Does anyone have experience in SUPing in Hawaii. I may be staying in Honolulu for a month and want to know how accessible, crowded, etc it is for SUPing. I am only looking for intermediate standard - no barrels required.

I've only been once but was quite shocked by the lack of crowds and easy SUP surfing at Waikiki and to the south towards Diamond Head. It very probably gets a whole lot more serious than when I was there but was fantastic for intermediate SUPing for my stay.

Just got back a couple of weeks ago. Had an awesome time however only on hire Boards. The spot straight out the front (Kooks) of The Duke was crowded and the wave quality was ordinary at best. I rocked up at the spot to the left of The Duke out the front of the rock pool and within 1 minute was told by a crusty looking local that I was not to SUP there...locals only apparently. The best spot was actually right out to the right hand side (paddle is a few hundred metres however no probs on a SUP) called Pops. The waves were really fun and the vibe was relaxed. My advice is don't hire on the beach go back a street just behind the Hyatt and you can hire a board for $35 for the day instead of $25 per hour. Better range of boards as well. Good luck!

C4 Waterman Outpost also has a great range of boards for hire.

I was there just over a year ago and had a great time, crowded in some places but generally ok. We stayed at the Hilton Village and I SUP’d most of the time straight outside the hotel at a right handed called Three’s. Pretty friendly bunch and mostly tourists, don’t wander off towards Four’s ( next break along) that’s where all the Town & Country Surf Designs locals surf and definitely NOT a SUP location.

I paddled down the coast and surfed most of the bay with no problem, great spot and yes busy as you would expect but not over busy. Just look out for the Hawaiian canoes blasting through. Hired my board for 2 weeks from Blue Planet Surf, good deal and they deliver to the door if required. PM me if you need any additional info.

Phil http://surfrentalwaikiki.com/category/uncategorized/

I was there last March and found much the same.. paddle around to find a good uncrowded spot generally a bit further out and away from the main beach area> I hired my boards last time at $40 per day (haggled hard) this time I plan to hire from blue planet as I will be there for over 2 weeks in early July unless I pic a board from the US mainland.
Whatever happens just enjoy all the lady surfers ..there are plenty, damn good and very FIT!!!!!

We stayed on Waikiki for five nights before heading north and I wandered down to the Blue Planet and got a board off them. They delivered it to our hotel (which wouldn't store it for me but let me take all 10' foot of it up the service lift to our room for two days) and picked it up afterwards. Therefore if you are staying in a resort check out what the deal is storage-wise. I dealt with Kevin at Blue Planet and he was excellent. The range was a bit limited because a lot of boards were hired out so it might pay to book one in advance. I settled on a Starby nose rider for some fun and a carbon paddle. There are stacks of boards you can rent right off the beach but these are big beat up old logs and are around twice as much as a decent board from Blue Plant.

Surfing at Waikiki was sweet and there were waves the whole time we were there. I just paddled out the channel at the northern end beside "Rockpiles" and then paddled down the back of the reef checking out the peaks. They were all 'busy' but the vibe was pretty mellow. I settled on a break called "Threes" which was not as good as some others but less packed / more waves. The waves would break outside and inside so there were lots of waves to share. It was about three foot and peeled nicely through into the inside with hardly any wind. See here for a map .

I didn't go close into the main Waikiki (Canoes - Cunhas). It looked like you could practically walk on the surfers in there!

If I was to do it again I'd take a belt bag with me with perhaps some water to stay out longer, a waterproof camera, and some swimming goggles to check out the reef / fish underneath and the odd turtle that popped up beside us out back.

Great review of Blue Planer here www.facebook.com/bpsurf/posts/1135900116473951

Keep your eyes peeled for waves in between some of the spots mentioned above, you can often end up surfing alone even when it's crowded nearby. My favorite is to just charge out there at dawn and surf 3's, then scoot over to nearby waves as the crowd fills.

Blue Planet is definitely the best shop, well except that I want to buy everything... so it's kind of the best and worst shop.

Don't forget to head up to the North Shore for some real beauty, town side is a lot of hustle and bustle/tourists/traffic. Still a great place though and I'm sure you will have a lot of fun. A month is a solid amount of time to get a few good swells. Enjoy!

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JKimbler said..
Keep your eyes peeled for waves in between some of the spots mentioned above, you can often end up surfing alone even when it's crowded nearby. My favorite is to just charge out there at dawn and surf 3's, then scoot over to nearby waves as the crowd fills.

Blue Planet is definitely the best shop, well except that I want to buy everything... so it's kind of the best and worst shop.

Don't forget to head up to the North Shore for some real beauty, town side is a lot of hustle and bustle/tourists/traffic. Still a great place though and I'm sure you will have a lot of fun. A month is a solid amount of time to get a few good swells. Enjoy!

What he said. Great place :)

Blue Planet Surf in Ward Ave have SUP clinic days that are free out at Ala Moana (close to Hilton Hawaiian Village) - starts at 8am and you can demo all the boards you want! Definitely recommend you attend one of those days to get a feel for what board you want to ride in the conditions over there before you commit to hiring one. Check out their facebook page (Blue Planet Surf)/contact them to find out if they're holding a clinic while you're over there.

