Waimea Bay is located in

Haleiwa Haleiwa () is a North Shore community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Waialua District of the island of Oahu, City and County of Honolulu. Haleiwa is located on Waialua Bay, the mouth of Anahulu Stream (also known as Anahulu River). ...

on the North Shore of

O'ahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

at the mouth of the Waimea River.

Waimea Valley Waimea Valley is an area of historic cultural significance on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The valley, being an important place in Hawaiian religion, includes several historical structures including stone terraces and walls constructed duri ...

extends behind Waimea Bay. ''Waimea'' means "reddish water" in Hawaiian.

History

Captain Charles Clerke aboard stopped at Waimea Bay on February 28, 1779. Clerke had shortly before taken command of the ship after Capt. James Cook was killed at

Kealakekua Bay Kealakekua Bay is located on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii about south of Kailua-Kona. Settled over a thousand years ago, the surrounding area contains many archeological and historical sites such as religious temples (heiaus) and also ...

on February 14. Waimea Bay was the only O'ahu anchorage visited by the expedition. Waimea Valley was densely populated at the time, and the remains of Pu'u o Mahuka, an important

heiau A ''heiau'' () is a Hawaiian temple. Made in different architectural styles depending upon their purpose and location, they range from simple earth terraces, to elaborately constructed stone platforms. There are heiau to treat the sick (''heia ...

(Hawaiian temple) can still be seen above the bay.

Geography

Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau State Monument is a Native Hawaiian historical site located just above the bay, off Pupukea Road. It is a historically important site on the North Shore, as well as providing a view of Waimea Bay and the Waianae Mountain range. Waimea Bay is located along

Kamehameha Highway Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. Informally known as Kam Highway, it begins at Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, serves the ...

. The bay is on the north-west side of the highway (at the entrance point). The Waimea Bay shoreline has been experiencing erosion due to both man made and natural causes.

Surfing

A183, Oahu, Hawaii, USA, Waimea Bay, 2007

In winter, Waimea and other North Shore locations such as

Pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

and Sunset Beach host a number of surfing contests because of the large waves found here. These waves are created by winter storms in the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and their arrival on O'ahu's North Shore is typically forecast accurately several days in advance. In summer, Waimea typically has clear and calm water. The

surf break Surf or SURF may refer to: Commercial products * Surf (detergent), a brand of laundry detergent made by Unilever Computers and software * "Surfing the Web", slang for exploring the World Wide Web * surf (web browser), a lightweight web brows ...

at Waimea Bay was significant in the development of

Big wave surfing Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which experienced surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves which are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. Sizes of the board needed to successfully su ...

. Larger surf at the bay went unridden for years until November 7, 1957 when a handful of surfers finally paddled out and rode the giant waves that break off the northern point of the bay. While the surf only breaks big several times a year, Waimea was the most prestigious big wave surf break in the world for decades. With the advent of

tow-in surfing Tow-in surfing is a surfing technique which uses artificial assistance to allow the surfer to catch faster moving waves than was traditionally possible when paddling by hand. Tow-in surfing was invented by surfers who wanted to catch big waves a ...

, more and more big wave breaks have been discovered that are far superior in quality to Waimea. However, the bay still holds a significant place even in today's world of big wave surfing. The

Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau "The Eddie" is a big wave surfing tournament held at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The tournament is named for native Hawaiian, champion big wave surfer, and life-saving Waimea Bay lifeguard, Eddie Aikau. Created in 1984 at nearb ...

takes place in Waimea Bay to honor the legendary surfer and the first lifeguard of the North Shore of Oahu. Since its inception in 1984, the tournament has only been held nine times, due to a precondition that open-ocean swells reach a minimum height of before the competition can be held. Open-ocean swells of this height generally translate to wave faces in the bay of to . The most recent tournament was in February 2016. On January 28, 1998, Hawaii issued its first ever "condition black" legally closing all North Shore beaches including Waimea Bay. The Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau was canceled due to above-average behemoth surf.PBS.org
Nature's condition black

In popular culture

The 1964 film ''

Ride the Wild Surf ''Ride the Wild Surf'' is a 1964 American romantic drama film. It was filmed in 1963 and distributed in 1964. Unlike the beach party movies of the era, this was a departure from the typical Hollywood approach to surfing as it was a drama, not a ...

'' and the

Jan and Dean Jan and Dean was an American rock music, rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf mu ...

song "Ride the Wild Surf", which played at the end of the film and became a Top 20 National hit, made Waimea Bay famous. Waimea Bay was NOT the primary filming location for the television series ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', although some scenes may have been shot in the opark in the valley. an American drama-adventure television series about survivors of a

plane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

on a mysterious tropical

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

. (The downed plane was at Mokuleia at the end of Dillingham airstrip almost to road's end at Kaena Point.) The actual main location and filming area was at Kawailoa Beach, about 1/2 mile north of Pueana Point. Waimea Bay is mentioned in the 1963 Beach Boys' song

Surfin' U.S.A. "Surfin' U.S.A." is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys, credited to Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson. It is a rewritten version of Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" set to new lyrics penned by Wilson and an uncredited Mike Love. The song w ...

Waimea Bay is mentioned in the 1987 cult film Surf Nazis Must Die when Adolf asks a young gang member where the best surfing beaches are. There have been many other Hollywood movies such as "Ride the Wild Surf" and "Big Wednesday" filmed there, as well as many surf movies. Waimea Bay's shorebreak waves, and the large surf off the point have been the topic of many media documentaries and features

References

External links