Last week I went surfing at a beach I haven't surfed at in quite a while. Even though this surfspot was in Waikīkī, Honolulu, Hawai`i, one of the most crowded areas in all of the Hawaiian islands, there was only a handful of people out in the water! The water was light blue and shimmering in the bright sun. There was a lot of wind but this was only noticeable when I was behind a breaking wave, feeling the rain of the wave being blown over me. People pay for these kinds of showers in a spa and I just get them every few minutes! I had already seen a turtle, surfed some good waves, and I felt comfortable in the water. Which I hadn't felt the last few times when I went surfing at my usual spot because the waves were very big and messy. And I hadn't surfed in a few weeks to give my broken nose a rest. But this was a beautiful day!
At some point there was only one other surfer besides me in the water. After having caught a few waves together, both riding it in the different direction, we started a conversation. The surfer was a man from I guess around his 50s. He asked me how I found this spot, so I told him how I lived nearby and had surfed here a few times but usually surfed somewhere else until the waves over there got too big. When I asked him if he surfed a lot here he told me he grew up on this island (O`ahu). He had been surfing here at this spot since 1979! Now he is living on the mainland but he comes back often and when he does he surfs a lot.
'Do you want to know my secret sweet spot?'
The spot where we were surfing is less crowded than other spots in Waikīkī because there is a lot of reef and funky rocks all around. When I mentioned this, my new surfer friend started talking more softly. 'Do you want to know my secret sweet spot?' he asked. I looked at him a bit confused and said, 'uh yes sure'. He then started pointing out exactly where in the water he always stayed because that was where the waves would break, even though it did not seem that way. Surely the few waves after we stayed there and caught some beautiful waves together! When some more surfers peddled out both of us kept signaling nonverbally and peddling back to the spot, grinning because that we knew we would catch the wave at its best.
Right when I wanted to ask him for his name he caught a wave and did not peddle back out. Perhaps I will see him again in the upcoming days, at what I will now call our secret sweet spot.
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