- Waimea Beach Sunset - Terry Pruyne
One of the most exciting parts of our vacation occurred on the North Shore of Hawaii. In Haleiwa, we swam with the sharks.
Hawaiian Shark Adventure
We rented a car -- best to rent before your arrival, you'll spent much less -- and headed to Haleiwa and arrived at Haleiwa Harbor around nine. We stopped for breakfast at the Cafe Haleiwa, a popular hangout for surfers and troubled artists on the North Shore. Lori had a Mexican breakfast while I had mahi-mahi, hash browns and eggs.
Near eleven we watched the Hawaiian Shark Adventure boat cruise into the harbor and unload a group of excited tourist. Captain Steve welcomed us onboard and we filled out paperwork, including a disclaimer in case eaten or injured during the excursion. We felt a bit better after seeing a family climb aboard with an eight-year-old daughter.
Captain Steve's first mate, John, a teenager, began handing out pamphlets about the sharks we would see as well as shark teeth. He told us we'd see Galapagos sharks and may see a tiger shark. They had seen a great white once, but they are rarely seen along the Hawaiian coast.
Our boat left the harbor and soon we traveled three miles from shore in 400-foot waters with five-foot swells to a shark cage secured by buoys. Captain Steve asked for volunteers to go first. Lori and I quickly grabbed snorkeling gear and stood on the side of the boat.
John stood on the back of the boat throwing chum into the waves and, before we entered the water, we saw dorsal fins above the water, circling the cage. “That was the scariest part,” Lori told me later. We climbed over the rail and into the water. The cage -- just like the one in Jaws -- was made of steel bars, but on two sides, the bars had been replaced by Plexiglas for a clearer view.
I can't describe the thrill of seeing the first seven-foot Galapagos shark cruising by inches away from my face with a beady eye and jagged teeth visible in its mouth or of a shark materializing from the depth heading straight toward us. Soon seven or eight Galapagos sharks circled the cage as if baited by Hawaiian tourists. Captain Steve told us before we entered the cage that under no circumstances should we stick any part of our bodies out of the cage. I wasn't even tempted.
Halfway through our thirty minutes in the water a fourteen-foot tiger shark appeared, scattering the Galapagos sharks. A regular, the crew called her Curly Sue due to her slightly bowed dorsal fin. A rusty hook hung from her mouth. Captain Steve told us later about how many tried to make fishermen use biodegradable hooks so fish and turtles wouldn't have metal hooks in their bodies for years.
When our half hour ended, we climbed from the cage and the other group entered. We watched John on the back of the boat baiting the shark by slitting the meat --actually shark meat -- and tying a rope through it. The sharks ripped and thrashed tearing the meat from the rope. I asked John if he could pull the rope and try to bring a shark out of the water. He did so and I snapped an awesome picture.
We heard the little girl screaming in the water and she raised her head. “I had a staring contest with a shark,” she shouted, “The shark won.” Later, Captain Steve stood on the edge of the boat holding a piece of shark meat. An ‘iwa, or frigate bird, swooped down and grabbed the meat from his hand. The frigate bird earned their name for following ships for scraps. Captain Steve also let us touch the shark skin they used for bait. I thought it would be slick, but it was actually rough like sandpaper.
When the adventure ended, we couldn't believe we swam with sharks. Later in the day, we learned that a few miles away from Haleiwa Harbor a tiger shark had attacked a man, biting his leg. He survived without permanent damage, but had several hours of surgery. Lori’s mom heard about the incident and called us to make sure we were okay.
Sea Turtles at Laniakea Beach
We skirted along the coast on the North Shore to Laniakea Beach, aka Turtle Beach. Almost every day, the cold-blooded green sea turtles – all three feet in length and weighing 350 pounds -- sun themselves on this beach to raise their body temperatures. Volunteer workers rope off and keep a watchful eye on the endangered animals as visitors gawk and take pictures. The turtles sport numbers and monitors so scientists can track them. Lori couldn’t get enough of the turtles. We stayed and watched them for hours as they hardly moved except for occasionally slapping sand over themselves with a flipper. “If I could only swim with a sea turtle,” she bemoaned.
Lost and Eko's Church
Moving down the coast a tad, we encountered Papa’iloa Beach where NBC shoots many episodes of Lost. Lori sucked me into the whole Lost saga along the past eighteen months. She’s hooked. We saw the communal dining area and Eko’s church near the beach. We couldn’t get real close because Lost security guarded the area. We also watched a turtle swim back into the water there, but weren’t able to swim with him because the lava rocks were too jagged.
Waimea Beach
Next we visited Waimea Beach which is most famous for the 20-30 waves during the winter – a surfer’s paradise – where surfers have three fears: drowning, being buried alive, or being eaten alive. Waimea Beach also contains a large lava rock about seventy-five feet high that people jump from into water below that is only about seven to ten feet high, depending on the waves rolling in. I climbed “jumping off rock,” but chickened out when I realized the water beneath it was so shallow. I wasn’t about to end up with broken legs for the rest of the trip. Lori would have left me in the hotel and had a good time on her own.
We snorkeled out to a large rock that only had a small piece of rock visible from shore, but underneath the water, the rock provided a haven for fish – butterflyfish, surgeonfish, snapper, angelfish, wrasse, and trumpetfish among other – but most of all we watched a sea turtle feeding off the rock. We must have annoyed him and he began to swim away, but we followed until he swam out too far. We made our way back to the rock only to find the turtle had returned ahead of us. We let him eat in peace, but Lori had achieved one of her lifelong dreams -- swimming with a sea turtle. Just like swimming with Crush from Nemo for sure. Gnarly, dude.
Sunset Beach, Giovanni’s Aloha Shrimp , and Romy’s Kahuku Prawns and Fish
We visited other beaches along the North Shore such as Sunset Beach, but especially loved the tiny beaches along the road’s shoulder. Park the car on the side of the road and step right out into the sand. Amazing. And by the way, all Hawaiian beaches are public – none are privately owned.
Shrimp shacks dot the North Shore. Giovanni’s Aloha Shrimp specializes in garlic shrimp – tasty, but a bit intense. In 1997, the current owners purchased the shack – a stripped out moving van converted into a kitchen – for $120,000, but four years later the previous owner wanted it back. She offered $120,000 for the shack, but the new owner wanted $700,000. She sent gunmen and forced the owner to sell. He signed the papers at gunpoint, but then went straight to the police who convicted the previous owner of robbery, extortion, and kidnapping.
We preferred Romy’s Kahuku Prawns and Fish, which resembled a rundown a tool shed in the back of an abandoned farm, but served fabulous shrimp. Lori loved the shrimp fried in wonton wrappers and I enjoyed the sweet and hot shrimp. They had a sign stating this is not fast food, but good food which we serve as fast as we can. We waited happily -- adjusting to Hawaii time.
Keneke's
Keneke’s on the eastern shore served plate lunches. These were popularized by field workers, whose wives piled different meats and salads atop rice, which they served to their husbands on the plantations. We had a choice of three meats on rice with a scoop of macaroni salad. I picked pork adobo, mahi-mahi and beef stew while Lori picked pork gisantes, beef curry, and chicken adobo. Adobo comes from the Philippines which refers to chicken or pork marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Simply delicious. We couldn’t eat it all in one sitting. We devoured the rest later in the day when we visited a Kaneohe Park near Chinaman’s Hat, a small cone-shaped island off the coast.
So much fun. So relaxing. Like the islanders say: Hang loose!!
Terry Pruyne - I wrote for my high school and college newspapers on my way to teaching degrees in English and History. Later, I received a Masters Degree ...
