Banzai Pipeline

Sunset Beach is on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii and known for big wave surfing during the winter season. The original Hawaiian name for this place is Paumalū. It is a two-mile (3.3 km) stretch of mostly beige sand located at 59-104 Kamehameha Highway in Pupukea, 39 miles (63 km) driving distance from Waikiki. Lifeguards are usually present.Like many beaches on Oahu's North Shore, Sunset Beach is considered dangerous for inexperienced surfers, due to extensive coral formations near the surface that present the risk of serious injury. Trade winds will be an advantage and a disadvantage, at the same, as the offshore breeze will make paddling for a wave a difficult task. Conditions for swimming change depending on the particular location and season. Generally speaking, the water is flat as a lake in the summers and has waves in the winters. All the surfing contests take place in the winter around December and January, that being the time of the largest and best waves for surfing. Swimming conditions change from spot to spot along the beach. There is usually a place to swim somewhere, except during stormy weather. Severe erosion of the sand at Sunset occasionally occurs during sets of extremely large surf episodes. During December in 2017 following several long lasting episodes with at least 30' to 40' waves for several days, severe sand erosion, which formed a more than 20' cliff along the edge of bicycle trail, closed the beach the week before Christmas. This catastrophic erosion caused the bike path to be rerouted closer to Kamehameha Highway when large concrete portions of the bike path fell off the cliff into the shore break area, forced the lifeguard tower to be relocated more inland, and required the city of Honolulu to demolish and remove the 11-by-11-foot lifeguard storage shed. During extremely large surf in October 2013 and in December 2013 to January 2014, backyards, staircases, and swimming pools were swept out to sea.

Pūpūkea (Hawaiian pronunciation: [puːpuːˈkɛjə]) is a community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Koʻolauloa District on the island of Oʻahu, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, pūpūkea means "white shell". As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 5,130. The Koʻolauloa District ends at Waimea Bay, with the Waialua District extending south and westward. Pūpūkea is a popular area on Oʻahu's North Shore for living and for visiting. The best known surfing sites of Velzyland, Sunset (at Sunset Beach Park), Kammieland, Pūpūkea, ʻEhukai, Pipeline (these latter two off adjacent ʻEhukai Beach Park and Banzai Beach) and lesser breaks are arrayed off this shore. Popular diving and snorkeling areas known as Three Tables and Sharks Cove are located at Pūpūkea Beach Park. At the southwest end of Pūpūkea is Waimea Bay, with one of the most popular beaches on the island forming the shore at Waimea Beach Park. Popular residential areas here include the beach lots at Sunset Beach and the uplands of Pūpūkea. As the properties in this area were subdivided in the 1950s and 60s and classified then as country, the lots in the uplands were all measured out in 1 acre or greater parcels. The biggest drawback to living in this part of the island, however, is the considerable driving distance of 37 miles (60 km) to Honolulu. The U.S. postal code for Pūpūkea and the communities of Waialeʻe, Sunset Beach, Lihilani, Waimea, and Kawailoa is 96712.

Puʻu o Mahuka Heiau State Historic Site on the North Shore of Oʻahu is the largest heiau (temple) on the island, covering 2 acres (8,100 m2) on a hilltop overlooking Waimea Bay and Waimea Valley. From its commanding heights, sentries could once monitor much of the northern shoreline of Oʻahu, and even spot signal fires from the Wailua Complex of Heiaus on Kauaʻi, with which it had ties. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, when it became the center of a 4-acre (16,000 m2) state park. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.Puʻu o Mahuka means "Hill of Escape." Hawaiian legends have it that from this point, the volcano goddess Pele leaped from Oʻahu to the next island, Molokaʻi. The highest of the heiau's three walled enclosures may date to the 17th century, with the lower two enclosures perhaps added during the 18th century. These were times of great conflict, and the upper platform appears to have functioned as a luakini heiau (a sacrificial temple) to bring success in war. During the 1770s, the overseer of this heiau was Kaʻopulupulu, the high priest of the last independent high chief of Oʻahu, Kahāhana. In 1792, George Vancouver's ship, HMS Daedalus, anchored near Waimea Bay to collect water. Three men in his shore party were killed in a skirmish with Native Hawaiians, 1930's archeologist J. Gilbert McAllister noted it was "probable" that the bodies of the three men were then taken to the heiau as human sacrifices. After Kamehameha I conquered Oʻahu in 1795, his high priest Hewahewa led religious ceremonies here and the heiau remained in use until the traditional kapu system was abolished in 1819.At the start of Makahiki, the four months of Hawaiian New Year, an observer standing at Kaʻena Point would see the Pleiades (Makaliʻi) rising out of Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau just after sunset. The site can be reached from Pupukea Homestead Road (Highway 835), which starts at Kamehameha Highway (Highway 83) across from Pupukea fire station.

The Waimea River is a river in Honolulu County on the island of Oʻahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The river's main channel is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and has a watershed spanning 13.6 square miles, with a total length of 24.4 km (15.2 mi) when its tributaries are included. It is formed by the confluence of the Kamananui stream and the Kaiwikoʻele stream northeast of Haleiwa and flows northwest through the Waimea Valley to the Pacific Ocean at Waimea Bay. The name Waimea translates to "red water."The mouth of the river has become famous for its waves that are created when residents dredge the beach, creating a channel that allows the watercourse to drain when it is cut off by the beach.

Waimea Bay is located in Haleiwa on the North Shore of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands at the mouth of the Waimea River. Waimea Valley extends to the east of Waimea Bay. Waimea means "reddish water" in Hawaiian.

Waimea Valley is an area of historic cultural significance on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. The valley, being an important place in Hawaiian religion, includes several historical structures including stone terraces and walls constructed during the time of the Hawaiian monarchy. The nutrient-rich volcanic soil combined with a rainy environment provided the resourceful Hawaiians of the area the opportunity to create one of the most prosperous farming communities in all of Polynesia. The area had complex fish ponds, domesticated animal pens, various large farming beds, and was famous for the cultivation of pink taro root stock, a coveted item to the Ali`i (the Hawaiian elite). Much of the garden floor was once cultivated for taro, sweet potato, and bananas, with new crops and orchards introduced by Europeans after their arrival.

The Opana Radar Site is a National Historic Landmark and IEEE Milestone that commemorates the first operational use of radar by the United States in wartime, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is located off the Kamehameha Highway just inland from the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii, south of Kawela Bay. It is not open to the public.

Kawailoa Wind Farm is a wind farm near the Waimea Valley, on the North Shore of Oahu. Commissioned in 2011, it comprises 28 wind turbines. At maximum capacity the farm is able to produce 69 MW. Kawailoa Wind Farm has been operational since 2012 and is a part of Hawaii's renewable energy efforts. Despite its clean energy, there are unintended ecosystem impacts on some native species of birds and bats, and efforts to mitigate these threats are ongoing.

The North Shore, in the context of geography of the Island of Oʻahu, refers to the north-facing coastal area of Oʻahu between Kaʻena Point and Kahuku. The largest settlement is Haleʻiwa. This area is best known for its massive waves, attracting surfers from all around the globe.

Kawela Bay is a census-designated place and small community in the Koʻolauloa District on the northern coast of the island of Oʻahu, City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, ka wela means "the heat". As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 325.