Secrets of the By Walter Dudley
A
KeOlaMagazine.com | January - February 2022
beach is a magical place for most of us, whether to swim, surf, snorkel, sip a Mai Tai, or simply watch the sunset. When people dream about going to the beach, they envision soft, warm, golden sand. But did you ever pick up a handful of that sand and begin to look at the individual grains, begin to wonder what they really are and where they came from?
10 Puÿu Mahana’s green sand beach, Papakölea, near South Point. photo courtesy of John Coney.
As a child growing up along the beaches of the US east coast, I was accustomed to yellow or white sand and was quite intrigued when I first came to Hawai‘i, to see not only lovely, golden sand beaches, but also black and green sand beaches. Curiosity got the better of me and I began to examine the tiny particles. I had access to a good microscope and eventually even began studying and photographing sand grains with
