See slideshow for this trip here
During a chat in the hostel communal area with Marcy, a lady from Toronto, we discovered we both wanted to see the big surf on the North Shore of Oahu. I’m not sure if she offered me a lift or if I invited myself! We made arrangements to go the next morning, and set off around 9:30am, in Marcy’s fabtastic grunty Mustang convertible hire car!
We took the highway out of Waikiki for a short while, then we headed for the Northwest coast, and followed the coastal road 83 around, in a clockwise direction. I shan’t waffle on about every time we stopped, you can see the journey we took on the map below.
I don't have the words to describe the vistas. Around every turn there was another dramatic view. It could be an ocean view, a ridge view and sometimes both. We stopped around ten times to take in the views and/or have some food and drink, continuing at a leisurely pace between stops. There are quite a few spots for grabbing some quality fresh food, Marcy having shrimp tacos, while I had the Gnarly nachos. We had some fab locally grown pineapple and ice cream at another stop. Sampling the locally grown pineapple is a must do, they're so cheap and so so juicy and sweet.
We were out around eight hours, poor Marcy having to do all the driving, while I savoured the views! And boy were there some awesome views, they just kept coming. I gave up taking photos as I just couldn’t capture the beauty of what we were seeing.
Our main objective was to see the big surf at a few spots on the North Shore; Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay and Banzai Pipeline. We stopped at a couple of these, not sure which to be honest. Parking wasn’t too difficult but the roads were quite busy, so we went where we could park-up.
The big waves just kept rolling in, they all look the same to me, but the surfers wait for the perfect one. Ten surfers were, at a guess, a kilometre out, waiting, perhaps 20 minutes to catch the right wave for a good run, and it was totally rad when they all crested at the same time. Seriously Hawaii-five O theme music time! With a phone camera it was impossible to get a decent photo unfortunately.
The surf forecast on the North Shore was for 10-12 feet waves the day we were there. I had arrived in Oahu a little too late to catch the finals of the Volcom Surf Pro at Banzai Pipeline, being held the same day I checked-in. The waves were monsters that day, 18-20 feet, so wish I’d seen it!
We continued our trip, down the east coast then back across to Waikiki, and still the fab views kept coming. Totally pumped, tired but content. Such a mega day.
If I could only do one trip out on the island, a road trip would be the one to do. Perhaps take two days at it, to catch the West and South East, view some craters and drive some mountain roads. But this was enough, with what I’ve done already, to not hanker after getting out on every experience or tour available.
I usually like to do things alone, so there’s no compromise in what I do and at what pace I want to do it. Sometimes I'm chillin the next minute I'm on one. Everything aligned when I met Marcy, we have some similar traits and got on really well with no compromise, I hope, on either side. Just to say I swear more but she’s somewhat crazier than me……having sky-dived over Pearl Harbor the day before! Thanks for the ride Marcy!
