Waimea Bay Beach Park

Haleiwa, Oahu

This famed North Shore beach is an easy-to-find true Hawaiian classic. Abundant white sand and deep turquoise blue waters with no reefs or submerged rocks create a picture-perfect beach paradise. Located at the mouth of the Waimea Valley and stream, this beach is spacious, with over 300 yards of sand blanketing the bay front from end to end. The width varies according to season and surf, but in the summer it is easily 100 yards wide. Conditions vary greatly from calm in the summer to dangerous during winter swells. A must-see for any visitor to the north shore! AT A GLANCE: HIGHLIGHTS: Stunning long and wide beach, easy to find, huge waves during winter surf, placid and tranquil during the summer months. Lots of room to spread out on this beach. ACTIVITIES: Swimming, sun bathing, beach walks, surf and sunset watching. LIFEGUARD: YES 9am to 5:30pm 7 days a week. Check in with the lifeguards here if you have questions. WARNINGS!: Beach slopes and drops off into the ocean quickly, two or three steps takes you into an overhead water depth. Avoid swimming or nearing the water during high surf episodes. The right-hand side of the beach has the river mouth, avoid this end after the rains as the currents can increase when the stream is flowing. AMENITIES: Restrooms, parking, showers and picnic tables. Waimea Bay is by far the deepest bay on the North Shore. Lack of near-shore reef and quick bottom drop-off makes this bay less wave-impacted until the surf gets huge. Until then the swimming is better than anywhere else on the North Shore. In summers the waves roll up to the shore and break abruptly on the sands, seemingly out of nowhere. Look to the outer right-hand portion of the bay for the rolling thunder from colossal surf during winter. The lifeguards post flags all along the beach to keep visitors informed about the swimming conditions and warn them of the hazards of the day. There is a lot of room to spread out and step away from the crowds here. While this beach is favorite of local residents, you will not find it hard to escape the crowd if you choose. If you head left, look for tall rocky cliffs backing the beach creating a more raw, and natural landscape. The shoreline road is elevated above out of the view, and the surf sound drowns out the traffic noise. There is a small path and stairway just to the left of the grassy picnic area between the parking lot and the beach, which leads you up to a centralized free-standing rock spire with amazing views of the beach and a small garden of native plants. Here is a video taken from there: http://youtu.be/oiZBZgzLcuk Waimea is a legendary valley, as well as breathtakingly beautiful, with several significant native cultural sites in the area that indicate its historical importance to the ancient Hawaiians. It was the population center of Oahu's North Shore in the pre-contact Polynesian era. In the modern times, the bay and the beach h…