OK..so when you fanatasize about what a Hawaiian paradise looks like (at least when I did) Sunset Beach is the picture that probably comes to mind. Four miles of deep, white sand beach, crystal clear water, rolling surf, towering green mountains behind you, palm trees to laze beneath...it has it all. This is one of the beaches that forms the famed North Shore surfing mecca. The Banzai Pipeline is near (looking west in the 2nd image). The waves now are small (1-2 feet), but in the winter surfing season transform into 60 foot man-eating monsters!!
We struck up a conversation and ended up gabbing for the next half hour. His name was Carl and it turns out he is an old-school surfer who moved to Hawaii from NoCal back in 1974 at the age of 18 with $2 in his pocket to surf the famous Hawaiian waves. He said he slept in a parking garage until he made enough money working at a fish market to afford rent and get off the street. He was the one who told us about the 60 foot, North Shore winter waves. He updates http://www.surfnewsnetwork.com/ with live webcams of the waves at Sunset Beach, and the daily surf report. Check it out...you can see real-time vids of the waves off Sunset (3 miles dow the road from where we are staying). We had a great conversation and many laughs (it's amazing the people you meet when you extend yourself a little). He recommended a surf school for lessons so we hope to take advantage once the soccer business is complete! Thanks Carl!!
After chillin' out and having some lunch back at the condo, we had to make a trip back to Honolulu to exchange cars at the airport. After messing with the traffic back there (so glad we are on the North Shore!), we took a cruise to Pali Lookout, which is through the mountains that separate the south part of Oahu from the east. Maddie was going wild with the camera and snapped the self portrait and a pic on the way above. The view from Pali is hard to describe and harder to capture on camera, here are a few. We had some good laughs as the wind buffetted us atop the emerald cliffs!
Somehow we let the Nuvi take us all the way back toward Honolulu on the way home (you have to be careful what you ask for), so the drive home was back the same way we came ( I meant to go a different way). We just went with the flow and stopped in Hale'iwa @ Killer Taco for a nice late evening burrito which we chomped down while watching surfing videos they had playing. Back in the condo we fell asleep watching 'Elf', yes, a Christmas movie filmed NYC while in Hawaii in June. We laughed our butts off...Will Ferrell is great! Aloha for today....more adventures await!
When we arrived about 9 am the beach was virtually empty and we spotted the palm tree (in the 1st photo) and made camp there...for some shade and for the ambience. Little did we know that it would attract tons of picture snapping tourists as the day proceeded, since it was, as I said, what you picture when you picture Hawaiian paradise. And we were parked right in the middle of it! Nice... Soon after we arrived, we spotted Ted Kim and his family (Christina, Josh, Zach) heading tward the palm tree (it attraced them as well!), so we shared the shade and a fun morning of frisbee, footbal, snorkeling, swimming, sipping cool coconut milk and enjoying the beauty surroundin us! Words can't describe. Soon after we got there, Maddie & I ran/strolled to the point in the pic below. As we approached we ran into a gentleman walking his dog and playing catch with a stick in the surf (the dog was lovin' it!).
We struck up a conversation and ended up gabbing for the next half hour. His name was Carl and it turns out he is an old-school surfer who moved to Hawaii from NoCal back in 1974 at the age of 18 with $2 in his pocket to surf the famous Hawaiian waves. He said he slept in a parking garage until he made enough money working at a fish market to afford rent and get off the street. He was the one who told us about the 60 foot, North Shore winter waves. He updates http://www.surfnewsnetwork.com/ with live webcams of the waves at Sunset Beach, and the daily surf report. Check it out...you can see real-time vids of the waves off Sunset (3 miles dow the road from where we are staying). We had a great conversation and many laughs (it's amazing the people you meet when you extend yourself a little). He recommended a surf school for lessons so we hope to take advantage once the soccer business is complete! Thanks Carl!!
After chillin' out and having some lunch back at the condo, we had to make a trip back to Honolulu to exchange cars at the airport. After messing with the traffic back there (so glad we are on the North Shore!), we took a cruise to Pali Lookout, which is through the mountains that separate the south part of Oahu from the east. Maddie was going wild with the camera and snapped the self portrait and a pic on the way above. The view from Pali is hard to describe and harder to capture on camera, here are a few. We had some good laughs as the wind buffetted us atop the emerald cliffs!
Somehow we let the Nuvi take us all the way back toward Honolulu on the way home (you have to be careful what you ask for), so the drive home was back the same way we came ( I meant to go a different way). We just went with the flow and stopped in Hale'iwa @ Killer Taco for a nice late evening burrito which we chomped down while watching surfing videos they had playing. Back in the condo we fell asleep watching 'Elf', yes, a Christmas movie filmed NYC while in Hawaii in June. We laughed our butts off...Will Ferrell is great! Aloha for today....more adventures await!
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