hawaii-oahu
#4. Oahu, Hawaii: The island of Oahu in Hawaii has been a surfing fixture for decades. From the historic black and white images of the Waikiki Beachboys in the 1930's to the longboard championships at Makaha in the 1950's to the iconic tube slouches of Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell in the 1970's, what happens on this island has influenced every aspect of modern surfing from surfboards to boardshort to contests. While the South Shore and the West Side have lost influence and appeal in recent decades, Oahu still shines a beacon to the surfing world every winter as the Triple Crown of Surfing brings the best surfers to The Country for three big-wave events and the resulting mediafest covering five weeks of the world's best showcase of competitive and performance surfing. Image: Callahan/surfEXPLORE
Surf is everywhere. It rolls past our coastlines, whipped up by storms off shore, held up by offshore winds, and can go from playful to terrifying the blink of an eye. Sometimes it’s blue, sometimes green, sometimes gray. Whatever it looks like, it’s always beautiful. Islands have some of the best waves, and this gallery shows twenty of the world’s best surfing islands. From India to Indonesia, there’s a wave for everyone.