Surfing Oahu | Travel Stories | Lonely Planet

Surfing Oahu

Article by: Jake Howard, August 2008

You don’t have to be an expert to enjoy the best breaks, the best schools and the best of the off-shore activities.

Interactive map : Oahu’s top surf spots

 

Rent a longboard

Whether you’re surfing for the first time or celebrating winning a world title (like Australian surfer Mick Fanning ), nothing beats floating the day away at Queens. Walk down to the statue of Duke Kahanamoku in the center of Waikiki, throw a few bucks down for a board and go. The gentle waves, the scenery, the atmosphere, the nostalgia: it’s as authentic as it gets.

 

Swim the bay

In the winter Waimea Bay is a bubbling cauldron of big-wave doom; in the summer it’s as placid as Lake Winnipesaukee. Sailboats anchor in the green cove, tourists and locals alike float languidly in the jewel-bright water, and if there’s a more tranquil place to waste a day, you’d be hard pressed to find it. An afternoon hike up to Waimea Falls is another good way to cool off.

 

Eat local

Katsu Chicken plate lunches at L&L Drive-In, shave ice at Matusmoto’s, fresh-baked bread and cookies at Waialua Bakery: these are the flavours of Hawaii.

 

Visit the Bishop Museum

Nowhere in the world has a collection of surf antiquities like the Bishop Museum. They’ve got ancient relics, modern-day wave-blades, and just about everything in between. If surf history (or Polynesian history in general) catches your fancy, a tour through the museum in downtown Honolulu is a must.

 

Get made in the shade

Find yourself a good book (try either Mark Twain’s Roughing It or Jack London’s Cruise of the Snark, they both have brilliant accounts of the South Shore back in their respective days), stake out a nice grassy patch in the shade of a palm tree and try to get more than five pages in before drifting off to tropical dreams.

 

Go explore

Even on Oahu, the most populated of the Hawaiian islands, getting off the beaten path isn’t all that hard to do. Take a drive down the coastal highways, head north, south, east or west, and at some point you’re bound to uncover a quiet beach, a fun wave, and some much needed downtime from the frenzy that can be summertime in Hawaii.

Saskatoon Condo

From: Eugene Winer
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 9:35 AM
To: Alexandre Handa
Subject: Saskatoon Condo

Attachments: Re: Rental Application and Rental Agreement – $800/mo plus security deposit of $800.00 which will be returned with interest when you leave.; Revised copy of Rental Agreement since I received it from Brandon – I hope this meets with your approval.
Hey Alex, Here’s what the condo lady in Saskatoon wrote back, this woman seems a bit nuts but legit enough, I say we go for it. Cheers, Euge.