Hawaii – Day 1

What is better to do on one’s first day in Hawaii other than surfing? We’d booked lessons with a shop in Haleiwa, though I was first with some others as the group limit was four. We arrived early so wandered around the town a bit. It was very quiet before 10am and we enjoyed the cool vibe, the old church, and putting flowers in hair!

The surf instructor took us about 2 miles along the coast to Chun reef, and everyone else found a spot in or out of the shade while I had my lesson. After a short briefing on land which made it look so easy, the first challenge was paddling out to the surf. I fell pretty quickly on my first wave, trying very carefully not to scrape the shallow rocky bottom as waves kept crashing on me! I went around maybe 7 times. I managed to stand up once without falling in.

Between the lessons, we enjoyed local Açaí bowls which were so fresh and refreshing. Then the kids were up.

I struggled to keep track of where the kids were in the surf. I lost track of Kylie early, until I saw her paddling in. She had caught the first wave very well, and I was really bummed I hadn’t caught a photo. When she fell off the board, her shoulder caught the bottom and cut it quite badly. The thought of sharks encouraged her to get out of the water!

Bailey had some good runs. She was the most reluctant to stand up but was steady and had the most number of runs.

She managed to stand up

But she also fell in!

Jett started off well, but the Açaí bowl for lunch made itself known as he was working hard.

Samuel was probably the most stable on his feet, but also had the most spectacular falls! On one, he cut his hand badly on the bottom so headed off to join Kylie!

We all successfully surfed, and were exhausted.

Janet had enjoyed the shade, accompanied by one of the many Hawaiian Red-Crested Cardinals.

We were happy to head back to the rental to clean up and rest a bit. We had researched the restaurants in Haleiwa for dinner and there were some great options, but they were all closed on Monday evening. Other great options were toward Honolulu, but we were heading that way later in the week. So we looked north, and found Lei Lei’s at the Turtle Bay Resort’s golf club. While the menu was not extensive, the food was great, especially the poke and tomato/mozzarella for appetizers and ahi steaks.

Our post-dinner mission was to catch a cool sunset. Turtle Beach at the resort looked promising, and all beaches in Hawaii are public. However, getting to them is the challenge. We found a way onto Turtle beach, but the part we were on did not look impressive, so we decided Sunset Beach, on the way back to the house, was probably good! We were not disappointed, though a quick rain shower as the sun dipped below the horizon put a bit of a dampener on things, but it cleared the beach!

That was the end of day 1! A very cool day, and we were all exhausted to show it. I caught some sun on my scalp and the back of my legs when surfing which was uncomfortable. Tomorrow will be quite different, visiting Pearl Harbor and Honolulu/Waikiki, after another great night’s sleep.

This page is linked to from my Hawaii-Oahu home page.

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