand — it’s not always golden. You’ll find black sand, red sand and even green sand across the island chain.

The Big Island, Maui and Molokai offer black sand beaches. Maui is home to a red beach, and the Big Island is home to a green beach, both rare and off the beaten path. While common golden sand is made up of small pieces of coral and seashells broken up by ocean waves over time, the more unusual colors found around Hawaii’s beaches can be traced to volcanoes.

Black sand beaches are formed “when hot molten lava enters the cold ocean and is immediately quenched to solid glass … then shatters from the resulting steam,” according to Darcy Bevens at the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Maui’s Kaihalulu Bay red sand beach is colored by the crumbling volcanic red cinder cliffs that surround the bay, she said, while the green sand on the Big Island’s Papakolea Beach is from olivine crystals from an eroding volcanic cinder cone.

• A BLACK SAND BEACH, JUST 25 YEARS OLD.

A new black sand beach was formed on the eastern shores of the Big Island after lava from the Kilauea volcano engulfed the town of Kalapana in 1990, destroying most of the homes. The molten lava also filled in Kaimu Bay, covered the beach that was there, and extended the shoreline, creating a new beach about a half-mile from the original. Locals began cultivating a grove of coconut trees at the new beach as soon as the lava cooled.

Today a small visitor’s center at the beginning of the beach trail displays pictures of the area before disaster. It takes 10 to 20 minutes on the trail, through the lava field, to reach the ocean. Don’t go too far off the trail as the lava field can be tough to navigate and the region still has active lava flows.

The beach sits below an eroding lava plateau and strong white waves rumble across the black lava rock face. Swimming is not recommended as the waves and current are treacherous, but the views are unmatched. And knowing the beach is only 25 years old is mind-blowing — it’s younger than some of its visitors.

• RED SAND.

Kaihalulu Bay on Maui near the town of Hana is home to a unique red sand beach. Towering red cinder cliffs surround the bay, and the blue ocean swirls along the red sandy shore. A large lava rock reef juts out in the bay slightly protecting the beach from harsh waves, but swimming is not advised. There are no lifeguards and ocean conditions are unpredictable.

If that’s too daunting, an alternative is Hamoa Beach, just down the road from Hana. Hamoa’s unique salt-and-pepper beach — a mix of black-and-white sand — has been voted one of Maui’s most popular beaches.

• GREEN SAND.

Back on the Big Island is the Papakolea green sand beach, surrounded by olive-colored cliffs and crashing surf. Olivine crystals eroding from an ancient volcanic cinder cone give Papakolea its hue.

Papakolea Beach is located near the Big Island’s southernmost point. Beach-goers have to shimmy down the side of the cinder cone on a worn trail to the beach.