This is going to be sort of a diary entry because it was honestly one of the best day adventures I had ever gone on to date. It would be a lot more easier if you were already up in Hale’iwa, but were starting in Honolulu.
The Plan: Spend the whole day up at North Shore
How? Get up before the sun does!
My friend (Madge) and I had this day planned in advance because we knew there would be some logistics needing to taking into account. We wanted to hit up all the main beaches along the North Shore coast, we wanted to have time to explore Historic Hale’iwa, and find a place to eat… and we wanted to bring our bikes. So to break it down;
-shop-tan-swim-bike/explore-eat-document/photographs
We didn’t want to be weighted down during our bike ride along the shore so we kept our packing light. Phone, Wallet, Camera, Book, Towel, Hat, Sunscreen, Sunglasses, Spare shorts, Sweater, Water Bottle, Sandals. Done
We woke up very early (6am) for two main reasons.
1) We wanted to give ourselves as much of the day up north as possible, we’ll sleep on the bus ride since its about 2 hour journey.
2) Were both bringing our bikes and generally the #52 bus only has rack space for two bikes so we didn’t want to chance some other biker ruining our chances of a seamless trip up north.
What we naively didn’t consider was the distance between Hale’iwa (where we got off the bus) and Pipeline beach, which I think helped us in terms of being “left in the dark” for the amount of distance we needed to cover. So the bike ride itself became a journey with no real end in sight… till we came upon the destination.
Along the way we stopped at a popular spot for turtles to lay their eggs and do their nesting…
Biked over the bridge at Waimea Bay and admired the amazing view from there.
Biked through some beautiful trails with over-growth and arrived to our destination of Pipeline and admired the athleticism of surfers taking on those aggressive waves this beach is internationally known for… and tan.
Sometimes locals would bring their dogs down to the beach to chill out while they hit the surf, there doesn’t seem to be any rule in terms of whether or not a dog is allowed on the beach. It just better be very well behaved and trained. We hung out with this sweet fellow (in picture), Lab? He was just doing his own thing walking up and down the shore, taking breaks, being cooed at.
We spent a few hours on the beach just relaxing and enjoying ourselves, it was our first true experience of spring break in Hawaii since the previous years were spent traveling for competitions on the mainland.
This girl showed up during our time on the beach with this amazing bright pink printed paddle board. Those look to be her parental units (in the image) and they were carrying their own camera equipment to take some action shots of her on the waves. She did great considering, from what I can see, SUP’s aren’t the most welcome item on the waves. Majority wise, it was surfers who were on the ocean that day, but the waves weren’t too crazy that boogie boards and SUPs couldn’t handle them.
Madge and I got LOTS of SUN and SAND!
We stopped in Hale’iwa for a late lunch at Bob’s Pizza. Refreshing beer and crunchy salads were our desire. I did get jealous of Madge’s salad, it looked so delicious! Then to top it off! While we were enjoying our meal, right behind me was the guy I was crushin’ on hard having a meal with his lady…. yep. (Yes in the photo below on the right side in the white shirt with his back facing) A little bit of self-deprecation never hurts a sunny day.
Unfortunately, that’s where my photographing of the day ends (those below are courtesy of the internet). However I can say something about about this lovely spot. This historic part of Hale’iwa is a single long stretch of road, about a leisurely 20 minute walk with a variety of shops to meet any individuals need. They have the surfs shops, art galleries, eclectic style shops, street vendors, a couple non-touristy shops for those forgotten items needed for the day (ie. snacks), coffee shop, restaurants (Bob’s Pizza and Cholo’s Mexican are delicious), and Matsumoto. What’s Matsumoto? It’s that place everyone is willing to line up and wait because it’s worth it. They’ve been around since 1951 and I’m pretty sure they have some level of international recognition. To what scale? I’m not sure, but there’s always a line up for their shaved ice (it’s $2.50, why not?!?).
Before you leave North Shore…one last stop you need to make… the highway sign! There is plenty of space for cars to pullover, that was done intentionally, so go ahead and have a personal photo shoot! Everyone else has. ALOHA!
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