Pupukea Beach Park | Snorkeling at Three Tables Beach

North Shore had some of the best snorkeling sites, at least that was how we remembered it. Problem was, this time around we couldn’t quite recall where we last snorkeled so we drove past beach after beach to and from Haleiwa until we finally decided to stop at Three Tables Beach. By mid-afternoon the crowds of tour buses and surf/paddleboard classes had thinned out and we easily found parking at Pupukea Beach Park.

After quickly changing into our swimsuits (in parking lot, in the car), we grabbed our snorkeling gear, walked down to Three Tables Beach, waded in the calm waters, and awkwardly slipped on our fins, toppling over multiple times in the process. The vastness of the ocean has always terrified me, no matter how many times I’ve snorkeled or scuba dived, but it has always fascinated me as well. I pulled down my mask, affixed my (broken) snorkel, pushed away any fears, and dove down beneath the surface, anxious to see the world below.

Prior to our trip, as I packed our snorkeling gear, I realized that my scuba mask was MIA. This resulted in me ransacking our apartment, opening every single storage bin, and emptying every closet in search of my missing mask. It never turned up and several frustrating hours later I called off the search. I could have sworn I set it aside to pack with our things when we moved to Korea, but more than likely I set it aside, forgot about it, and it was packed with the other outdoor gear we decided not to bring with us in our overseas move.

On the plus side, that mask, as expensive as it was, never fit my face quite right, so while we were in Waikiki, we found a small (and awesome) dive shop near our hotel and tried on every single mask. Turned out that I needed a low profile mask that sat closer to my face. Thankfully, the mask that best fit – a free diving mask – was also one of the cheapest.

Unfortunately, that mask was pretty much the only piece of equipment we had that functioned correctly, because of course we didn’t bother to do a gear check before before we decided we wanted to snorkel at Three Tables Beach. When will we ever learn?

Sly’s mask, which had sat in our gear bin for who knows how long, leaked water like crazy due to a broken seal. Meanwhile, my snorkel clip snapped off the second I tried attaching it to my new mask. Ugh. We ended up cobbling together makeshift gear with Sly using my swimming goggles (which I brought with me for some odd reason) and holding his breath to dive under the surface while I used Sly’s snorkel. Eventually I figured out a way to attach my broken snorkel to my mask using my hair elastic so that we were both able to use our snorkels.

Once we finally resolved/stopped caring about our gear issues we swam for hours in an amazing weightless underwater world, chasing fish and exploring all the underwater ledges.

this above photo kind of makes my chest tighten a bit. creeeepy.

We didn’t swim with any turtles this time around but we were more than happy to peer inside our real-life aquarium of bright, colorful fish.

Since I was a kid I have always been freaked out by the ocean, large bodies of water, and even pools, yet, somehow when I get over that fear and go below the surface, I am filled with feelings of wonderment and awe. It’s as if the ocean holds some sort of trans-formative magic.

I found myself swimming along the table ledges as waves crashed overhead, washing bubbles of sunlight over me. I peered inside one of the ledges and came face to face with a huge, stone-camouflaged fish. Above-water Veronika would have been terrified of such an encounter, but my alter ego, Underwater Veronika, couldn’t get enough. I swam back and forth and in and out of the rocky shelves in search of more hidden creatures.

I’m glad I never read this description of Three Tables Beach before snorkeling there or I doubt I would have ever made it off the shore:

…the waves can reach heights of over 20 feet (6 m) in this area… The surf can be unpredictable…so never turn your back to the ocean when you’re in the water…

I think this is like the millionth time I’ve read about not “turning your back to the ocean” while in Hawaii.

And people wonder why the ocean freaks me out. Shudder.

Of course we took a few underwater selfies! 

We spent the entire day swimming around and under (or in?) the ocean. It sprinkled a bit throughout the day and the waves crashed a little bit harder, but even then I couldn’t bring myself to leave. There was just too much to see, and I didn’t want to miss a second of it.

OTHER STUFF

• For those who have asked, my swim/surf suit is the Hermosa made by Seea (no affiliation, just my honest opinion). I found it on the clearance rack at a shop in Waikiki and fell in love with the bright colors and bold graphics. I have worn this suit quite a bit since snorkeling at Pupukea and I absolutely love it. So cute, so comfortable, super sun protection, and made in the USA! Seea swim stuff can be a bit pricey but there are quite a few styles, including the one I’m wearing, currently on sale. If you do end up buying one online, I feel like they run small. I have broad shoulders, a long torso, and a booty and my usual size felt way too tight in the arms and shoulders and way too short overall. I sized up and my suit was still form- fitting without being peeling-off-a-wetsuit tight. I’m saving up to buy another, preferably on sale!
• Technical Note: Since many people have asked, most of these photos were taken using my camera phone, housed in a cheap, yet effective, ziplock-like bag that I bought off Amazon. I had to pretty much shoot in video mode while under water as it was hard to touch the screen while the phone and pouch were submerged. As a result, the quality of these photos aren’t the greatest, but not too bad considering how inexpensive the housing cost, not to mention how portable and lightweight. We also used an old Panasonic ZS-3 (newer models are now available) to capture some of these photos. What I love about the ZS-3 is that it doesn’t need any underwater housing at all (up to a certain depth). It’s a nice point and shoot to carry around because it takes decent photos in all kinds of conditions, and if you drop it (and we have so many times), it most likely will survive. We have had that camera for five years and it’s always been good to us. Something to note about the two previous options is that you can only submerge the camera/camera phone to a certain depth, which is fine for snorkeling but definitely not for a deep dive. This year we upgraded to a GoPro, so I’m curious to see if the quality of photographs will be much different.