When I close my eyes I see waves. I've been surfing nearly every day that we've been in Waikiki -- today was my last, and seventh surf lesson. The surf instructors at Beach Boys tease me because most people take one lesson and then proceed out into the waves unattended to figure it out by themselves. But after having tried that in Newport, RI last summer, I saw my week in Hawaii as a custom surf camp so I went out each time with an instructor. I find that I learn something new each time (how to steer, how to handle the second push of a wave), and it's nice after wiping out and swallowing a heap of seawater that there's someone there who notices and shouts "You ok?" The first two lessons that I took were group lessons for $40/hour. Those seem to be set up mostly for total beginners. The lessons start on the beach to practice paddling and standing on the board. At Beach Boys, most instructors taught newbies to get on their knees then one foot, then both feet. As expert as such company made me feel, I decided a private lesson (at $75/hour) might help...
Recently in Hawaii Category
When I close my eyes I see waves. I've been surfing nearly every day that we've been in Waikiki -- today was my last, and seventh surf lesson. The surf instructors at Beach Boys tease me because most people take one lesson and then proceed out into the waves unattended to figure it out by themselves. But after having tried that in Newport, RI last summer, I saw my week in Hawaii as a custom surf camp so I went out each time with an instructor. I find that I learn something new each time (how to steer, how to handle the second push of a wave), and it's nice after wiping out and swallowing a heap of seawater that there's someone there who notices and shouts "You ok?" The first two lessons that I took were group lessons for $40/hour. Those seem to be set up mostly for total beginners. The lessons start on the beach to practice paddling and standing on the board. At Beach Boys, most instructors taught newbies to get on their knees then one foot, then both feet. As expert as such company made me feel, I decided a private lesson (at $75/hour) might help...
When I had first pictured Hawaii in my mind, I had imagined something along the lines of Blue Lagoon. Although Waikiki does give you the feeling that it's been crafted by Hollywood or Disney with its smooth stone sidewalks and carefully spaced palm trees - it doesn't quite match my mind's pre-conception. I had pictured the beach as a serene, romantic place, when in fact it's no less crowded than New York's Jones Beach on a hot summer day. I suppose the contents of 60,000 hotel rooms spilled out onto the beach mid-day would be anything but peaceful. But despite the throngs of honeymooners and Japanese tourists, Waikiki has its redeeming qualities. It's rare to discover a beach with fine soft sand and clear blue-green water where you can take a baby out swimming safely in relatively calm waters as well as take surfing lessons a few feet away. And I love the fact that they let everyone bring floats and boogie boards into the water (boats even wash up on shore). We've spent most of the past few days at Waikiki Beach, although we did decide to rent a car yesterday to explore the rest of the island. With...
Until now, I've only been surfing in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Newport, RI. After my first time in Hawaii, I can easily say that surfing in Wakiki is a lot more fun. The water isn't frigid; there's no seaweed; and it's a long ride in. All the travel books say that anyone can catch their first wave in the waters of Wakiki, which is probably true. Of course, there are a few unwritten stipulations -- you'll need an instructor who finds and pushes you into the right waves and a 12-foot foam board that has so much inertia that it's practically impossible to tip the thing over.This past summer, I went surfing several times a week and felt by the end of the season I had actually gotten worse. But in Newport, I have my own board (an 8 foot 2 inch epoxy board) which is probably lighter and swifter than I'm qualified to use quite yet. It also actually requires balance, something that is just not an issue with those giant foam boards. Not to mention, I injured my knee jumping off in shallow water which still hasn't totally healed, and I got knocked about a few times in...
"You won't be able to do that once you have a kid," people often warned me in my pre-parent state, usually in reference to moving or traveling. My husband Geoff and I had visited a dozen countries - Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Tunisia, to name a few, in addition to the typical European holidays in France, England, Spain and Switzerland. Not to mention, we developed a habit of picking up all our belongings and moving to a new place - sometimes for a few months, other times for a few years. We lived in Boston, New York and Paris in a span of literally three years at one point. There's definitely the assumption that if marriage didn't get you to "settle down" then surely having children will. Perhaps that's why when our daughter Mirabelle was two months old, we packed up all our stuff and moved to London for a summer. In part we wanted to prove to all the naysayers that we could travel with child, but mostly we wanted to prove it to ourselves. And perhaps that's why as our daughter Mirabelle approaches her second birthday, she will have lived in seven apartments in three cities across...
