Extreme Sports

The birthplace of modern surfing, Hawaii is a great place to learn how to surf. It’s suggested that all beginning surfer’s take a few surfing lessons before heading out into the water with their surf boards.

Surf lessons generally run one to two hours, and are taught by experienced surfers across many beaches in Hawaii. If you are completely new to surfing, you will want to get started on gentle surf breaks with easy, rolling swells that are small enough to manage yet large enough to give you the thrill of surfing.

Start with a longboard, and sign up for lessons through private instructors or surf schools you’ll find on most beaches in Hawaii. You can join group lessons, with an average of 6 surfers per instructor and around per two hour lesson; or you might want to sign up for a private two hour lesson. Private lessons average about 0 per two hour session.

Once you’ve had a couple of lessons, head out on your favorite beaches and practice, practice, practice! Keep in mind that you will probably only be able to surf for about two hours at a time, since your arms will grow tired from paddling through the waves.

Launiupoko State Park, Maui

Just south of Lahaina, Launiupoko State Park has gentle reef waves which is perfect for the new surfer. There are two parking areas for the park, and it’s ideal for families with small children. There are public restroom sand picnic facilities available on the beach. A natural pool is formed inside a lava rock wall border, giving a secluded and safe area for young children to enjoy the water.

Waikiki, Oahu

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Hawaii is home to perfectly breaking waves and warm water that makes it a tropical paradise for all; this is especially true for surfers. Surfing is a hug part of the traditions and culture of the all the Hawaiian Islands. This sport goes back to ancient times. It is embedded in the hearts and minds of the residents of Hawaii.

Bonzai Pipeline
This is an infamous surf destination and has been for many years. The foremost surfers from all around the world travel to this spot to surf. They have good reason too! On any given day there are often large glassy waves that create perfect tubes. Being the most popular surf destination on the globe, it attracts many championship surf contest every year.

Waimea Bay
This is one of the oldest surfing areas in Hawaii. It is best known for large monster waves that swell and manifest at its point and shore breaks. Its shore breaks are notorious throughout the surfing world. Waves break really close to the shore which makes for high impact surfing.

Sandy Beach
This is another well known surf area. It is located on the southeast side of the main island, Hawaii, with a famous shore breaks. This beach is best known for featuring shallow waters and critical fast surf. While these conditions may spell danger for some surfers, the more experienced surfers know that it is one of the best spots around. Even on a day where the waves are not large, Sandy Beach is still almost guaranteed to barrel and have many fun waves for anyone to enjoy.

Sunset Beach
This famous surfing destination, on Oahu’s North Shore, is a favorite hot spot for professional surfers to go. The long nice waves make it a great place to hold surfing contests. It is centrally located along the drive to the North Shore. Giving the beach its well deserved name, it’s the perfect destination to catch a beautiful Hawaiian sunset.  Read more...

Hawaii is world renowned for its pounding surf. World famous breaks include Pipeline, Waimea, and Sunset beaches, where wave heights can frequently climb to over twenty five feet. Maui and the Big Island have lots of spectacular breaks as well, including Jaws, and Hapuna Beach. If you are an adventurous traveler, you are likely to take your chances surfing at least some of the Island’s less bone cracking breaks. Please take some time to go over a few tips from us at Discover Hawaii Tours that ought to make your surfing attempts an all around safer and more fun experience.

First things first, if the waves look too big for you to handle you should probably trust your gut. If you are uncertain about the conditions you can always ask the lifeguards, or surfers fresh from a session. Unless you are a skilled swimmer, entering the fray without surfing experience can truly be a dangerous experience. You are going to have to contend with not only the relentless pounding of the waves, but the jagged coral below the water as well. The reefs can sometimes be located just a few feet below the water level. In addition to being razor sharp in some spots, they are also crawling with spiny sea urchins that will truly mess up your day if you land hard on one.

A great way to avoid these dangers is to start out in Waikiki beach, where the Waikiki Beach Boys will be more than happy to lead you to what may very well be the best spot in the world to safely learn the basics of surfing. They offer equipment rentals and will keep a sharp eye on you while you are learning the ropes.  Read more...

The Ladies Surf in Style in this year’s Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest Stand-Up Paddle Surfing held August 22nd and 23rd at Queens surf spot in Waikiki.

C4 Waterman, Honolua Surf and Blue Planet hosted the Stand-Up events for the men, children (juniors) and women.

The sport has grown leaps and bounds. This year’s event had 80 SUP surfers.

“I’m not surprised at all, to be honest” said Todd Bradley, one of the founders of the C4 Waterman company. “From the start, everybody we turned on to the sport got hooked.  So to see all these kids and women and new-comers to the sport … I think its just the beginning.”

Stand-Up Paddle Surfing- also known as SUP is the latest and fastest growing ocean sport. It combines the basic elements of two ocean sports canoe paddling and long-board surfing.

Women surf the SUP with style

In 2007 C4 Waterman’s first year hosting an open SUP event and only one women who surfed along side the men was Maui’s Tiare Lawrence. Ms. Lawrence was of the first female to try SUP surfing. Ms. Lawrence as an outrigger canoe paddler and, short boarder, and Tiare was hand picked as the first top acrobatic performer in the Hawaiian version of Cirque de Soleil at the Ulalena Theatre. When I first saw her surf her C4 SUP surfing in big waves at Makaha, I was like whoa!  I had ridden big waves for years, but this was a new angle of riding waves and Tiare was charging full on with a classic style in big waves with the boys.

Ms. Lawrence said “The fitness aspect is so rewarding.”  When you go surfing you are lying down most of the time, so you work two times more muscles than surfing when you are doing SUP.”  Read more...

Millions of vacation tourists visit Hawaii every year. Most of them came to explore the beautiful Hawaiian Islands and volcanoes while some came with the intention to scuba dive in the tropical seas and to explore Hawaii’s magnificent underwater world. According to Rodale’s scuba diver magazine, Hawaii is one of the world’s top ten diving destination for scuba divers.

Hawaii’s marine life is very diverse so much so that there are more than a hundred endemic species found no where else on earth. You can explore Hawaii’s myriads of underwater caverns, reefs, drop off walls, canyons, gulleys and swim with turtles and seals in clear crystal waters. If you are not a scuba diver, you can take scuba diving lessons and then can plunge into Hawaii’s beautiful seas almost immediately.

If you want to go scuba diving, it is best to go in the morning as strong winds often rough up the sea in the afternoons. This is especially so on the island of Maui and that is the reason why dive operators often take divers out to sea early in the morning and terminate the dives around noon or early afternoons.

One of the big attractions in Hawaii is snorkeling. Almost anyone can go snorkeling since all you need is a face mask, a snorkel tube and a pair of swimming fins. If you have never snorkeled before, most resorts and dive operators can give you snorkelling lessons and rent you snorkeling gear. However, if you can swim, you really do not need any formal training as snorkeling is quite easy.

The most popular spot for snorkeling in Hawaii, especially for the beginner is the Hanauma Bay, on the island of Oahu. Other popular snorkeling sites in Hawaii are the Kee Beach on Kauai island, Hulopoe Bay in Lanai, Kahaluu Beach on the Big island and Kapalua Bay on Maui.  Read more...