Solacegirl

We had the red whale and a few hours to kill.  We headed out to North Shore.    I have never been there, but my husband went on a scouting trip the last time he was here and sent me some amazing photos of white sand beaches and turquoise blue water.  It was the first week of December and my outfit consisted of a swimsuit, shorts, and flip flops (from now on I will refer to them as slippers).  We had bottles of water, apples, and Hawaiian music playing on the radio.  This was going to be a great day.

The red whale is an older suburban that didn’t have air conditioning, but did have a squeaking passenger door that needed a little extra help staying shut.  When visiting the church we were allowed to drive it.  We loved it because it wasn’t a rental and felt like we had a little more legitimacy with the locals as we drove around the island.

We headed through Haleiwa.  As we hit Sunset Beach we noticed scaffolding and large signs on the beach that said “Triple Crown of Surfing.”  Ah, sweet!  We ran into a professional surfing competition.  We couldn’t miss this, so we pulled into a field with a “Parking $5” sign and found a bruddah helped us pull into a great spot.

Oregon beaches are beautiful and majestic.  It’s a good distance from the dune to the water.  You have time to contemplate how long you think you can last in the freezing water before your feet are too numb to walk.  Here on the island its 10 feet from car to water and you set an alarm to remind you to get out so you can apply a second coat of sunscreen.

The biggest difference to me are the wave.  In Oregon there are big waves, but you usually watch them from your car or hike in to some remote part of a beach to see them.  Here it’s like the wave breaks in your face.  The waves are big and right there.  I don’t feel like I have adequate words to describe them.  Before now I’ve never seen waves like this..  The churn of the water as it hits the reef really makes a person understand the need to respect the power of the ocean.