Puna Drive Tour

Description and Directions >>

Description:
The Puna area is located on the eastern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii. The area is covered with old lava flows and tropical forests. Along the coast, you can visit a beautiful black sand beach, the Kaimu Black Sand Beach.

Activities:
hiking, picnicking, sightseeing

Directions:
The Puna area is located in the south eastern part of the island. For our drive, we drove south on Highway 130 from Highway 11 about 11 miles. Near Pahoa Town, we turned off onto Highway 132 and continued on for 8 miles to a 4WD lava road that heads toward the ocean. Back on Highway 132, we turned onto Highway 137 and drove along the coast for 14 miles to New Kaimu black sand beach. From here, we continued on Highway 130 for about 21 miles back to Highway 11.

Story Date 6/19/2004
Publish Date 11/18/2004

Story Perspectives >>

According to Mikala: Exploring the Puna area is definitely recommended, as you get to view lava flows from different periods in Hawaii's history, some of them quite recent.

We started our drive on Highway 132 past the Lava Tree State Monument (although we didn't stop there). We drove along the highway under a canopy of trees. It was beautiful. At the end of Hwy 132, we continued on a dirt road through the lava fields, finally ending at a point near the ocean. This was the eastern most point of the island and the view of the expansive Pacific Ocean beyond was wonderful.

We returned to the Highway and turned onto Hwy 137, which runs along the coast. For most of the way, the tropical rainforest surrounds you. I was just amazed at the beauty and contrast between black lava fields and colorful forests. Heavy vines of ivy hung from the tall trees. The blue-green color of the ocean water along the coast was also magnificent.

At the end of Hwy 137, we reach the lava fields from the most current Kilauea eruption. The field of black lava stretched in front of us. We walked a short distance to the shore and Kaimu Black Sand Beach. This was one of the first black sand beaches I had seen. I had to take off my shoes to feel the black sand between my toes. It was great! Here again, I was awed by the contrasts...white ocean foam, blue-green waters, and black sand beach. All along the shore, there are new coconut trees that were planted by locals. I enjoyed seeing this new life growing among the lava rock.

Back to our car, we returned along Hwy 130 back to our beginning. This was a wonderful view of the island and her history.