Papakolea Beach, USA

There are beaches on Hawaii that have no analogues anywhere else in the world. An excellent example is Papakolea Beach that is also often called the green sand beach. This picturesque stretch of coast is covered with the really green sand that owes its color to a high content of the olivine mineral. The beach is located close to the crater of an extinct volcano. It’s likely that the release of a rare mineral happened during an eruption hundreds of years ago.

The beach is framed with high cliffs, so you can reach it only from sea. Despite the fact that the prospective of sunbathing on semiprecious stones seems very attractive, tourists' stay at the coast is strictly limited. The thing is that there is a high probability of landslides, so it’s highly undesirable to be here for a long time.

To visit the beach, travelers need to get a special permit in the tourist center. During the tour, they should take into account some important nuances. First of all, it should be remembered that it’s strictly prohibited to take away sand and fragments of rock with you. Hawaiian Papakolea Beach is not the only one of its kind. Another stretch of coast covered with scatterings of chrysotile is known. It is located on the island of Guam, in the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, Papakolea Beach is actively washed by ocean water, so, after several decades, semiprecious stones can be totally taken away. Next - Balos Beach