Here's the latests in our series of beach lists from John Clark, the noted Hawaii beach expert and all around beach nut, will be feeding us his extremely informed take on beaches around Hawaii. You can buy his books at the University of Hawaii Press for a much more in-depth look.

Canoes: "This is the classic, traditional beginners surf spot for Hawaii. That's where everybody went from the beginnings of surfing to learn how to surf, from Hawaiian royalty to Duke Kahanamoku. Canoe's is really wide, probably as wide as a football field if not longer. It has a very flat shallow reef that's quite forgiving both inside and outside. Everybody learns inside at Baby Canoes to start and then they move inside. When it starts getting overhead and bigger, the current does move around depending on the swell direction. It's not necessarily a great place to learn on a really big swell as the waves even close to the beach can be strong. The currents can ether pulling towards the sandbar in front of the Royal Hawaiian hotel or drift over towards Populars, which is further outside. There are city Lifeguards on the beach and its quite well patrolled. A good portion of Canoes is a sand bottom break and the better waves definitely break further outside although even those waves are pretty friendly to beginners. The crowds are extremely mellow, although it does get crowded. The better surfers expect to see beginners there so no one loses their cool. All of the surfboard concessions are there and its the place the original Waikiki Beachboys offered lessons. You can go to rent surfboards, usually $20 or $25 for two hours, meet the beach boys, and get a surf lesson. It's also one of the only places in Hawaii where visitors can try canoe surfing. The Beachboys will take a group of total newbies out and have them dropping into waves in big outrigger canoes. It's pretty wild."

Image via Flickr/tiarescott

—Alex, 10/29/06