Mokumanamana is a place of spiritual and geologic transition

As massive volcanoes move away from the hot spot, they cease to erupt and slowly erode to become atolls, lagoons, and expansive sholes of coral reef. Mokumanamana rises from the sea about halfway along the island chain and stands as the last remnants of much larger islands, marking a milestone in geologic time as the transition from land to sea. Though little more than a jagged rock jutting above the waves, the island was sanctified by Native Hawaiians with dozens of upright stones and sacred sites likely marking the path of the sun and other heavenly bodies. For many, the entire island is revered as a heiau, and its striking archaeological sites are physical markers of a spiritual world. In Native Hawaiian tradition, Mokumanamana marks the boundary between Ao, the world of the light and the living, and Pō, the world of spirits and primordial darkness.

Kalapana, Hawaii · United States