It's difficult to convey the beauty of Bellows Beach if you haven't been there. Yeah, I've posted about the place before. It's the spot on earth where I am happiest, so it'll probably come up again.
I went to Bellows twice while I was in Hawaii for Christmas. The weather was spectacular, the water oddly clear and calm. While huge waves drove amateurs from the ocean on the North Shore, Bellows sported only a calm breeze, short waves suitable for bodysurfing, and clear water, warm and silky against the skin. It's not often you can see the bottom just before you catch a wave. Normally the wave action churns up the sand too much, so even though the water is a friendly blue, it's opaque. Not this time. I could see every one of my pinky white toes resting on the sand as I waited for the next wavelet.
In spite of the small waves, I caught a bunch of rides. Kama'ainas sporting real tans bobbed around me, fruitlessly paddling their boogie boards toward the shore. Teens on surfboards and one dude in a kayak angled and struggled to get moving, rolling backwards off the waves unstead of settling into the barrel in that sweet zone of roiling foam and forward momentum.
I zoomed past them.
Thing is, I look like a tourist - all pale skin and red hair. But once I get in the water, I'm a bodysurfing demon. I rule these tiny waves.
1 comment:
Sigh.
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