100 Years Ago: Blast from the Past at Waimea Bay (Photos)

Historic images show Waimea from 100 years ago, and noticeably, the beloved “jump rock” – where locals and tourists alike flock, specifically when the waves are small in the summertime, to dive into the sea – a fraction of what it is today.

Commenting on the historic flashback photo, provocateur and longboard legend Joel Tudor wrote: “Proof that climate change is fake! That rock has been at same elevation since forever.”

Others rebutted Tudor’s claim.

However, there is documentation that sand was delivered from the North Shore of Oahu to the south, in an effort to reinforce the shores of Waikiki. Per the archival database, Images of old Hawaii, they note that:

“Reportedly, before sand mining operations removed over 200,000 tons of sand at Waimea Bay to fill beaches in Waikīkī and elsewhere, there was so much sand that if you would have tried to jump off Pōhaku Lele, Jump Rock, you would have jumped about six feet down into the sand below.”

In addition to sand from Waimea, barges brought over sand from Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s to bolster the burgeoning Waikiki.

As for the waves at Waimea, and how they may have changed due to the sand removal? That’s up for debate. Yet today, although other big wave spots have emerged as more progressive fields for pushing boundaries in heavy surf, Waimea remains the OG.