To me, Hawaii was about Ukulele, Magnum, surf and volcano. I had no plan but spending a couple weeks in the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean. While I was there was the WSL triple crown final at Pipeline. Kind of the place to be in the world when you are into surfing. So here I go !!!

Before leaving LAX airport, I posted on Facebook a picture of my tickets to Hawai (the kind of post to make the other people jalous). By the time I landed in Honolulu, I had three comments, from my three friends into surfing, about this surfing competition. I had to see this.

So here I am, in Oahu, main island in the Hawaiian archipelago, where you can drink Starbucks Coffee in Honolulu and see loads of war ships in Pearl Harbour. Hawai, the Aloha state, somewhere over the rainbow. And indeed, there is a lot of rainbows. In fact it’s a little but like Brittany, it’s sunny several times a day. Meaning it is raining several times a day, but in a much warmer weather as our dear Brittany. And after snow in California where it was clearly wintertime, it felt good to hang around in flip-flops and finally using the mosquito repellent I was carrying for weeks.

The Aloha state? Well, after my first night I had some doubts. This is USA, and even being a small island in the middle of the Pacific, you better have a car and lots of bills in your pocket. I only had my hammock, and finding a place to sleep on the beach was not really easy. I ended up with the homeless people, my hammock hanged between two coconut trees, on a beach where you couldn’t swim because of waves and sharks. Because in Hawai, there is a lot of homeless people. One sang “La misère serait moins pénible au soleil” and he was right. And finally those homeless people where amongst the most friendly people I’ve met in Hawaii.

Back to real life, I booked a bed in the only backpacker hostel of the island (outside of Honolulu) and I was ready for the big waves, tough surfers and the small bikinis.

All the best surfers were here, the ocean condition was great. These is what they call the seven miles miracle: 7 miles of the most surf spot on the planet. I remember playing surf game on the Playstation with Mat. Pipeline was one of the spot. And here it is, in real, 40 meters from me. So I watched and that’s impressive.

Around the surfing itself, there is all the laid back relaxed way of life, the way to wave at people with your thumb and small finger stretched, the sushis and tacos trucks along the beach. And the friends I met in the hostel, from Italy, Brasil, Spain, Germany… Most of them flew thousands of kilometers to be here for this event and I was here, with my backpack and hammock. This was a lot of fun when I explained Cesar from Brasil, who barely never slept in a tent, about the gears I have in my backpack and how I’m travelling. Great evenings with you guys!!!

But there is more to it than surf. Hawaii is a real nature paradise, tropical flowers, volcanic rocks, unique mountains shaped by the elements. I did a couple hikes but it was not easy due to the heavy rains. Going up was ok but by the time you are back at sea level, your covered by mud because of constant sliding.

What about sunsets? Well, just have a look, doesn’t need any comments.

In Honolulu, I only spend one day, just enough to walk in and around an impressive Crater, who used to host a secret military complex aimed at defending the city.

That was one week in Oahu, but I had another week to spend in Hawai. This time I would do it different, and I’ll rent a car to make sure I see most of Maui Island.