So, after a wonderful morning hiking up Diamondhead, we drove up to the North Shore to the legendary Waimea Bay for the afternoon. The waves were fantastic, as you can see above. It was a rocking and rolling shore break with about 8'-10' waves crashing on to the beach, and about every 20 minutes or so, a rogue 15' wave would show up at the back of a set. The 15' waves were powerful enough to run right up the 50' of sloped beach and over the top onto the flat section where everyone set up their gear. We bodysurfed for 4 hours, almost non-stop. This is, without a doubt, my favourite "active" beach on Oahu (that would be a beach where you don't just lie in the water!).
So, the usual chain of events at Waimea is a) watch the big wave come in and roll up (first photo in post), b) realize that wave is going to get you, and start running (this photo)...
... and c) ride it out, hope you don't lose your swimsuit as the backflow tries to rip your clothes off, and then start shovelling the sand out of your suit!
Waimea Bay beach, looking east toward the church. You can see the famous Black Rocks at the left of the photo... it takes a fair amount of guts to surf over there.
Waimea Bay beach looking west. It is one of the most perfect beaches you will ever see. The point of land in the far distance is Kaena Pt, which you will see more of in the next post.
So, after a wonderful morning hiking up Diamondhead, we drove up to the North Shore to the legendary Waimea Bay for the afternoon. The waves were fantastic, as you can see above. It was a rocking and rolling shore break with about 8'-10' waves crashing on to the beach, and about every 20 minutes or so, a rogue 15' wave would show up at the back of a set. The 15' waves were powerful enough to run right up the 50' of sloped beach and over the top onto the flat section where everyone set up their gear. We bodysurfed for 4 hours, almost non-stop. This is, without a doubt, my favourite "active" beach on Oahu (that would be a beach where you don't just lie in the water!).
So, the usual chain of events at Waimea is a) watch the big wave come in and roll up (first photo in post), b) realize that wave is going to get you, and start running (this photo)...
... and c) ride it out, hope you don't lose your swimsuit as the backflow tries to rip your clothes off, and then start shovelling the sand out of your suit!
Waimea Bay beach, looking east toward the church. You can see the famous Black Rocks at the left of the photo... it takes a fair amount of guts to surf over there.
Waimea Bay beach looking west. It is one of the most perfect beaches you will ever see. The point of land in the far distance is Kaena Pt, which you will see more of in the next post.
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