Waimea Bay, a crescent-shaped bay on Oʻahu’s North Shore, is famed for both its striking setting and its central place in big-wave surfing. Known in Hawaiian as “reddish water,” it lies at the mouth of the Waimea River below Waimea Valley, in an area that was densely populated at first contact. In 1779, Captain Charles Clerke briefly anchored here during James Cook’s third voyage, the expedition’s only stop on Oʻahu. Overlooking the bay, Puʻu o Mahuka Heiau remains an important Hawaiian temple site. After surfers first rode its giant waves in 1957, Waimea became one of the world’s most prestigious big-wave breaks and remains a powerful symbol of Hawaiian surf culture.