Haleiwa, the surfer town of dreams

This summer, after a lifetime of wishing, our family was able to visit Hawaii for the first time. We spent a week on Oahu at the North Shore, and after hearing so much about what to expect and the many things not to miss, now we understand why everyone’s eyes light up when they talk about Oahu and the memories made there.

I’ll share some of our adventures on Oahu here, and some of the experiences that we loved. Whether you’ve been for your first time or still hoping to make the trip, I hope you’ll enjoy the pictures and feel some of the Hawaiian magic.

A Day in Haleiwa

^{_{Haleiwa is a surfers playground where some of the best surfing athletes train and live to be able to surf the big ones everyday. The beginner friendly, gentle and fun waves are the stars of the show in the summertime while the competition surfers wait for the beach pounding wild waves like Bansai Pipeline to wake up in the winter. If you went to the Oahu North Shore just to see the waves, it wouldn't be a wasted trip and you'd have your work cut out for you to visit all of the beaches with amazing waves, views, bays, and reefs.}}

One of the things that made this visit so special for our family was how easy it was to find our own little special places to enjoy, that in the moment, felt like they belonged just to our family.

After a morning of snorkeling at Sharks Cove, we wanted to explore Haleiwa. As we arrived in the town, everywhere we looked there were cute shops and fun nooks and crannies to explore. We stopped at Farm to Barn for some fruit smoothie bowls. If you visit, you’ll find that everything tastes as good as it looks. This shop sources all of its produce from local, organic sources, and we love that the packaging is all recycle-able with a focus on sustainability and conservation. After getting our smoothie bowls, we enjoyed the open air setting with views of the farmlands surrounding the restaurant. We noticed that the restaurant has a stage for performers and although no live music was being performed at the time of our visit, we would love to visit again for that experience.

Exploring Haleiwa is such a fun and color filled adventure. Haleiwa’s more modern history began as a sugar plantation and in 1984, Haleiwa was designated as a cultural and historic district that established guidelines for the businesses in the area to honor the history of the town by matching the architecture of shops and businesses to the early sugar industry period. This makes for a fun exploration as you walk through the town. The colorful, cute buildings draw your interest to every shop and the walkways are well thought out to take you around the town. The interesting mixture of original historic buildings intermixed with the new as well as green spaces and ocean views kept our interest everywhere we looked.

As we had just come from snorkeling, we were wearing bikinis, swimsuits, and board shorts and I loved the way we never felt underdressed. Everyone fits in in Haleiwa.

Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck

We received MaNy recommendations from friends to be sure to eat at Giovanni’s and we can join the masses in agreement that it was the best shrimp we’ve ever had and we can’t stop dreaming about it and hoping that we can duplicate something close to it at home.

Matsumotos Shave Ice

If you’re ready for the part of your life where every snowcone or slushie you ever taste will make you say, “This is good, but not Matsumoto’s good,” then you’re ready for the life changing shaved ice masterpieces made at Matsumoto’s. We loved that every flavor we tried tasted great and that they keep you guessing with the flavors that don’t always match the color you might think. There was something for everyone and delicious ways to make your snowball your own. I would go to Matsumoto’s every day if I could. Melon Lemonade with Ice cream for me. Yum:)

Rainbow Bridge and Mural Paintings

We loved walking and tasting our way around Haleiwa. As we meandered our way towards the beach, we came to the Historic Rainbow Bridge. Although the Bridge was in renovation at the time we visited, we were still able to walk across and watch all of the cute kids jumping off the bridge into the river below. Flips, cannonballs, twists, and spin jumps were all on display by the jumpers and we kept our eyes peeled for sea turtles in the water.

Murals painted on the sides of buildings are always a highlight and my favorite one to find this trip was the Haleiwa angel wings painted by Collete Miller as part of the Global Angel Wings Project started in 2012 to remind us that we can all be Angels to the people around us. We loved posing for pictures with the wings and are always on the lookout for more.

We also found a snowcone mural and I felt that it was pretty fitting to grab the snowcone that said “My Happy Place.”

We loved this cute little surf town and can’t wait to visit again!