Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell - Surf Spots
Updated As of 3 January 2011
- Bomburas: Right off the tip of Magic Island in Ala Moana Park. You can go thru the opening in the breakwater (the second one as you count from right to left) or you can paddle out thru Courts / Big Lefts area. Or you can also come out thru the harbor channel but it is dirty and there is a monster current if you go back in that way. You can also jump right off the rocks if the tide is right and you can handle your board. Getting out is another challenge. You can do the reverse of all to get back in. Great spot, lefts and rights, deeper water break, great for surfing if someone wants to watch you surf. Restrooms and Showers and parking are all good.
- Marijuana’s: Between Uppers and Leftovers. A great wave as long as you keep in mind that the inside is seriously shallow. Got its name from a group of California surfers who rented a house on the beach in the '70s. They often smoked before paddling out and named the break.
- Hawaii Five O’s: Between Uppers and Marijuana’s on the North Shore. A little easier on the mind and body than Alligators or Marijuana’s and gets super hollow on the right.
- Maybe one of the finest longboard waves ever - Chun's Reef on the North Shore got its name from John Ah Choy Chun, a firefighter who owned Chun's Store in Hale'iwa. His home was near the break where his kids often surfed in the '50s. This is a very well known and very crowded spot.
- Rubber Duckies, north of Three Tables Beach, is typically surfed only when the waves are small. During the summer, it's a popular family swimming spot where kids play with their water toys. It was once called the “Stupidest Surf Spot in the Whole World” by one famous magazine.
- Alligators: Between Leftovers and Marijuana’s off Ka’alaea Beach. Great spot. Best on a shortboard and keep in mind that the inside is littered with boulders. It has these two major boils in the water that you line up with and take off from. Gets big at times. Named Alligators because the giant rock peninsula to the left of the break (from the water) looks like a giant alligator head.
- Cockroach Bay at the north end of Kaupo Beach Park in Waimanalo — also called Baby Makapu'u — was named for the resident population of cockroaches attracted by the litter strewn about the area.
- Behind Ko Olina Resort: Called “Turtles” by some folks. This spot is straight out from behind the church located on the resort grounds.
- Gums, found between Ehukai and Pipeline is a great shortboard spot. Legend has it that there once was guy who used to live adjacent there and surfed there got hammered by big waves one day (on a longboard) and it knocked his dentures out. He started surfing without his dentures and the place got its name that way.
- Uppers: This is the spot that has the only beach access just prior to Waimea Bay as you approach it from Haleiwa. It has a pretty good-sized dirt lot. Rocky portage both in and out or go in at Leftovers and paddle past Marijuana’s and just past the point at Hawaii Five O’s.
Outside Puena (AKA Lost Beach / Police Beach / Incinerators / or Cheese Grater Rock): Great spot. It is super-dangerous outside the point, so I’d recommend that you only negotiate with someone that knows the deal.
- Third Dip, located off the third drainage ditch as you go to the end of Farrington Hwy at the West end of Yokahama Beach Park is a great place to shortboard. Beautiful water.
- Gas Chambers, on the west side of Rocky Point, is a spin-off of the popular '60s phrase "taking gas," which meant wiping out in a barrel. John Clark is credited for naming the steep Pupukea break. Can be fun but localized with people who live along Pipe but may not surf it when it is big.
- Flies, off the west end of Kaka'ako Waterfront Park, was named for the pests that thrived in the park's earlier incarnation as a city dump.
- Techniques, which is a second-reef break in way offshore in Waikiki. Formed only during large swells and breaks between Publics and Canha’s. It is called that because you have to know the “technique” on how to get out.
- Big Lefts: On the South Shore, a North Shore type wave. Fantastic when it breaks! Needs about a solid 3 feet to start working and really likes a lower tide over a high tide. The wave gets thick and dangerous across the line when it is big and high tide and you may find yourself finding the lineup difficult to pinpoint.
- Jocko’s next to Chuns. Used to be called Noll’s Reef back in the 70’s then was renamed after Jock Sutherland whose Mom owns a house right in front of it. Jock used to surf here daily and still does on occasion.
- Old Man, off the Kaimana Channel, was named after Oscar Teller who surfed this spot all the time in the 50’s. His ashes are spread out there now.
- Big Rights: This is the right off Big Lefts also on the South Shore. Great wave and greatly underutilized. Hidden in plain sight and good on the weekends when a thousand kooks hit the common spots like Courts. Gets hollow! Can even get hollower than expected for a South Shore wave! Don’t ride it too far it however as the inside has boulders and some other weird underwater stuff going on. Plus, the reef is hard as hell to get over in a lower tide situation. Go in and out in the same channel that leads to Courts.
- Irma's, near Sandy Beach, was named after Irma's Lunch Wagon, which parked at the intersection between Kalaniana'ole Highway and Kealahou Street in the '60s.
- Green Lanterns: Have your game in order if you want to surf this spot. This place was named after the Green Lantern Restaurant that was open across the street in 1958. On the outside (way outside) of Green Lanterns, it is called Cloudbreak. Big giant waves that look like clouds coming toward you.
- Baby Haleiwa: It is right next to Bomburas on the South Shore. Works best on a bigger swell and is a great right. Can also be a short and steep left.
- Kahuku 7 (AKA Seventh Hole): This place is dangerous but good. Only go with someone who knows the spot. It has two waves that crash hard into each other on the inside. Very localized.
- Pray for Sex Beach is a break off the east end of Makua Beach and got its name from a giant rock that has the name painted on it back in the 60’s. Great spot. Very shortboard oriented.
- PCC is the surf break off the Polynesian Cultural Center in La’ie which was built in 1963.
- Black Rocks: The first restroom and bathroom after the giant incinerator as you go west on the Highway just after Ko Olina Resort on the West Side. Just past “Tracks” on the left side of the highway (water side). Getting in is tricky – time it well, same thing with getting out of the water. Or jump in off the rocks. You’ll still have to negotiate
- Chun's Reef on the North Shore got its name from John Ah Choy Chun, a firefighter who owned Chun's Store in Hale'iwa. His home was near the break where his kids often surfed in the '50s.
