Surfing Hanalei Bay, Kauai

Recently,  on a short visit to Kauai’s North Shore I got the opportunity to surf Hanalei Bay.  I was not expecting to surf on that quick visit and did not bring any surfboards, but was surprisingly pleased to fine some fun waves and a surfboard rental place all in walking distance at Hanalei Bay.  It was a sunny weekday and the waves were 2-4 feet Hawaiian scale and looking fun.  On that same day that I was there Laird Hamilton was rumored to have been surfing Hanalei Bay and I even spotted his wife Gabrielle Reece and one of their children on the beach.

My rental car was not equipped with surf racks if I wanted to rent a board in the town of Hanalei Bay, so the rental shop or ”grass hut” Hawaiian Surfing Adventures that is located steps from Black Pot Beach was very convenient for me.  This place offered surfing lessons, board rentals, and water adventures at reasonable prices.  To rent a board it was $10 an hour, $5 additional or $20 a day.  The boards they have for rent were soft-top foam boards, hard-top longboard tankers, and epoxy boards.  They even had stand-up paddle boards for rent and lessons.

So, I rented a 6 foot 10 inch epoxy board and followed the locals out to a surf break called “the bowl” and had a great 1 hour surf session.  There were a few other surf breaks in sight and some out on the point that were coming in about 1-2 feet bigger than where I surfed at.  The breaks were pretty crowded with a mixture of locals, tourists, and some professionals, but everyone was friendly and got their waves.  Overall, I thought the surf at “the bowl” was A quality, an intermediate wave and I was wishing that I had brought my short board with me on this trip.  The ocean water was surprisingly chilly because of the closeness to the crisp river water.  This was my first time to surf the North Shore of Kauai and will definitely be back with my boards and long sleeve wet suit to try again.

Tags: Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Surfing, Things To Do