The Power of The Shore Break

Winter in Hawaii is something amazing, and it’s not the warm weather either, it’s the power of Mother Nature and the sheer force of her waves. Even when the water looks relatively flat, the shore break can be so dangerous that they have to flag the beaches warning everyone of the dangers, with their motto:

 If in doubt, stay out.

The strong tug pulling the water back into the ocean to create the large shore break wave is impossible to run from. The local, insane teenagers relish this ferocious wave while the rest of us run for the hills.

Getting hit by this wave is equivalent to being inside a cement mixer.

The waves don’t just affect the water, they also make a huge impact on the beach. Most days there’s more sand on the beach than ever a need for, and on the weekends large gatherings stretch from north to south.

But on big wave days some of the beaches area aren’t even accessible.

The picture below is from the rocks right below where the above photo was taken, on a day that we were exploring tide pools. Notice the abundance of fluffy, soft, sand?

Here is the same area about a month later after the waves have washed all the sand away exposing more rocks below. The tidepools we were on are in the far left of the picture, and straight below was all the soft, fuzzy, sand.

This is just common nature around here, but it is still something that amazes me. The sheer amount that places can change around here. Sometimes the beach is ten feet wide, other days it could be a hundred. I still want to think the weather will predict the waves, too. Like if it’s calm and sunny out, I expect the same for the waves and then am shocked when we get down to the beach to see the oh so familiar, orange warning flags and waves fifteen feet high. Hawaii in the winter is truly something powerful. I’m looking forward to seeing it in the summer too, though, when it’s much calmer.

Also on these rocks pictured above, while on one of our morning cruises up the coast, Joey and I saw something that we don’t get to see very often at all……….can you spot it?

In the middle, then down about an inch….it’s a monk seal! He blended in so good with the rocks I have no idea how I spotted him, and I only had my cell phone with me so this is the best I could do, but what a treat!

Hawaii never gets old.