Sandy Beach

Sandy Beach from the south near the sea turtle cove

This is Sandy Beach - You will have to wash your swimsuit out with heavy detergent after hitting the beach here

Well, I checked out www.surfline.com for surf conditions at Sandy Beach today and got up the nerve to try a little bodysurfing there - It was forecast to be sunny with relatively little wind (7 to 10 mph from the SSE), water temperature of 75 degrees, air temperature of 80 degrees, surf at 1 to 2 feet with an occasional 3 foot face - I also checked out several other websites that report on Sandy Beach and decided (1) not to go near "the point" nor "the cove" due to rip tides even in calm conditions and (2) to check out the surf patterns and conditions before I went in - Here is what I found: Sandy Beach is public and on this Saturday afternoon it was packed; the drive from Ala Moana to Sandy Beach is about 30 minutes (probably 20 on a weekday) and the last 10 minutes are a lot like the Highway 1 scenery from LA to Santa Barbara (I drove that route to get to Reynolds an Stacy's wedding); parking spaces near the best part of the beach were non-existent and so I had to walk a little ways; the beach was crowded and the people on the beach were locals most of them between 16 and 25 and many actually quite attractive and fit; there were plenty local police on the grounds and they were actively looking for parking violators; the beach itself is 100% sand with no rocks though the sand is courser and a little darker than Destin sand; the water has a few stones in it but nothing too big; I threw down a blanket and walked down to the surf and started looking at the wave breaks and testing the currents; the waves ranged from 1 foot or so to maybe 4 feet or a little higher for the biggest; the water is a beautiful blue green and the wave breaks come quite fast with only 10 to 12 seconds between major breaks; there was a strong pull back toward the sea after a wave break but no cross currents; two things struck me - first, the force of the wave break on the shoreline was significant despite the relatively small size of the wave face and, second, the direction of the wave break is almost straight down rather than more forward as in most locations that I had surfed in. This is apparently due to the beach floor which slants downward away from a 1 foot lip at shoreline at a 20 degree or so angle for 15 to 20 feet where it levels off again; the good news is that there are many opportunities to catch a good wave; the bad news is that the "riding time" is very short (no more than 5 to 7 seconds) and the landing hard (no one ends up nicely on the beach but is thrown down and into the lip); I read that this has been the site of numerous world body surfing championships but for my money I want more of a ride like you get in Destin; I am going to check out beaches on the westside next week that do not have such sharp floor angles.

This is the cove I swam in with the sea turtles; the man at the left is pointing to the turtles

I did not spend much time at Sandy Beach but instead drove a little ways back toward Honolulu and scaled down some rocky cliffs to a small cove full of swimmers and snorkelers who were swimming with a pair of huge sea turtles. I wish I had brought my camera but left it in the car. The picture above does allow a glimpse of the spot but the sea turtles are hard to see - awesome baby!