Makapu Beach

    Hawaii is a thrill to see and enjoy. When you are near the ocean though, you need to be extremely careful.  One day, I drove out to Makapu Beach to see the conditions since there were heavy surf warnings for that morning.   Big surf is always impressive.              

    Many tour buses stop there so tourists can take pictures of the sweetest spot in Hawaii for surfers.  On this day, a group of German tourists clambered down the stairs to a large out-cropping of lava rocks some thirty feet above the ocean. They were laden with cameras and bags, dressed in Aloha shirts and sandals like any tourist that comes to Oahu.  No sooner had they gathered in a cluster at the very end of the rocks did the ocean choose to raise itself in a gargantuan sea. 

      All twenty of these folks were facing oblivion from this wave that was towering over them. I immediately started down to rescue as many as I could.  

    The wave swept them over the rocks. There were a lot of bloody knees and heads as the waters retreated. This was not a time to stand still because we knew this was only the beginning.  Big sets come in series. We helped as many as we could up the beach to safety. This is just another day in Paradise. I will never forget that day.
   The ocean causes much pain and injury. I was working one night at Straub ER when they rolled a woman into the Emergency Room. Her right eye was swollen and bleeding from an obvious trauma.  She was pulled from the waters off Makupu Beach. She was rescued by the surfers.

      Seems she had been diving under the waves as we all do.  However, when she came up to breathe she encountered a loose surf board racing down the face of the next wave. Apparently, she was not expecting this and the point of the board struck her with full force in the eye socket.  The ER docs thought they could save the eye but the wound was terrible.  She will carry that for the rest of her life. Welcome to Hawaii. Always come up protecting your head.
       For me, Makapu was a great place to go looking for lost fins. The fins boogie boarders use don't float so when they come off, they go straight to Davy Jones Locker.  I would put on my mask and fins and begin prowling behind the shore break. These fins would stay in one place tumbling with the waves.  Eventually they would escape to deeper waters. 

       You only need one fin to body surf.  The collection I had was awesome.  I would give them away or barter for other goods. It was never enough to pay for the day.  I was the man with the strange hobbies.

       There are many other beaches on the island of Oahu. The shore break at Sandy Beach is the best in the world for boogie boarders. Many afternoons were spent there picking up the carnage surfing on a falling tide creates.  

   The waves become huge.  It is very easy to fall out of the wave onto dry sand. This is how one of my friends broke his back at Sandy's. It is always crowded at this beach. You can tell by the parking lot approximately what the census is like.                                          

     Waimea Bay is the classic surf spot in Hawaii.   Many a movie has been filmed there.  Quite a few lives has been lost due to the huge and pounding surf.  If you are looking for the bad attitude boys you can find them right there at Waimea.              There is a spot called the Toilet Bowl.  When the surf is just right, it fills rapidly. Then it falls just as quickly.  Tourists find it exciting to jump in a go for a ride.  Unless you watch carefully for the footholds you could be swirling around like a turd that won't  flush.   Prepare to get wet. 

     The sand is easily, the most comfortable to walk in at Waimea. This is the beach the Beach Boys made famous in one of their songs..