Late January Options -- Hawaii or Baja?

[cwall]

Greetings Surf Travel Forum!

I'm lucky enough to have 10 days off this January and I want to go surfing. I live in Los Angeles and was thinking that I'd load up the Toyota and head down to Baja, but then I saw that tickets to Kauai, Maui, Big Island, and Oahu are super cheap right now.

I am an intermediate long-boarder. I'll take a mellow, glassy shoulder-high point break over a barreling beach break any day of the week. I'd love to go to Oahu and possibly see the 7-mile miracle firing, but there is no way in hell I'm trying to paddle out into any of that insanity.

My question is this: If I go to Oahu in January and the big Norths are rolling in, then will there be anywhere a little more chill for me to surf elsewhere on the island? I think I'm going to rent a sleeper van, and so I could go anywhere on the island after taking pictures of all the hell-men on the North Shore gets old. Could I roll over to Waikiki and dink around in some more manageable stuff, or is it totally flat in the winter? I could also do the van thing on Maui or Kauai, and have always wanted to see the Napali coast...

Thanks for all responses!

[scsurf]

Oahu sounds ideal,
1. warm water.
2. Triple Crown
3. If you can get it between swells, laniakea (Lani’s)
(Turtle beach, not Turtle bay) on the North Shore is pretty fun and not too treacherous.

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah there are often places where the waves aren't so big. Oahu is an island and there are breaks all over it. The problem remains finding uncrowded surf however sometimes when the north shore is pumping everyone is focused on that and other breaks will be not so big and breaking nice. I haven't surfed Oahu in over 30 years however so I am not too sure how all that plays out in these times. Sometimes I guess it's risk verses reward. I went to Sunset beach once when it was breaking pretty nice at about 6 feet. Crowded as heck but inside there was a little tube that no one was riding. I went there and got multiple tubes plus a few scratches on me and my board from the shallow reef but hey I got tubed at Sunset I used to go to Mai'ili point when the waves were big on the north shore and it would be 6 foot tubing out and only one guy out. Of course that wave might be out of your range of abilities it's a fast breaking left reef break with lots of sections. But once again this was more than 30 years ago. I have never been to Baja so nothing to say about that

[waikikikichan]

I think I'm going to rent a sleeper van, and so I could go anywhere on the island after taking pictures of all the hell-men on the North Shore gets old.

There are no sleeper vans to rent because sleeping overnight in a car is illegal.

One advice, DON'T bring your favorite longboard. It is cheaper and safer to rent a board ( on Oahu ).

[Yellowy]

I would go for Oahu in this case. Better option in my opinion in many ways. Sometimes there is very cheap property for rent in Hawaii. Hope you will be lucky and there is a variant for you by the end of January. Good luck and we wait for a trip report and photos )))

[RinkyDink]

If you live in LA, then I'd go to Baja because you'll probably want to go back, especially since you're in LA. I'm sure Hawaii is amazing, but I'd only go to Hawaii if I knew some locals who could plug me into the right places to go. I did meet surfer the other day who told me about his vacation to Hawaii where he went out at Pipeline. He said it was a small 3-4 foot day and he didn't have any problems. I doubt Da Hui is going to come at ya on a 3-4 foot day. They only go after Australians anyway

[waikikikichan]

I did meet surfer the other day who told me about his vacation to Hawaii where he went out at Pipeline. He said it was a small 3-4 foot day and he didn't have any problems.

So if that surfer was a California local, then that 3-4 foot day was actually 1-3 on the Hawaiian scale.

[jaffa1949]

Rinky, I'm Aussie, never had a problem with Da Hui, nor have my Aussie friends, beingrespectful and patiently capable fixes a lot. Then I suppose people who have egos about surfing are not among my friends.
Haoles of all types who turn up with ego and entitlement, that's another story.
Mainlanders who venture onto the northshore with egos are reminders of "the annexation of Hawaii" by the USA and the overthrow of old family areas by rich mainlanders!

Any whiff of that attitude towards a wave, and problems occur!

[RinkyDink]

Rinky, I'm Aussie, never had a problem with Da Hui, nor have my Aussie friends, beingrespectful and patiently capable fixes a lot. Then I suppose people who have egos about surfing are not among my friends.
Haoles of all types who turn up with ego and entitlement, that's another story.
Mainlanders who venture onto the northshore with egos are reminders of "the annexation of Hawaii" by the USA and the overthrow of old family areas by rich mainlanders!

Any whiff of that attitude towards a wave, and problems occur!

It was humor I don't even think Da Hui exists any more, but they might be on call depending on the number of Aussies at the beach

[oldmansurfer]

Da Hui is still going. I heard they might run the backdoor shootout but it's 2 days into their waiting period and can't find it. They are still the guys who control the lineup at Pipeline or so I hear.

[oldmansurfer]

Da hui Backdoor shootout is on right now