Located a couple of miles away from the town of Hana, Hamoa Beach - also known as Hamoa Beach Park and earlier called Mokae Beach - is a popular and beautiful crescent-shaped east-facing beach with salt-and-pepper sand and rocky portions on the island of Maui. Parts of this 1,000 feet long beach and 100 feet wide beach are situated at the base of forested oceanfront bluffs and hills. A hill is also present near the beach - this hill is an eroding cinder cone named Ka Iwi o Pele (meaning "the bones of Pele" - Pele is the Native Hawaiian deity of volcanoes). The sand in Hamoa Beach is composed of weathered coral skeletons (usually white in color) and black-colored lava rocks. This unique phenomenon is the main reason behind the beach’s sand having both black and white-colored grains. A wide variety of flora is present around Hamoa Beach including Hala trees and palm trees. During ancient times, this beach was also used by Ancient Hawaiians as a spot for launching and landing canoes due to the water near the beach being calmer as compared to the surrounding shoreline. Renowned authors James Michener and Mark Twain have praised this beach for its scenic beauty. This beach has been featured in theMaui Magazine (also known as the Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine) article "Maui’s Best Beaches" - this beach was listed as having the "Most Romantic Beach Setting in Maui." Hamoa Beach is also a favorite of Randall Kaplan, the world’s foremost beach expert who is known as Mr. Beach.
