Hawaii in October?

amb's picture
amb started the topic in Monday, 6 Nov 2017 at 5:38pm

HI All, the missus has gone and booked 11 days in Hawaii in october next year, cheap flights apparantly.
Havent booked any accom yet, any ideas what island and what side i should be looking. I get the impression its in between seasons. Any help be apprecaietd never been before. ..cheers

udo's picture
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udo Thursday, 9 Nov 2017 at 5:20pm

North Shore Oahu before the Pros land ?
Flights are cheap at the moment Hawaiin Airlines well under a grand return.

amb's picture
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amb Thursday, 9 Nov 2017 at 5:48pm

Thanks Udo, stay on Nth Shore or drive there?, must admit been underwhelmed by the accom and overwhelmed price that ive searched for so far..i guess i'm use to Indo prices.

udo's picture
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udo Thursday, 9 Nov 2017 at 5:59pm

Been doing same re the accom on Nth Shore....US exchange rate dont help

crustt's picture
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crustt Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 6:56am

My mates been staying here for a few years a month at a time, he highly recommends it and you not paying 15% to airbnb www.kenbradshaw.com/surf-camps-hawaii/sunset-beach-oahu-vacation-rental
If you want to surf the north shore you have to stay there, the traffic is horrendous all over the island these days.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 7:31am

That looks nice , Crustt.

What's the go with cleaning fees in a place like that ? Are they paid every day or periodically or is it just a one off when you check out ?

That $40 fee would add up if it's daily.

evosurfer's picture
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evosurfer Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 7:36am

If your a surfer that time of year definitely the north shore some swell will start to flow
thats if your partner can tolerate the quite country life.
Accomodation is ridiculously expensive for what you get and if you can get Bradshaws place
at those prices grab it with both hands and dont let go. Thats about half price for anything
else thats comparable.

crustt's picture
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crustt Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 8:51am

I'd say one off, cleaning fees are one way to jack the price up for a one night stay.
If your booking for October next year I would book now.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 9:26am

Thanks mate.

Sounds good.

amb's picture
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amb Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 11:29am

much appreciated Crustt

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evosurfer Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 4:10pm

I didnt see where he said staying for 1 night but I do know the cleaning fee is
very reasonable as well. But hey what would I know glad I couldnt help.

yocal's picture
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yocal Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 4:49pm

I've stayed at Doug & Judy Deal's place up at sunset before. They were on Air b'n'b in 2012, haven't checked since but I have Judy's contact details if Ken Bradshaw's place doesn't work out for you amb. I couldn't have asked for nicer hosts :)
Sunset is a good place to stay, we got around on bikes easily. Foodland was easy enough to get to from sunset for groceries etc, & can stop-in and check pipe on your way through!

crustt's picture
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crustt Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 5:53pm

Just explaining a booking thing evo, if the cleaning fee is $50 and the nightly fee $150 well the 1 night is going to be $200 or 3 nights is going to be 500. It's just a way that hosts can give a discount on multiple night accommodation, on the airbnb system they have to stay a full week before you can work a discount in. Cleaning fee works against the host a lot of times as people leave the place a mess because they'r pay a cleaning fee. :-))

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evosurfer Friday, 10 Nov 2017 at 9:17pm

Trust me the cleaning fee is once only regardless of time. Very difficult to find
accommodation for 1 night on the nth shore.

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crustt Saturday, 11 Nov 2017 at 5:38am

Yeah evo that is exactly what I said and that is why with a once only cleaning fee you'd pay $200 for 1 night or if you stayed 2 you'd be paying $175 per night.
A cleaning fee isn't for cleaning, they have to do it anyway, it;s just a fee to make the shorter stay more pricey. I know he is not asking for one night, but getting a single night on the North Shore is quite easy, though you will be paying through the nose.

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jbshack Thursday, 30 Nov 2017 at 7:35pm

We stayed at this house a few years back.
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p235844

Great spot, especially when the swell hits the waves are still amazing but actually surf able due to less crowds.
When the swell hits go bigger boards than you think.

