After our sightseeing day on Oahu we enjoyed a relaxing day on Waikiki beach, soaking up the sunshine, playing in the shallow water and watching beach side entertainment in the form of Hula dancers.
We also had a little bit of retail therapy and treated ourselves to a few purchases to replace our worn out items and staples needed for our surfing lifestyle on Oahu, namely flip flops and a new bikini for me and new board shorts for Rich!
Once we were fully rested and kitted out in the best surfing gear we could afford, Rich and I embarked on our surfing adventure in Hawaii.
With a week planned on Oahu we had only four days remaining to master the art of surfing and needless to say, four days just wasn’t enough!
“So we did the only thing surf loving backpackers could do…”
We spent a few days on the large foam surfboards, ideal for beginners to find their feet and we certainly found ours, with both of us managing to catch a few waves and ride them all the way into shore.
The feeling of standing on a surfboard and riding on the crest of a wave (albeit a very small wave) is something Rich, nor I, will ever forget and it’s something we’re both eager to experience again.
It was exhilarating, exciting and thoroughly entertaining, especially when we got to see each other wipe out all the time! It’s fair to say that we fell off our boards more than we did catch waves but it was the experience of it all that we fell in love with.
Needless to say, on our penultimate day on Oahu, Rich and I were both convinced that we needed more time with the surf. We wanted to progress off the foam boards and neither of us felt like leaving just yet.
So we did the only thing surf loving backpackers could do… we changed our flights and planned an extra week on Oahu!
This gave us the time we needed to surf on the non-beginner ‘normal’ boards and it wasn’t an easy progression to make. In fact our first day with a normal surfboard felt very much like our first day of surfing ever!
After a few days Rich and I were both catching waves and riding them for a good fifteen or twenty seconds into shore.
That was it, we had done it, we had surfed and we couldn’t have been happier about it!
I think it is fair to say that I love my husband immensely, however my love for him reached a whole new level in Hawaii as he managed to capture my best surfing moment on the GoPro!
I don’t know how he managed it but I love him for doing so as I will now always have this to remind me of our epic time surfing and as evidence that my surf girl dream did in fact come true…
During our stay on Oahu, the annual Spam Jam festival took place. This is exactly what is sounds like, a festival celebrating everything that is great about the tinned meat Spam.
Apparently there is more Spam eaten in Hawaii than in any other US state, which is why the festival is held there. There were stalls selling food (lots containing Spam), Spam branded clothing and souvenirs and there was a wave made out of tins of Spam too which people could pose in front of for photo’s. Music filled the streets and the atmosphere was fantastic – we loved Spam Jam!
“I kid you not, this pig surfs and we have seen it with our own eyes.”
On our walk down to Spam Jam we noticed someone walking a pig down the street. You may think this was crazy but it’s not as crazy as when we saw someone surfing with a pig on the front of their board earlier that day!
Rich quickly struck up conversation with the pig’s owner and we soon found out that we were in the presence of Kama The Surfing Pig.
I kid you not, this pig surfs and we have seen it with our own eyes. Rich was so excited about meeting Kama The Surfing Pig that we posed for a photo with him – I think this is one of Rich’s favourite photo’s from our travels if truth be told!
For our last night on Oahu, Rich and I walked up Waikiki beach to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where they put on a free fireworks display every Friday night – a must see while on Oahu.
Walking up the beach we saw people out paddle boarding, noticing them only because their boards lit up in the water!
The fireworks were really good and after watching the colourful display we headed out for one last meal on Oahu.
Bringing our surfing adventure to a close was certainly hard to do, we were tempted to stay forever it has to be said!
With hope in our hearts to be able to return to Waikiki one day, we enjoyed our dinner out and toasted to our surfing success in the knowledge that you really can make dreams come true.
Lambs on the loose 
Long time coming but well worth the wait!! It seems so long ago and such a lot has happened since then. Hope your wishes come true and you are able to return there. Maybe we’ll come too xxxx
LikeLike