Island Tour - South to Black Sand Beach

Travelling on from the coffee plantation along the narrow and very winding main highway around Big Island we stopped near the southernmost point and saw this extraordinary tree.

The hills were much greener at this point as we approached the rainforest area - very different to the bare lava fields that we had seen around Waikoloa.  There are significant cattle ranches in the Central part of Big Island, exporting beef cattle on a weekly 747 flight to Canada, apparently.

Our next stop was at a black sand beach - a coarse, gritty sand, shiny and resembling coal dust.  The rocks showed the two types of lava that we had been seeing along the way - the rough surfaced lava which covers huge areas around Waikoloa and which looks as if it has just been broken up, known as 'a'a' 

and the smooth , molten looking lava known as 'pahoehoe', which looks like elephant skin.

The beach is famous for being home to the very large Hawaiian green sea turtle and there were several in the surf at the edge of the beach.

This picture which David took this morning at the shoreline near the hotel shows the turtle more clearly - they are 2-3 feet long and as ungainly on land as they are agile and swift underwater.

At the back of the beach was a freshwater pool filled with water lilies and an orchid or similar flower.