The Hōlei Sea Arch was a 90-foot-high (27 m) natural arch of basalt on the southern coast of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Carved by the Pacific Ocean from an ancient lava flow roughly 550 years ago, it stood at the end of the Chain of Craters Road and was one of the park's best-known coastal landmarks. The National Park Service (NPS) closed the original overlook in 2020 because of cliff instability, and in 2022 a large surf event broke away part of the arch's base. The arch collapsed into the ocean in late September 2026, around the time of Hurricane Nolo.
Contents
Geology
The arch was cut into the cliff of a lava flow that the NPS dates to about 550 years ago. The park attributes its shape to differential erosion, in which waves wear away lava layers of differing hardness at different rates. It was composed of basalt.
Sea arches occur along a wide stretch of Hawaiʻi's southern coastline. They are remnants of once-continuous sea cliffs, formed where lava met the sea and added land to the island, and where waves later broke apart the rock and carved sea caves. The NPS described such arches as temporary features that eventually crumble, though others may form as the cliffs shift.
Instability and closures
The NPS said the coastline on either side of the arch had shown signs of instability for years. Earthquakes during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse damaged the nearby cliffs.
On January 15, 2020, the park closed the original overlook "until further notice" after new cracks and instability appeared on the coastal cliffs, and roped off the trail to it. In March 2020 the park opened a new viewing area about 1,000 feet (300 m) past the gate at the end of the road, set back from the cliff edge.
On July 17 and 18, 2022, swells of 20 to 25 feet (6 to 8 m) driven by the remnants of Hurricane Darby struck the island's southern coast. A large piece of rock fell from the base of one of the arch's legs, and the park warned that the arch could fall at any time without warning. The park noted that walking on the arch was forbidden and that the surrounding cliffs were too steep and dangerous for hiking.
Collapse
The arch was still standing on September 23, 2026. Hurricane Nolo passed Hawaiʻi Island that weekend, and most of the park was closed from Thursday, September 24, until early Sunday, September 27. Reports that the arch was gone began circulating on social media after the park reopened, and the park confirmed the collapse on October 1. The NPS said the exact time of the collapse is unknown, but that the arch had fallen by the night of September 27. The park did not say whether high surf or other storm conditions from Nolo caused the collapse.
Access
The arch was reached by car along the Chain of Craters Road, which runs from the area of Halemaʻumaʻu, the main Kīlauea caldera, down to the coast. The road ends where lava from Kīlauea's Puʻu ʻŌʻō eruption, which began in 1983, repeatedly covered it; the arch stood near that end point. From the end of the road, visitors walked a short distance to an observation area, a trip the NPS estimated at 20 to 30 minutes. No fee applied beyond park admission.