I grew up on Oahu’s north shore, living in a rented house that was right on the beach. I know it sounds idyllic, though someday I should tell you about all the disadvantages of living on the beach. Anyway, I did spend a lot of time in the water as a kid, snorkeling and swimming for hours on end.

These days, the only time I go to the beach is when my nephews come to visit. On past visits they’ve scoped out the main options for beach-going and the one beach they love best is Oneloa at Makena. Here’s a photo from last year:

I think this is one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere, but my nephews like it because most of the time it has waves of size, even in the summer. The problem with Oneloa is that the underwater landscape drops off suddenly and steeply. I can be wading in chest-deep water and, with one more step, I suddenly can’t touch bottom. This creates waves that break suddenly, with crests that slam hard onto the sand. The warning sign does not exaggerate. Even when the waves are only a few feet high, the force is thunderous. Being the cheerful sort, I call these waves “back breakers.”

The first day we went to Oneloa, the waves were big enough to be worrisome, but the guys were smart enough to wait out the big sets in deeper water and no one got hurt. The second day the waves were smaller and a lot of fun. The third day the waves were tiny — hardly worth bothering with!

But now beach week is over for another year. My nephews are heading home and I’ve got a list of tasks to complete before getting on a plane myself. At the end of the week I’m heading off to a couple of workshops, both of them writing related, and I hope to be blogging as I travel.

More soon…