Sideways Breaking Waves on Ka’anapali Beach Shown in Photos

Elizabeth Weintraub in a cabana on Ka’anapali Beach, waiting for sideways breaking waves.

Sideways breaking waves is a new phenomena to me. I first heard of it when I hopped the Maui Ferry to Lanai and visited Mike Carroll’s Art Gallery in Lanai City with Hella Rothwell earlier this week. We had the pleasure of meeting Kathy Carroll who is married to the owner artist. Kathy is also the founder of the Lanai Cat Sanctuary, one of Trip Advisors main attractions in Lanai. Nowadays, Kathy works mostly in the art gallery, which also supports local artists, and leaves the day-to-day operations of the Lanai Cat Sanctuary in other hands.

We were discussing an oil painting by guest artist Billyo O’Donnell; you could smell the paint fresh on the canvas. I remarked how the sun exploded into his work, and Kathy crouched to the floor to point toward a series of breaking waves. “You can see the sideways breaking waves,” she explained, motioning with her hands. Sideways? I had never heard of sideways breaking waves, but I saw it in that painting.

Billyo O’Donnell is interesting for many reasons but he also pens a cute story on the back of his artwork. It’s related to why he created the piece and his thoughts about it. But back to sideways breaking waves.

You’re used to the waves coming directly at you, right? But that’s not what always happens in Hawaii, especially when the beach is curved and you’re not facing immediately west. Looking at a map, I can see Ka’anapali Beach is south of Black Rock, slightly sheltered and angled west. Hulopo’e Beach in Lanai is situated in a similar manner, so maybe that’s why both of these areas feature sideways breaking waves. I don’t know really know, just throwing the thought out there.

As I sat on the beach and watched the waves break, they continued breaking to the right and rolling into shore. So I shot a series of photographs that show this action. You can see 5 photos of sideways breaking waves below. It starts with the big roll heading toward shore but you can easily see how much larger the roll is on the right. By the fourth photo, the waves are definitely breaking toward the right, going sideways:

Sideways breaking waves first photo by Elizabeth Weintraub.

Sideways breaking waves second photo by Elizabeth Weintraub.

Sideways breaking waves third photo by Elizabeth Weintraub.

Sideways breaking waves fourth photo by Elizabeth Weintraub.

Sideways breaking waves fifth photo by Elizabeth Weintraub.