Waikiki was just too busy but get a car and head North. Relax and enjoy..

Other Islands sound amazing, but i think you'd want some time to travel them.

tangles 65's picture
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tangles 65 Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 1:45pm

I'm staying near V-Land for 2 weeks in April with my wife. Hoping to surf the stretch between V-Land and Waimea, if it's small enough :-) Just gunna use the pushbkes provided my our hosts.
Any ideas on a ride from the airport to the north shore? Hoping to find an uber driver that will take my boardbag on the roof with my straps.

Anyone else done the pushy to surf thing on the north shore? Not keen on hiring a car...

freeride76's picture
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freeride76 Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 1:51pm

pushies are fine.

yocal's picture
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yocal Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 2:21pm

Catch the bus from the Airport to the north shore if you DON'T have your own boards as luggage (they're not accepted on the bus) it takes about 40 mins and is a scenic ride around the East coast. download 'the Buz' app which is Oahu's bus service and gives a live timetable. Not sure how many Ubers are about, I never used them, but your hosts might know about a shuttle service or how your luck might be with an uber. I used a shuttle bus but cant remember their name.

We stayed up at sunset, maybe takes another 3-5 mins heading away from pipe to get to V-land by bike. Getting to pipe takes 10 mins on the pushy from sunset, 20-30 mins to walk. We did just fine without a car, so long as you can carry shopping bags while riding your bike you are sweet.

tangles 65's picture
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tangles 65 Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 2:44pm

Shopping bags are easy, the tricky part is getting the slab home on the handlebars...
thanks yocal and freeride, looking forward to it. Just hoping to get some surf/paddle fitness in here before the trip!

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stunet Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 5:24pm

Follow Yocal's advice RE buses or get the lowdown from your hosts. Pushies are fine from V'Land to, say, Log Cabins if you've got a board under your wing, or onwards to Waimea if you don't and just wanna watch, though it's a bit late in the season for that.

You'll probably be surfing from Velzyland to Pupukea the most. There are waves further east but the bike lane ends at V'Land.

Hot tip: If you're picking up weird vibes at V'Land don't second guess you're intuition, just paddle in. Speaking from experience here.

I'm heading over in about two weeks, staying right near Logs, and I'll be using a treadly to get around.

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Blowin Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 8:20pm

What happened at V Land ?

freeride76's picture
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freeride76 Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 8:24pm

You can easily ride a pushy V-land to Haleiwa and surf the breaks on the other side of Waimea.
It's a bit wilder that side and less crowded.

goofyfoot's picture
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goofyfoot Wednesday, 10 Jan 2018 at 9:10pm

You get a talking to stu?

stunet's picture
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stunet Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 7:16am

Some people might call it a talking to. Young moke swung a few and like a good haole I dutifully received them. Didn't dare swing any back. Whole lineup and crew on shore were watching.

freeride76's picture
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freeride76 Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 7:16am

what was the offence?

stunet's picture
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stunet Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 7:24am

Wrong skin colour.

blindboy's picture
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blindboy Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 8:09am

I was told first day, first trip, don't bother with Velzyland. Sounds like it is still good advice.

goofyfoot's picture
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goofyfoot Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 10:24am

Nasty business

tangles 65's picture
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tangles 65 Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 12:52pm

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, heard and read about the V-Land locals. Will be picking my times and spots to (hopefully) get a couple of waves. Not expecting too much! Just wanna go check the place out for myself, been reading / dreaming / watching the movies for 30 plus years.
Will have "The Performers" soundtrack cranked up !!!
Funny thing , I was just having a chat with someone telling me how friendly everyone is , offering lifts to the spots etc..
She is a 25 y.o good looking blonde though, and I'm a bloke on the wrong side of 50....

yocal's picture
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yocal Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 2:32pm

I cant wait to get back there one day. The experience I had in terms of times to score were based on the prevailing winds during the week i stayed, so might be a bit of anecdotal help (and a brag):

