Hawaii Volcanoes National Park confirmed this week that the Holei Sea Arch, the 90-foot lava rock formation that served as the dramatic endpoint of Chain of Craters Road, has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean. The arch was still standing on September 23rd, but by September 27th it was gone. Park officials don’t know the exact time of the collapse and say it may have happened while the park was closed during Hurricane Nolo.
The arch was a textbook case of differential erosion. An ancient lava flow left harder rock on top of softer rock, and over roughly 550 years, waves wore away the softer layers until a slender arch remained, extending from steep sea cliffs out over the water. It became one of the most photographed spots on Hawaii Island. What the ocean carved over five centuries, it took back in a matter of days.
For those of us on the Suncoast, the story lands close to home. Erosion shapes our beaches and passes just as surely as it shaped that arch, and storm seasons like this one have a way of accelerating the clock. The takeaway isn’t that landmarks disappear, it’s that “someday” is a risky plan. What’s the one place you’ve been meaning to see before it changes? Let us know on our Facebook page.
