Here's the latests in our series of beach lists from John Clark, the noted Hawaii beach expert and all around beach nut, will be feeding us his extremely informed take on best beaches around the Aloha State. At any rate, if you like what John tells you here, buy his books at the University of Hawaii Press for a much more in-depth look at Hawaii beaches. Mahalo for reading!

* Hapuna-- "This is a white sand beach which is rare on such a young island. White sand usually means the beach is composed of a softer, more forgiving material. It's unusual for the Big Island, which is so new that most beaches are volcanic.People drive from all over the Big Island to play here. Aside from walking and jogging Hapuna is good for bodyboarding. It has a nice shallow sandbar. When there's a real swell, you can see people catching serious barrels in the shorebreak. The beach is split. Half is state park, the other is iin front of the Hapuna Prince Hotel. There is no runoff or streams on the Kona Coast so the water is always amazingly clear." (Map/Pictures)

* Pololu -- "It's a remote beach that's roughly 1/4 mile long. You have to hike down a steep zig-zag trail to get there. On the beach you'll see a lot of driftwood and other things that wash up on Windward beaches. People go there to look for glass fishing floats. There's a river that crosses the beach and empties out into the ocean and that's wher ethe blac what's unique about is there is a river that crossed the beach empties into the ocean. That river is also the source of the black sand, which comes from stream eroded rock during very heavy rains. The views are spectacular. The beach opens back up into a big, coastal amphitheater valley with waterfalls and green pastures. The rivers empty the material into the ocean and piles it back up to make up the dunes which are 30-feet high, the highest on the Big Island and some of the highest in Hawaii. (Map/Images)

* Waipio -- "This beach is easily accessible via blacktop but you can't drive a rental car down the steep access road. Waipio is also a black sand beach. It's about 1/2 mile long and is a beautiful crescent. It's also bisected by a big stream that can be difficult to cross. There is a really amazing waterfall that comes right off the cliffs into the ocean fron the southern side of the beach and its only visible from the beach itself. This is not a swimming beach though people do surf offshore. There are ironwoods on the dunes so taking a rest in the shade is really nice. In the middle of the week most likely you'll be the only person ont he beach. Its just a really remote and really pristine. It's beautiful. The sand is a little soft so it does get tiring to walk there." (Map / Images)

—Alex, 10/02/06