For the 5 day period we were there, the winds were strong ENE cross-offshore early, then by say 9am they began to go NE cross-shore, and often stayed that way all day, backing off again late afternoon. But on the biggest day, the wind was light NE from the get-go and we went straight to pipe at 8am to see if it was handling it, only one or two out and crumbling over but very daunting looking, 2nd reefers coming through about 8ft+, OTW and backdoor were huge closeouts. We flagged it as the wind strength increased while we were watching, and went to the rock pools a bit further down the road in front of foodland for a swim and did a food shop and rode home to Sunset. by 11:30am we were passing Sunset beach on the bikes and I noticed the wind seemed to have veered cross-offshore again and had backed off heaps. I spent another hour back at the house wondering if it was worth racing down to check again. After trying to monitor the lack of movement of palm tree fronds in the street to justify my urges to do a check, the anticipation got the better of me, and i fanged it back to Pipe. From about 12:30 to 2:00pm I scored a claimable session at pipe, light variable winds, steadied off at 6-8ft with only 6 out. Jamie O'Brien and his Poopie mate and two other guys that seemed to all know each other, & another haole like myself. everyone got waves though there were lots of chandeliers from the leftover chop, and it was just capping on 2nd reef on the sets so I got to experience the horror of being caught inside a 2nd reefer a few times. it was pretty special.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 3:03pm

Yocal - That is easily the best surf story from Hawaii I've ever heard. At least in terms of how you'd like to experience the joint.

And that's including the hundreds of Hawaiian articles I've read in the surf media over the years.

Stu's very well might have been the worst.

yocal's picture
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yocal Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 4:24pm

Haha cheers Blowin, when I look back it was a pretty surreal week on the north shore... I'll keep telling the story, i'm itching to... I snapped my 6'8 on that pipe day, which was at the end of week 1. The second leg of the trip had an even bigger swell forecast, so i asked my Air B&B host Judy if she knew of a shaper I could get a replacement from before we flew out to another Hawaiian Island the next morning. Judy says, "oh yeah I can call Jeff he's a good friend and is just around the block here at Sunset, he might be able to help you out". So she called 'Jeff' and I (sheepishly) went round to meet Jeff Bushman who had coincidentally just glassed a 7'0 for Ezekiel Lau for the Backdoor shootout which was meant to run that day (but was postponed due to the wind !!). He said he'd make Zeke another one before the next swell so he could sell me that one. It was like 8pm and I had no cash, and couldn't do a mobile bank transfer, so he drove me down to foodland in his pick-up to get cash-out. Judy had introduced me as "the Aussie guy staying with us with his pregnant wife", so for the whole trip he was raving about the birth of his girls and fatherhood, how towing his 14 year old daughter into 15ft Phantoms was the best experience he's had in his life, and telling me I should hand deliver my first baby myself because "its fucking COSMIC man!" he struck me as a really genuine man who lived life with his whole heart.

I didn't end up riding that board until 2 years later and creased it in half during its maiden surf during that Black Noreaster swell (2016?). I have half-a mind to repair it and keep it as a momento, and after sharing this and remembering that magic week I might just do that.

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 5:09pm

Stoked.

stunet's picture
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stunet Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 6:42pm

Ha ha ha...unreal tales Yocal. Get that board fixed, put it somewhere prominent in the house, relive that shit every time someone points to it.

crg's picture
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crg Thursday, 11 Jan 2018 at 8:02pm

That's totally Bushy yocal. He's a legend bloke and master shaper, I rode his boards for a few years when doing my Hawaii trips and loved them all. Even had a fat fishy thing he shaped called "Cosmic Ugly". He loves that word especially after a few red wines!

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yocal Friday, 12 Jan 2018 at 11:46am

I think that might be its cosmic destiny Stu.

