📍Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
“I was born and raised in Honolulu, and the ocean was my backyard from the very beginning. We lived simply near Waikiki — the beach was our playground, our larder, and in many ways our church. I could swim before I could run with any confidence. My mother used to say the sea chose me. I represented Hawaii and America at the Olympics, broke world records, and carried a surfboard to every coastline that would have me — but to me it was always about those warm morning swells at Waikiki, paddling out before the crowds arrived, feeling the wave lift beneath the board and carry you home.”
👍 LovedDawn surf sessions before anyone else is awake, the smell of salt and plumeria blossoms, ukulele music drifting from an open window, and the moment a first-timer finds their feet on a board and realises what it feels like.
👎 DislikedCold water, pretension, crowds in the break, and the way people sometimes forgot that surfing was born in Hawaii long before the rest of the world discovered it.
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today