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Rossall said...
I was there just over a year ago and had a great time, crowded in some places but generally ok. We stayed at the Hilton Village and I SUP’d most of the time straight outside the hotel at a right handed called Three’s. Pretty friendly bunch and mostly tourists, don’t wander off towards Four’s ( next break along) that’s where all the Town & Country Surf Designs locals surf and definitely NOT a SUP location.

I paddled down the coast and surfed most of the bay with no problem, great spot and yes busy as you would expect but not over busy. Just look out for the Hawaiian canoes blasting through. Hired my board for 2 weeks from Blue Planet Surf, good deal and they deliver to the door if required. PM me if you need any additional info.

Phil http://surfrentalwaikiki.com/category/uncategorized/

I was there July last year and stayed at The Hilton Village too. Paddle straight out through the boat channel directly outside the hotel, then turn right at the break called Kaisers. Very localised spot that one. But about 150-200 meters down from there is Inbetweens and Rock piles. Fantastic spot! Got waves there every day with minimal but friendly crowds. I went out on the Friday and it was about shoulder to head high....Then the swell arrived that the Molokai to Oahu was run in. Witching 10 minutes it went from head high to waaaay overhead and about 3 foot of water over the reef..Holy crap!!! It was enormous!! The next day everywhere was closing out except 3's and 4's. It was easily double overhead and the locals were charging and ripping it apart. I mainly watched it from my balcony after that. I'd also recommend taking your own board. I did and was very glad.

Here's a quick wave from that spot.

Forgot to mention, for the best forecast info hit up surfnewsnetwork.com, this is the site most of us use here. Just remember that wave height with HAW means Hawai'ian scale, roughly the back of the wave.

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Rossall said..
I was there just over a year ago and had a great time, crowded in some places but generally ok. We stayed at the Hilton Village and I SUP’d most of the time straight outside the hotel at a right handed called Three’s. Pretty friendly bunch and mostly tourists, don’t wander off towards Four’s ( next break along) that’s where all the Town & Country Surf Designs locals surf and definitely NOT a SUP location.

I paddled down the coast and surfed most of the bay with no problem, great spot and yes busy as you would expect but not over busy. Just look out for the Hawaiian canoes blasting through. Hired my board for 2 weeks from Blue Planet Surf, good deal and they deliver to the door if required. PM me if you need any additional info.

Phil http://surfrentalwaikiki.com/category/uncategorized/

Thank you for the great reviews of our shop and rental program, much appreciated!

This is the correct link to our SUP rental program (Blue Planet Surf Shop), where you can check a spreadsheet of available boards and reserve a board for your vacation with a $75 deposit:

blueplanetsurf.com/pages/suprentals

Jawgar,

Just in Hawaii now, staying in Waikiki. After some research and contacting a few surf shops to hire a sup I went with Blue Planet. They were brilliant from the start, easy to deal with, even via email, gave some good advice on what boards would be most suitable. They have a delivery service (about $25 each way) and also have a free trial/demo/info day at various times of the year.

Would highly recommend them, its just a pity the surf gods didnt give much..very flat conditions and strong off/side shore breeze, not the best sup conditions. http://blueplanetsurf.com/pages/suprentals

I go there every year, I rent off BluePlanet surf in Ward st, pays to go have a look first after viewing the website to see what hes got.
They deliver for $20 anywhere in waikiki, I have stored the boards at a place next to the cheesecake factory, Maury's board storage on google, BP will arrange with Maury the drop off and pickup as well as a combination lock for you, just be there firstly to grap the paddle and the leash.

Go down to the beach next to the pink palace, no issues with sup surf out the front, the best sup surfing and most consistnet is about a 5oom paddle to the rightish, there are 3 breaks out there.

If you are feeling fit, you could paddle down to the carpark break, quite local but if they see you can surf it ain't an issue, also the turtles are all over there as well.

Hey I can respond to my own post. Been here nearly three weeks - Only surfed around Waikiki.
Pros
Warm water
Turtles
Near naked girls - (Sorry - kill me now)
Array of varied aircraft going overhead
Nice long dusk time on water.
Less crowded if you can move a few k.s away from the main beach.

Cons
20 mins between sets
Strong cross wind all day
Crowded - Hot locals jump on every wave - also surf schools take prime spots
Inconsistent breaks due to depths over reef (no sand)
Slow fat waves that need a long board
Long paddles out - as breaks can be 500m+ offshore
Mouthy locals
Outriggers and big catamarans cruising/surfing in and out.

Also consider
Rental boards can be big and crappy with heavy paddles and the daily/weekly rate adds up
You may need to rent secure board storage. see nalustorage.com/rent-a-rack/
if you bring your own board (recommended) consider how you will transport it around the place. You cant just drive up and park at Waikiki.
This is a very urban environment with homeless people and thieving issues.


BTW There are some good SUP shops on Ward avenue and 2nd hand boards 4S on Craiglist.

Aloha

Head over to Ala Moana beach park. its like a 5 minute drive, but the breaks are a little steeper and a little less crowded. But only a little.

WHAT?!!! Waikiki crowded?!!!

Who would have seen that coming?!!!