BIG ISLAND, Hawaii (PNN) - October 2, 2026 - Beloved Hawaii landmark Holei Sea Arch, a roughly 90-foot natural lava rock formation at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, has collapsed into the ocean after standing along Hawaii Island’s coast for centuries. The arch collapsed on Sunday following a rough stretch of storms that have hit the Big Island over the past several weeks.
It was one of the destinations along Chain of Craters Road, the scenic drive that descends from the Kilauea Summit area to the coast. At the end of the road, visitors could follow signs a short distance to a designated viewing area, where the massive arch extended from the cliffs over the ocean.
A visitor from Massachusetts posted on Reddit about the disappearance after he expected to see the arch at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on September 28.
After hearing that the arch had collapsed, a guide with Apau Hawaii Tours went to see it for himself on September 30. In a YouTube video, he documented that the arch was gone and waves were breaking against the cliff.
The National Park Service said Thursday that since the collapse, people have been getting too close to the edge of the cliffs, which drop vertically into the ocean. “Visitors are required to stay out of the closed areas and away from cliff edges (that) are unstable and can collapse without warning,” the park said in a news release.
The Holei Sea Arch had been showing signs of instability for years. In 2022, large surf from Tropical Storm Darby took a chunk of the natural sea arch and park rangers warned it could collapse at any time.
The arch was carved from lava that erupted more than 500 years ago from Kane Nui o Hamo, along Kilauea’s east rift zone, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Waves pounding the coastline gradually wore away the cliffs, carving sea caves and eventually creating the sea arch.
As expected with these ephemeral formations, the same erosional force is what eventually caused the collapse.
