Sunset Beach
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Sunset Beach is a beach in Hawaiʻi, at a modelled elevation of 14 m. Kaʻala stands 1,229 m to the south-southwest, 13 miles off. The nearest named place is Backyards Beach, a attraction 0.5 miles away.
The story
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 (3.4 by 3.4 m) 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.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7641228, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
How to reach it
Named places within 25 miles
- Backyards Beach: 0.5 mi
- Banzai Pipeline: 0.5 mi
- Pillbox no.1: 0.6 mi
- Shark's Cove: 2.1 mi
- Banyan Tree: 2.6 mi
- 'Ehukai Beach Park: 0.9 mi
- Sunset Beach Neighborhood Park: 0.9 mi
- Little Plumeria Farms: 5.5 mi
- Puaena Point Beach Park: 6.5 mi
- Haleiwa Beach Park: 6.6 mi
- Puʻuwaihuʻena: 1.7 mi
- Puʻukauweweole: 2.1 mi
- Mount Kawela: 2.7 mi
- Puʻukī: 3.9 mi
- Puʻukapu: 6.3 mi
- Waialee Beach: 1.2 mi
- Three Tables: 2.5 mi
- Waimea Bay: 2.8 mi
- Turtle Beach: 3.5 mi
- Turtle Bay Beach: 3.5 mi
- Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau: 2.6 mi
- Pillbox: 2.7 mi
- Shane Franchek Memorial: 4.3 mi
- Haleiwa Airstrip: 6.4 mi
- HMH-463 Memorial: 6.6 mi
- Pupukea-Paumalu Forest Reserve: 2.7 mi
- Kaipapau Forest Reserve: 9.4 mi
- Hauula Forest Reserve: 10.0 mi
- Ewa Forest Reserve: 12.1 mi
- Mokulēʻia Forest Reserve: 13.2 mi
- Aunty Coco's Lei Garden: 3.0 mi
- Pineapple Garden Maze: 10.4 mi
- Urban Garden Center: 19.9 mi
- Bio Filtration Landscape: 21.9 mi
- Haiku Gardens: 23.2 mi
- Hawaii's Plantation Village: 20.1 mi
- Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum: 22.2 mi
- Pearl Harbor Visitor Center Exhibit Galleries: Attack and Road to War: 22.3 mi
- USS Missouri: 22.4 mi
- Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum: 22.4 mi
- Punamanō Spring: 4.6 mi
- Waiawa Spring: 20.0 mi
- Kalauao Spring: 21.1 mi
- Keaʻahala Spring: 23.9 mi
- Waimea Falls: 3.1 mi
- Pavillion: 7.8 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 19.6 miles of Sunset Beach. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kaʻala | SSW 209° | 1,229 m | 13.3 mi |
| Puʻukalena | SSW 204° | 1,068 m | 14.1 mi |
| Kamaohanui | SSW 208° | 1,024 m | 12.7 mi |
| Puʻukaua | SSW 193° | 940 m | 16.6 mi |
| Palikea | SSW 192° | 938 m | 18.4 mi |
| Puʻukawiwi | SSW 213° | 899 m | 15.1 mi |
| Puʻuhapapa | SSW 196° | 879 m | 14.9 mi |
| Puʻukūmakaliʻi | SSW 201° | 878 m | 14.4 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 06:37 | 18:14 | 18:44 |
| June solstice | 05:51 | 18:46 | 19:18 |
| September equinox | 06:22 | 18:00 | 18:30 |
| December solstice | 07:07 | 17:23 | 17:55 |
Local time (Pacific/Honolulu).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: year-round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 70 | 70 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 74 | 72 |
| Precip in | 4.7 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 6.1 | 5.5 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Waimea Valley 892.2, 3 mi away.
The nearest NOAA station publishes daily tide predictions.
NOAA CO-OPS station Haleiwa, Waialua Bay, HI, 7 miaway — today’s predictions live there.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidataOpenStreetMap element way/12541972
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