Scenery of Maui's Beaches & Coastlline.
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Satellite image showing location of Pokowai Natural Arch along shoreline of Wai'o Bay, Kahikinui District, south Maui. My camera's location is also displayed in the upper-right corner of the image.
Lava from rejuvenated eruptions cover the south side of Haleakalä volcano along the Wekea-Kaupö coast. The arid slopes of the immense mountainside are mostly undeveloped from the coast to the crater at the mountain's summit more than 3,000 m above. The mountainside is minimally eroded by fresh water and the terrain has retained its sharp and jagged surface along the more than 50 km of dry southern coast. At the shoreline shallow sloped lava points and steep rocky headlands have been eroded by waves resulting in a natural sea arch near Pakowai and weathered rocky islets and sea stacks offshore. Looking westward from a promontory overlooking Huakini Bay (foreground), south Maui. The two prominent conical hills perched on the southern slope of Haleakala volcano (upper right quadrant of photo) are the Lualailua Hills, volcanic vents (or "parasitic cones") that are located at the end of a long string of cones that mark a rift zone running downslope from the summit of Haleakala.
A natural arch cut into a knife-edged basalt promontory at Pakowai, near the Pi'ilani Highway, south Maui. The steeply-dipping slopes of black basalt are the tops of old lava flows that ran down to the waters' edge and continued out into the bay, instantly cooling and hardening into the modern shoreline. Although basalt is one of the hardest rock types in existence, its high iron content causes it to oxidize (rust) when exposed to the air and waves; it almost immediately begins to disintegrate, easily forming caves and arches in the rock mass.
Pu'u Koa'e (Kahakuloa Head), the prominent hill on the east side of Kahakuloa Bay, is an eroding dome of light-colored trachyte that was emplaced (more than 500,000 years ago) in the crater of a large active pumice-and-cinder cone. The explosive eruptions that occurred subsequently covered much of the surrounding area with whitish trachyte ash and cinders. Kahakuloa village, west Maui.
Pu'u Koa'e (Kahakuloa Head), the prominent hill on the east side of Kahakuloa Bay, is an eroding dome of light-colored trachyte that was emplaced (more than 500,000 years ago) in the crater of a large active pumice-and-cinder cone. The explosive eruptions that occurred subsequently covered much of the surrounding area with whitish trachyte ash and cinders.
Outcrop of volcaniclastic rock near Kahakuloa village, west Maui. Probably from an debris flow associated with the eruption of the volcanic center at Kahakuloa Head.
The Dragon's Teeth, Makaluapuna Point, near Kapalua, west Maui. The light-colored volcanic rocks (trachyte) along this portion of Honokahua Bay may have acquired their distinctive upward-curving orientation as immense waves pounded against a freshly-erupted lava flow inching its way out into the bay, causing the rapidly cooling flow rocks to warp upward. The subsequent years of wave action eroded the rock along cracks (called "joints") that formed after the rock cooled. The volcanic rock is less resistant to wave erosion along these joints so that the more resistant rock of the "teeth" is left intact. This lava flow is part of the last eruptive cycle on Maui; it is the same age as that of near La Perouse Bay at Cape Kina'u (erupted about 1790 AD).
Looking back landward along Makaluapuna Point toward the main building of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Flemming State Beach. Clouds obsure the crest of the West Maui Mountains in the background. The boulder-strewn beach (right middle ground of photo) is covered with coral debris (many fragments have interesting shapes and coloration) and flotsam and jetsam washed ashore during storms and tidal high stands. The brush-covered slope (right middle ground of photo) conceals the remains of the more than 2,000 Hawaiians interred in the old burial grounds. Their mana is strong here and can be felt as well as seen, most strikingly in the unusual beauty of the landscape.
The Dragon's Teeth at Makaluapuna Point, near Kapalua, west Maui. The boy standing next to the "teeth" gives some idea of the size of these volcanic features. One explanation of their origin states that when the mass of the long tongue-like lava flow spilled over the cliffs at Kapalua it ran itself out into the waters of the bay where the waves of a heavy surf began to beat against the flanks of the flow, causing the still molten lava to bend back upon itself, eventually freezing in that position when it cooled.
A natural arch cut into a knife-edged basalt promontory at Pakowai, near the Pi'ilani Highway, south Maui. The steeply-dipping slopes of black basalt are the tops of old lava flows that ran down to the waters' edge and continued out into the bay, instantly cooling and hardening into the modern shoreline. Although basalt is one of the hardest rock types in existence, its high iron content causes it to oxidize (rust) when exposed to the air and waves; it almost immediately begins to disintegrate, easily forming caves and arches in the rock mass.
A natural arch cut into a knife-edged basalt promontory at Pakowai, near the Pi'ilani Highway, south Maui. The steeply-dipping slopes of black basalt are the tops of old lava flows that ran down to the waters' edge and continued out into the bay, instantly cooling and hardening into the modern shoreline. Although basalt is one of the hardest rock types in existence, its high iron content causes it to oxidize (rust) when exposed to the air and waves; it almost immediately begins to disintegrate, easily forming caves and arches in the rock mass.
A natural arch cut into a knife-edged basalt promontory at Pakowai, near the Pi'ilani Highway, south Maui. The steeply-dipping slopes of black basalt are the tops of old lava flows that ran down to the waters' edge and continued out into the bay, instantly cooling and hardening into the modern shoreline. Although basalt is one of the hardest rock types in existence, its high iron content causes it to oxidize (rust) when exposed to the air and waves; it almost immediately begins to disintegrate, easily forming caves and arches in the rock mass.
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