Crg, that is unquestionably the man I met :) . Actually i left out any mention of red wine because my story describes him driving me to foodland haha

evosurfer's picture
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evosurfer Friday, 12 Jan 2018 at 7:08pm

I'm on the nth shore now have been since xmas day with my family and its
been in general pretty damn good. I surf everywhere except pipe and velzy
and the vibes have been a lot friendlier than Australia that's for sure. But I
and my 2 boys keep a very low profile we wait our turn don't snake or hassle
but been getting heaps of waves. All in all still my favourite place to surf in
the world. I'm just getting too old for it.This is my last trip here done around 30
I would also like to add in general Hawaiians are the nicest people ive ever
had contact with. Aloha is well and truly alive here just pull your head in.
Almost impossible to get to the nth shore with boards without a car also a fact

simba's picture
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simba Friday, 12 Jan 2018 at 8:05pm

Hey evo so why is this your last trip there,to old for it in what way ,fitness or hasseling or been there done that?

Coaster's picture
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Coaster Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 11:22am

.

evosurfer's picture
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evosurfer Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 11:46am

No simba had a bad surfing accident 4mths ago and fractured my back in
5 places and crushed my back muscle from pelvis to shoulder blade unable
to move for a month I think at almost 60 I don't need the rush anymore and
I cant get the froth factor back so I figure its time.
Now as I write this my 15 year old son is preparing for 15-18ft bay. So I may
be back as a spectator.

simba's picture
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simba Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 1:31pm

yeah evo, injuries and age certainly start taking there toll but after 30 trips there you would have lots of good memories i suspect and more to come watching your son .So is the bay on today?

tangles 65's picture
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tangles 65 Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 10:30am

http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/waimea-bay-overview-oahu_134569/
https://explore.org/livecams/hawaii/hawaii-pipeline-cam
big waves and crowd today by the looks of it !
I got a shuttle mob picking me up from the airport and taking me and my boards to the Nth Shore. Will just pushbike around from there . Thanks for the info evo and enjoy the rest of your stay.
I saw a pic on instagram of the bike track almost washed away at Sunset on the weekend...

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 11:24am

Ive had my interest in Hawaii's Haole history piqued by Stu's encounter at V Land.

Which Stu very likely wishes he'd never mentioned....

Anyway , I'd thought it sounded like a crazy situation and so I thought I'd see what'd gone down before I commented.

Seems like the Hawaiians were fucked over comprehensively.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Kingdom_of_Hawaii

The whole situation sounded very familiar. Not just the way that the Poms treated Australian First Nations , but it sounded somewhat prescient as to the Chinese intentions for modern day Australia.

So I considered on how I'd feel if the Chinese " annexed " Australia - as they probably will - and how I'd react to a Chinese surfer paddling out at a staunch Aussie spot a few years after the event .

Would I react as the V Land fella did towards a Haole ?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I think you'd have to be a cock to try to pull that stunt off.

Still not sure whether that excludes me or not , to be honest.

Hard to predict how you'd react really.

In my eyes it Illustrates very nicely how much Australians first people are legends though .

simba's picture
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simba Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 3:25pm

Well seems ol captain Cook was only just the start of Hawaii getting rammed up the arse......good find, Blowin.

goofyfoot's picture
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goofyfoot Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 12:57pm

Why would Stu wish he never mentioned it?

eat-your-vegies's picture
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eat-your-vegies Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 1:13pm

If you thought the poms treated the first Australians badly then arnt they lucky the Spanish didn’t colonise first lol.
They did a thorough job of it in South America ay.

Halibut's picture
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Halibut Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 1:23pm

Nobody whose entire culture is being systematically disintegrated by British colonists ever thinks, "are'nt we lucky it is'nt the Spanish".

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 1:32pm

You know it's funny you mention that , but I dont mind the Yanks buying up Australia and their political manouvering nearly as much as I do the Chinese pulling a similar stunt.

Maybe because we pretty much know what's below the waterline of the iceberg that is the Seppo's intent.

Unlike the Chinese.

Halibut's picture
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Halibut Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 1:52pm

People have been "buying up" orstraya for the last 230 years. That's why the place looks like a gigantic deforestation theme park.

blindboy's picture
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blindboy Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 2:06pm

Totally opposite Blowin on the basis of recent history. The US has a history of invading or bombing any nation they happen to have a disagreement with. China has no such history. The US would easily top any list of most devious intentions. There might be a place for you in the optimist's hall of fame if you think they give a shit about Australia, beyond its convenience as an unquestioning ally and its handy location.