I decided shortly into my stay here in Waikiki that it lands in the same category as Orlando, FL for me, aka I strongly dislike it because it's a dirty tourist trap. There are too many people, the food isn't that good, prices are jacked up (but everything seems to be more expensive on this island, especially groceries... this could be because it's an island...), it's mainly the people that does it for me, man do I hate people. So I decided last night that my sunburnt ass would be better in the morning and be ready to face another day on the beach and thus I decided it was time leave the city and to go to the North Shore.
I took "The Bus," which is Oahu's public transit system and goes alllll over the island and is always only two dolla! Let's just say the price somehow outweighs the many downsides to taking The Bus. Well first I had to take a bus- cuz I didn't want to walk- to the giant mall that I checked out yesterday (yesterday was overcast and yuck) -the Ala Moana Center. It is quite large. They have EVERYTHING. Anyways, from there I transferred onto the Wahiawa Circle Isle Bus, knowing it was going to be an almost 2 hour ride. It started off well, the bus wasn't full, but as we drove through Honolulu more and more people got on. In short, the ride was very unpleasant, nearly 2 hours on a crowded city bus, the windows were dirty and it was difficult to see any of the passing country side, and some big Hawaiian guy kept falling asleep and leaning on me. Very uncomfortable. The whole ride I was thinking this North Shore business better be fucking worth it.
Well.
After about 30seconds of beholding Sunset Beach and also realizing there was a freaking surf competition happening I decided it was- even with the Hawaiian guy falling asleep on me.
After listening to the commentators for a while (there were loudspeakers) I learned that the comp was the 25th Annual Xcel Pro Championship and it was being webcast at surfinglive.com.
Anyway, the waves here were fucking huge! (The annoucer said the swells were coming in at 4-6ft earlier but were now 3-5ft only. They looked much bigger than that, haha.) There are signs posted every 100ms or so along the beach with red flags that say 'No Swimming' Two little boys, surf pros in the making no doubt, long almost naturally dreaded and sun bleached blonde hair, decided to ignore the signs and fooled around in the surf that was breaking closest to the shore. They were basically being tossed on shore by the break. They were trying to body surf but were quite unsuccessful as you could see them be swept into the wave and then pounded into the beach. My questions were they looked to be 7 or 8 -Why weren't these kids in school and how did they not drown? haha
After a few hours of watching the pros I headed down the beach towards Banzai Pipeline. It seemed like the waves were getting bigger the further I walked... and it was magnificent. The beach was virtually deserted. It was sunny. There was a nice breeze. This was the Hawaii I was looking for! I alternated walking along the beach and the bike path in the places the beach was steep and narrow for the next few hours and then stopped at Shark's Cove around 4pm. There I sat and read and enjoyed the sunset. Golly. T'was a beaut! Then I grabbed some dinner at the grocery store that happened to be across the street/hwy and then took 'The Bus' back. It was much better this time, haha. There was a Japanese couple trying to get to Waikiki. At one point the man said to the driver "No english. Speak Japanese please!" I almost laughed out loud, haha.
I will definately be going back to the North Shore at least once more before I leave Oahu!
Aloha!
PS Will post my pics tomorrow!
