Waimea Bay

Waimea Bay is the most storied surf spot in the world — a wide, dramatic bay on Oahu's North Shore that transforms completely between seasons. In summer (May–September), the bay is glassy-calm, the water an exceptional deep blue-green, ideal for swimming and the legendary rock jumping tradition from the large white boulder at the north side of the bay. The beach is wide, the sand coarse and golden, and families line the shore in the warm months. In winter (November–February), all of that changes: the bay is lashed by massive North Pacific swells that pile up to 30 feet or more at the outer reef, drawing professional surfers and enormous crowds of spectators.

The beach is home to the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational (known simply as "The Eddie"), one of the most prestigious and rare events in all of sport. Named for Eddie Aikau — the legendary Hawaiian big wave surfer and lifeguard who died heroically in 1978 — the contest is held only when wave faces average at least 40 feet. In the decades since its inception, the event has run fewer than 15 times. When the call goes out that "Eddie would go," crowds of 50,000 or more descend on the bay to watch the world's best surfers charge the biggest rideable waves on the planet.

Waimea Bay Beach itself sits in a naturally sheltered crescent below a wooded hillside, with Waimea Valley (a botanical garden and nature park) directly behind the beach through a break in the treeline. The bay is watched over by a memorial to Eddie Aikau on the beach, and the entire North Shore from Waimea to Pipeline to Sunset Beach represents a surfing cultural landscape unlike anything else in the world — a pilgrimage destination for surfers and surf fans from every country on earth.