Wai'anapanapa State Park, State park with black sand beach in Hana, United States.

Wai'anapanapa is a 122-acre state park at the end of Wai'anapanapa Road off the Hana Highway, 53 miles east of Kahului on Maui. Its coastline holds a small black sand beach, sea stacks and a natural arch, with dark jagged rock rising from turquoise water and green plants growing on the rock tops. The park also contains lava tubes, heiau and anchialine pools.

Native Hawaiians established over 34 archaeological sites within the park over centuries, including burial grounds, temples, and cave shelters. These remains show how this coastal area served as a significant settlement and spiritual center for local communities.

The name Wai'anapanapa means glistening water in Hawaiian, referring to the freshwater pools forming within coastal caves. Visitors walking the trails encounter these calm water bodies as part of the landscape shaped by local traditions and geography.

The park lies at the end of Waiʻanapanapa Road off the Hana Highway at mile marker 32, 53 miles east of Kahului. Campers can pitch a tent on a small lawn, with a public bathroom nearby. Trails cross lava rock and pass the black sand beach, sea stacks and blowholes.

The anchialine pools here turn red several times a year when shrimp such as Halocaridina rubra (ʻōpaeʻula) and Metabetaeus lohena arrive. Local folklore says the red is the blood of Popoaleae, a princess murdered in a nearby lava tube by her husband, Chief Kaʻakea.