The southern half of Hapuna Beach on the Big Island remains closed as military ordnance experts try to determine whether a cylindrical object found in five feet of water at the Big Island’s Hapuna State Recreational Area is an unexploded ordnance.

A two-man ordnance team from Pearl Harbor was awaiting orders to fly to the Big Island as early as today to help Army experts with the hazardous assessment, a Navy spokeswoman said.

The southern half of Hapuna Beach has been closed since Tuesday while the state assesses the situation. The area is marked with yellow "caution" tape. The northern half of the beach is open. 

A Hawaii County Ocean Safety lifeguard on Tuesday spotted the object partially buried in the sand on the ocean floor.