We spent the day driving counterclockwise along the coast from Kaneohe to Waialua.
It looks like a long way, but it's only 65 miles.
Approaching the tunnel on H3.
We walked along the beach on Kahana Bay for a couple of miles. In this selfie we show off our new caps. (Actually, I got mine back on the Big Island.)
And here we show off our weirdly tanned feet.
We couldn't figure what this is for.
Mangroves encircled this small brackish cove.
Night heron stalking the elusive fish swimming in the cove.
Back in the parking lot, these Red-crested Cardinals stalk elusive birdseed.
Offshore, this naval ship passes by. Not surprisingly for an island rimmed by naval bases and covered with airfields and barracks, the military presence is pervasive.
The sound of choppers flying overhead is a regular occurrence.
We got back in the car and drove on north. Along this part of the coast the road is only feet from the ocean. The offshore reef protects the road from large waves.
La'ie Point has interesting recently formed lithified sandstone rock formations.
After turning the corner at the northern tip of Oahu we got to the North Shore, home of Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline. We watched the surfers for a couple of hours.
They say this beach is for very experienced surfers only - not necessarily just for the size of the waves or the tricky currents, but because of random areas of coral all along the shore. A fall there would be injurious. And yet, along the three mile beach there were hundreds and hundreds of surfers waiting for a good wave.
When this wave came along, four guys jumped up on their boards for a ride.
This guy had a nice long ride, at one point tucking inside the curl of the wave.
"Hey, dude, where'd my board go?"
"Hey, dude, where'd our masters go?"
Why did the chicken climb the tree?
To get a better view of the surfing action.
This guy caught a good wave.
We hoped to catch a nice sunset while at Sunset beach, but the sun sank behind clouds and the sky just got grayer and darker. We watched several surfers take last runs, but there were still hundreds floating in the ocean waiting for another wave when we left.
The whole North Shore is lined with surfer communities. There are a few magnificent vacation homes along the way, but for the most part the houses are pretty basic, verging on shacks in some places. (I just looked up houses for sale on Zillow - best deal I could find for an ocean front house was an 1,850 sq. ft 3 br house on a 5100 sq ft lot for $1,995,000). And there are many food trucks and hole-in-the-wall T-shirt and jewelry stands scattered along the road.
It was dark by the time we got to the town of Haleiwa, so we postponed checking it out for another day and drove home for dinner and a movie.
Great shots. Trip looks better and better all the time. Funny how so many broke people can hang out in such an expensive place. Kind of like ski towns.all day surfing and they support themselves on two evening shifts a week waiting tables at a burger joint. Smarter than me! Love the blog!
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