The Big Island: South Point

It's best to start at the beginning, where Hawaii was first settled. That is at South Point, or Ka Lea, which means "the point". South Point is the very southern tip of Hawaii, and as such the most southern point in the United States, if you care about such things (and like to ignore U.S. territories). But more importantly it bears the oldest evidence of human habitation on the islands. There is evidence that the area was well used as far back as 400 A.D. and some evidence suggests human habitation as far back as 124 A.D..

Cows are the number one reason i came to Hawaii. I think these cows may live their whole lives in strong winds. At least there aren't flies.

From highway 11 the road to Southpoint exits the forests and glides down windswept plains populated only with cows and windmills. If you replaced the cows with sheep then South Point Road would feel a lot like New Zealand. The road ends at the cliffs of Southpoint, and a small lighthouse. The ocean looks fantastic. In the cliffs you can find old holes carved into the rock. The currents are so strong here that Hawaiians used the holes to tie their boats to the cliffs so they could fish offshore without being carried away. Wood frames dot the clifftops (used for lowering canoes into the water) and there are even a couple of ladders bolted into the rock. The water alluring on the leeward side, and a couple of guys were cliff diving. On the windward side incredible violent waves were pounding into a low rock shelf at sea level. You could walk right up them if you dared to get soaked. Despite the strong winds it is very warm. Walking along the cliffs in the wind you can find a punchbowl and looking back reveals several cavernous sea caves under the ground on which you stand.

Everything is north of here.

From Ka Lea you can walk a couple of miles to a place called the Green Sand Beach. If you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle you can drive, which is what we did. Although there are about 4 parallel dirt roads leaving directly from the parking lot you are supposed to drive around to a different parking lot to access the road to the beach. It's a pretty rough road and the lava can really tear up your tires (as i found is the case on all lava roads).

Crossing the plains definitely gives off the feeling of being out at the end of the world.

Upon arriving you have to climb down a steep slope to get to the water. The "green" sand changes color depending on the light and whether or not it's wet. It's greener on one side of the beach than the other. When it dries on you it is definitely green. It's made of olivine, the most common mineral in the this planet's crust. There's so much of it because the cliffs were formerly the interior of a cinder cone which later was breached by the ocean.

The famous Green Sand Beach. The water looks great but it has a bad reputation for strong rip tides.

The sand erodes out of these cliffs, which part of an old cindercone.

From here the cliffs look like a cruise ship busting out of the island. Some locals cliff dive of of the prominent pointy ledge over there.

The sky was really weird looking much of the time, like looking at clouds through a soft focus filter. I think it was from the wind blowing so much salt water up into the sky. On our way back it started to rain, creating rainbows when we were near the windmills. The windmills, the glazed sky and filtered light, the windblown vegetation ending abruptly at massive cliffs over the sea, all came together to create the perfect real world representation of one of my favorite video games. I'd be willing to bet that this area of Hawaii influenced the designers of the game Ico. It's the only place i've ever seen that was even remotely similar to the fantasy world created in that game.