No North Shore dives for a while

[Stodelle]

Looks like some big surf is here to stay for a while. Hopefully it will die down soon so that we can go dive.

[DaKahuna]

In your shoes, I'd have a hard time wishing a good swell away!
You get many more "epic" days for diving than you do surfing, I'd bet.
Grab a board and go, Haole! :D

Honestly, you should give it a try if you haven't. I can't imagine living in Hawaii and not surfing!

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally posted by DaKahuna


Honestly, you should give it a try if you haven't. I can't imagine living in Hawaii and not surfing!

I hate to admit it, but I lived there 27 months and never became a surfer. Part of the problem was that it looked like a sport that might require balance and coordination, qualities with which I am not over-endowed. But I really wanted to try it anyway, but it seemed like no matter how bad the weather on Oahu, there was always a lee shore where I could dive.

And then there was that one discouraging experience. My wife's parents came over to visit and were staying in a hotel in Waikiki. We went down to spend the day with them and they rented boards for us. My wife, being a much better athlete than I am, could stand up as long as I gave her a push to help catch the dinky waves. But one time when she fell she ate her board and knocked out her upper front teeth. That put a damper on our surfing aspirations, and we stuck to diving from then on.

[Stodelle]

Kahuna,

I grew up in Newport. You got your a$$ kicked if you didn't surf. I know you've got the balls to throw yourself down cliffs (I've seen the pics), but a cliff of water is something else. Not to mention the 3 back surgeries. I used to feel invincible on 5-6 swells, but 25-50'. No way! I'll wait that one out. Besides, the good thing about the big surf is it makes the fish become compacent. No divers for the Winter season makes them a little slower on the first few flat days to follow.

[thecrab87]

[i]Honestly, you should give it a try if you haven't. I can't imagine living in Hawaii and not surfing! [/B]

Surfed quite a bit when I lived on Oahu... even managed to get good enough to catch big ones at the name spots... waimea, pipe, sunset. The problem isn't a lack of surf or enjoyment of the sport, it's the damn crowds. I just got burned out on hassling for waves and seeing guys get punched in the head while in the water.

I usually go shore diving by myself, and more often than not, I don't see another human being on the hike down the cliff, on the beach, or in the water. For a guy with a busy job, a wife, and two kids, that kind of solitude is hard to come by. I watch Hookipa, and see 5 guys on every crappy wave and 300 guys in the water... the parking lot's packed, there's windsurfers everywhere... forget it, I'd rather be alone and diving.

BTW, the big swell Stodelle was talking about really was huge (see picture), but Stodelle! It looks good this morning!

[DaKahuna]

Willie -
I hear ya' about the crowds. The same issue here in CA is what caused me to look to mountain biking and diving as my primary passtimes these days. The sense of commraderie that I couldn't find in the water while surfing, I did find in the water while diving and on the trail while riding. Both also provide a lot of satisfaction from the exploration factor as well. Exploration in surfing these days takes big $$$$$!

I heard the swell was huge! The Eddie Aikau contest went off, and they had an epic Jaws session, so I heard. Is that where your pic was from?

Mahalo and Aloha!

[thecrab87]

Originally posted by DaKahuna
Willie -
I hear ya' about the crowds. The same issue here in CA is what caused me to look to mountain biking and diving as my primary passtimes these days. The sense of commraderie that I couldn't find in the water while surfing, I did find in the water while diving and on the trail while riding. Both also provide a lot of satisfaction from the exploration factor as well. Exploration in surfing these days takes big $$$$$!

I heard the swell was huge! The Eddie Aikau contest went off, and they had an epic Jaws session, so I heard. Is that where your pic was from?

Mahalo and Aloha!

Yep, that's a Jaws pic. That wave is nucking futs! My dad lives a little down the coast, and there is an island in front of his house that is about an acre in size and maybe 20 feet high. It was getting completely covered by whitewater. Pretty wild.

[Stodelle]

Originally posted by thecrab87
BTW, the big swell Stodelle was talking about really was huge (see picture), but Stodelle! It looks good this morning!

Of course it was nice today....I had to work. Of course I'm off tomorrow but the county went and issued a new high surf advisory saying 15-20'. I swear I am a negative dive magnet. I have got some serious Karma to make up in my life.

[thecrab87]

Originally posted by Stodelle
Of course it was nice today....I had to work. Of course I'm off tomorrow but the county went and issued a new high surf advisory saying 15-20'. I swear I am a negative dive magnet. I have got some serious Karma to make up in my life.

Hehehe! I was feeling the same way. My wife called me at work, asking if I had seen how nice the water was.

Oh well, this is the time of year that it gets hard to get in on the north shore.