Punalu‘U Beach, Pahala

Don’t get your hopes too high for this beach - yes it has unique black sands but besides that and some turtles to observe, there’s not much to this beach, especially since its quite small end to end. There is a gift shop near the car park.

Black sand beach with basking sea turtles. Lived up to expectations for our family with small kids. We love to explore with our kids, especially beaches and tide pools. We arrived early morning to find an amazing little tide pool area for our kids to play in, adjacent picnic tables, and a sizable black sand beach complete with picturesque coconut trees. There was a sea turtle on the beach near our tide pool area. We gave him his space while we played, but we’re there long enough for the tide to come in. We watched him scoot back to the water and eventually swim back out to sea. We also came back another day close to sunset and had a more private experience on the beach (still complete with a few basking sea turtles). Visiting early or late is probably the best way to experience it if you want to feel like you have the place more to yourself. Beware if you sit near the coconut trees. The old cartoons are right about the effect of falling coconuts on your head.