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Waimea Bay

Photo: Travisthurston / CC BY-SA 3.0

🏖️ Beaches

Waimea Bay

Haleiwa, Oahu, HI · Oahu North Shore

About

In summer the bay goes glassy and turquoise, calm enough to snorkel the rocks for green sea turtles or climb the big jump rock on the left side and leap into deep blue water. Come winter the swell flips a switch and the same cove throws 30-foot faces, drawing the world's best to the surf that gave big-wave riding its start and to the rare days the Eddie Aikau contest actually runs. It is two beaches in one bay, and both are worth the drive up the North Shore.

Highlights

Birthplace of big-wave surfing and home of the Eddie Aikau InvitationalCalm, snorkel-clear water in summer; 20 to 30-foot faces in winterThe legendary jump rock on the left side of the bayGreen sea turtles along the rocky edgesRight on Kamehameha Highway up the North Shore

Getting there

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Curated guides that feature Waimea Bay.

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From Pacific cliffs and Hawaiian bays to Outer Banks dunes, Great Lakes sand, and Gulf sugar, these are the beaches across the country worth the drive, the flight, or the ferry. Some you walk a mile to reach, some you take a boat or a ferry, and a few you just pull off the highway and gasp. The best beaches in America, coast to coast to coast.