Beach Holiday: Why black sand is sometimes the best sand

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     beach, beach holiday, Canary Islands, hawaii, puerto rico, Scuba Diving, Surfing, Windsurfing

Most people’s idea of a beach holiday includes time spent wasting time on a white sandy beach. Well, there are plenty of spots around the world that serve up exactly the same beach experience, just without the white sand – and why waste time when there’s wind and waves in which to play?

Here are three destinations with black sand beaches to go on your next travel itinerary.

Canary Islands

As well as the miles of pristine light sand, these islands have a dark side. On the north shore of Tenerife, there’s La Grañosa and Los Roques (the later very popular for scuba diving) as well as several bays and ways to the sea that are dusted in black sand.

Gran Canaria also offers beach life in black and white, as does the east coast of Fureteventura, an island that’s one of the windsurfing capitals of the world.

Black sand beauty Image: Flickr/Ryan Devenish

Hawaii

One of the most beautiful, and sought after island holiday resorts sports a black sand beach. Visitors swim up to 800 miles to rest on Punalu’u beach – that’s the sea turtles that come to lay their eggs here. The black sand is so prized it’s illegal to remove it, so stick to wandering and marvelling at the scenery.

Puerto Rico

If surfing is your sport, you may have heard of Playa La Boca in Puerto Rico. Just east off this black sand beauty is a great point-break best suited to experienced surfers. The beach here runs west from the mouth of the river, and runs for miles till it whitens past the distant headland.

Black sand beaches are formed as boiling larva meets the ocean. So, if you’ve black sand under foot, you know that where you’re holidaying was once a bubbling, flowing mass of volcanic sludge (the heat you feel searing through your toes just comes from the sand’s absorption of sun rays – in case you were getting worried for a minute!)

About the author

Mark Pawlak wrote 194 articles on this blog.

Editor at Adventure Sports Holidays, Mark's love affair with travel and the challenges of adventure sports continues... "You could save all year for a two-week, all-inclusive, doss by the pool, booze and buffet binge. Or, with a little planning and some good equipment, get off your arse and plan an adventure!"

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