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All the United States Hawaii Koloa Spouting Horn
AO Edited

Spouting Horn

This blowhole is supposedly caused by a trapped monster.

Koloa, Hawaii

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Bobby
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Spouting Horn in action   Jeremy Bradford/CC BY 2.0
Spouting Horn Park   Garden State Hiker/CC BY 2.0
  Daveynin/CC BY 2.0
  Sean O'Neill/CC BY-ND 2.0
  Ben Schmitt/CC BY-ND 2.0
  Wilson Smith/CC BY 2.0
Spouting Horn - April 2017   superbliss3 / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Now considered a phenomenon of natural beauty and awe, the huge plume of water produced at the Spouting Horn blowhole on the island of Kauai was once the inspiration for a local legend.

The Hawaiian name for is puhi, meaning blowhole. Local legend holds that the blowhole is home to a large mo‘o, or lizard. According to the story, the lizard was terrorizing the coast until a local boy tricked it into chasing him into a lava tube, where the beast became permanently lodged. The irregular geyser that shoots from the hole to almost 50 feet in the air was thought to be the infernal breaths of the trapped lizard.

The natural blowhole is in actuality a lave tube that connects to the sea. When the tide wells, water is pushed through, bursting out the opening in the rock. The spray reaches up to 50 feet in the air. If you're lucky and the light is right, you might even see a rainbow in the spray. Even though the geyser has been explained by more conventional means, the site is still one of the most photographed places in Hawai'i.

Related Tags

Natural Wonders Water Nature Waterworks Geysers Geological Oddities Geology

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btumpak

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Rachel, hrnick, EricGrundhauser, superbliss3...

  • Rachel
  • hrnick
  • EricGrundhauser
  • superbliss3
  • michellecassidy1

Published

October 1, 2013

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Sources
  • http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai/regions-neighborhoods/south-shore/spouting-horn
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spouting_Horn
  • http://www.hawaiiweb.com/kauai/spouting-horn.html
  • https://tools.wmflabs.org/geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Spouting_Horn&params=21.885018_N_-159.493581_E_
  • https://www.hawaii.com/kauai/attractions/spouting-horn/
Spouting Horn
4550 Lawai Rd
Koloa, Hawaii, 96756
United States
21.884769, -159.493203
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