The Na Pali Coast has been shaped over millions of years by volcanic forces and relentless erosion, leaving a series of valleys and ridges that drop sharply to the sea. The cliffs, some rising up to four thousand feet, have sheltered some of the most remote valleys in the Hawaiian Islands, where evidence of early Polynesian settlement has been found. The coastline became protected land in 1983 with the establishment of the Nā Pali Coast State Wilderness Park, preserving roughly seventeen miles of shoreline from development.

The aerial perspective captured here is at its most vivid on a clear morning in the drier summer months, when low humidity sharpens every ridge line and the ocean runs its most electric shade of blue.