A few miles south of the town of Kailua the lava stretches out at sea level making shallow tide pools that appear and recede throughout the day. Here, during a sublime dawn, the water and stone blend together.

Here are a group of images from what has been commonly know as the City of Refuge, a sacred Puuhonua at Honaunau on the south Kona Coast, Isle of Hawaii.

In Hawaiian society each district had a Puuhonua (refuge). If one could survive gaining access, they would receive redemption from the kappa (law) that they had broken. Swimming over open bays and climbing massive twelve foot tall stone walls, all the while being pursued to the point of death, did not make redemption easily available.

On Maui’s south shore near Mekena, the lava meets the sea and looks across the Auau Channel to Lanai.

Oneloa in Hawaiian means long sands. This pristine beach is renowned for it’s 3000 foot soft curving bay. Also known as Big Beach, Oneloa Beach is part of Mekena State Park.

Near Hana, Hamoa Beach is a gray sand beach with a mix of coral and lava. The 1000 feet long and 100 feet wide crescent expanse sits at the base of 30-foot black-lava sea cliffs. Unprotected from the open ocean, Hamoa Beach is often swept with powerful rip currents. The surf breaks offshore and rolls ashore.

Black Sand Beach at Pailoa Bay in the Wai’anapanapa State Park near Hana. The beachfront park takes its name from the legend of the Waianapanapa Cave, where Chief Kaakea, a jealous and cruel man, suspected his wife, Popoalaea, of having an affair. Popoalaea left her husband and hid herself in a chamber of the Waianapanapa Cave. She and her attendant ventured out only at night for food. Nevertheless, a few days later, Kaakea was passing by the area and saw the shadow of the servant. Knowing he had found his wife’s hiding place, Kaakea entered the cave and killed her. During certain times of the year, the water in the tide pool turns red as a tribute to Popoalaea.

Kaihalulu is better known as Red Sand Beach in Hana, a wild, natural setting on a pocket cove, where the volcanic cinder cone lost its seaward wall to erosion and spilled red cinders everywhere to create the red sands. Kaihalulu means “roaring sea.” The beach is on the ocean side of Kauiki Hill, and is one of the locations in the Aikanaka legend, the birthplace of Queen Kaahumanu.