Pohoiki (Isaac Hale Beach Park)

The new black sand beach is fragile and rapidly evolving — the bathymetry post-2018 is still settling. Stay off any roped-off areas. The four geothermal-heated thermal pools along the shore have a Hawaiʻi Department of Health advisory against entering: the water is not disinfected and bacteria breed rapidly in warm undisinfected pools. People enter anyway; understand the risk. The buried boat ramp is the only ramp in Puna and the local fishing community has lost serious income because of it; do not romanticize the new beach in front of people whose livelihoods used to depend on the dock under it. Currents are strong; respect lifeguard advisories.