Late summer swell brings big surf to Oahu's south shore

By Christine Strobel
3D TRAVEL ONLINE EDITOR

The south shore of Oahu is being gifted with a late summer swell this week, peaking this morning and diminishing throughout the day. According to a friend here in the office who surfed Canoes late yesterday and caught one epic wave, it was a glorious pounding. (His text, spread out over five messages: "Oh. My. God. Biggest wave (singular) I've ever surfed. Absolutely brutal. Best wave ever.") (Pictured: a surfer checks out the break and the lineup at Bowls from Magic Island. Photo: 3D Travel, Inc.)

My big surf days (and by that I mean head high) are long behind me, but it's a fantastic show when it comes, so I ran down to Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park to catch the action. Hundreds lined the viewing points to watch the local kids hit the waves. Steady head-high to double overhead sets were rolling through, if a bit sloppy. It was difficult for the lineup to time it right; when a monster set would come through they'd be too far inland to do anything but duck under.

I filmed at Bowls on Magic Island's east side, then checked the bay on the west side, where Courts, Big Rights and even Baby Haleiwa's were firing. (Pictured: large chunks of rock and coral washed ashore earlier in the day at Magic Island — must have been a VERY impressive set. Photo: 3D Travel, Inc.)

It looked like much bigger waves came through earlier in the day: Coral had been washed ashore by the Ala Wai Boat Harbor channel, normally a flat body of water — except, of course, during monster south shore swells.

Enjoy the video and check out the photo gallery here. Hopefully we'll get another south swell before winter's big waves start to arrive!