A Morning with AccesSurf Hawaii
One morning during my recent trip to Hawaii, I got up before sunrise and headed toward the south shores of Oahu with my brother and one of my nephews. After a quick stop at Leonard’s Bakery Malasadamobile in Waipahu for some very fresh, and very tasty, malasadas, we reached our destination a little after sunrise. White Plains Beach was already bustling with dozens of volunteers setting up canopies, rolling out walkways, and unpacking surfing gear.
My brother has been stationed at Schofield Barracks for a couple years, and he’s volunteered with AccesSurf for a good part of that time. And as luck would have it, they were having an event during my stay, and of course I wanted to go see what it was all about. Over the course of the morning, I got to meet many of the organizers, volunteers, and participants. And much to my surprise, I found out that several of them already knew about me and had been following me on social media!
AccesSurf helps those with disabilities safely enjoy beach and water activities. From their website: “AccesSurf builds an inclusive community that empowers people with disabilities through accessible beach and water programs. Today, AccesSurf hosts more than 40 events each year, facilitating well over 2500 ocean experiences annually and has a volunteer base of over 900 people.” From my perspective after spending the day seeing some of what they do, they do a huge service to those with disabilities. They help them safely do things that they simply would not be able to do without this kind of support. If you’d like to lean more about AccesSurf, check out some of these links:
For my part, I had an absolute blast photographing and videoing this event. I think my excitement during this event may have come close the the excitement I saw in the volunteers and participants. I also used a waterproof dome housing for the first time, allowing me to get out in the ocean waves to get up close and personal as the participants experienced the joy of surfing. It was a great day all around, and I hope one day I get another chance to be a part of something like AccesSurf! Check out my video from the day below, as well as the full photo gallery from my morning with all these incredible people!
