WorldUnited States of America › Hawaii › Abalolo Reef

Abalolo Reef 80.4

#1115 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · Hawaii · near Honolulu

Works almost every day, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterIntermediate
Abalolo Reef, United States of America
Photo: Daniel Ramirez from Honolulu, USA · CC BY 2.0 · source · photo taken 1.8 km from the spot
Surf score80.4 /100
Surfable days100% of the year
Clean days24% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell32% period 11 s+
Typical size1.7 m 5.5 ft median
Water26°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Abalolo Reef

The best time to surf Abalolo Reef is October, November, December. It rarely works. In November the water sits around 26°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.8 m. The nearest airport is HNL (4 km) and the nearest town is Honolulu (4 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%33%2.0 m25°Cboardies
Feb100%20%1.9 m25°Cvest
Mar100%28%1.9 m25°Cvest
Apr100%29%1.7 m25°Cvest
May100%12%1.5 m25°Cboardies
Jun100%9%1.5 m26°Cboardies
Jul100%6%1.6 m26°Cboardies
Aug100%12%1.5 m27°Cboardies
Sep100%11%1.5 m27°Cboardies
Oct100%37%1.6 m27°Cboardies
Nov100%38%1.8 m26°Cboardies
Dec100%36%2.0 m26°Cboardies

What is under Abalolo Reef

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 24 m. Alongside the bank the survey finds a channel, 34 m against 24 m, deep enough to bend swell onto one peak instead of spreading it along the beach.

Depth 8 km out24 m
Depth 4 km out20 m
Channel beside it34 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 80.4

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
21.6
Best days 22.4%
13.2
Clean days 18.4%
10.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
5.6
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 186° with 56% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 73% of days. Mean peak period 10.1 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.4 m, with a peak period of 13 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 8%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates 21.302, -157.898 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,460/ month
typically €2,160 – €2,760
Rent, one bedroom€1,290
Groceries€517
Eating out€295
Getting around€172
Phone + internet€184
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,800/ month
typically €4,220 – €5,370
Somewhere to stay€2,830
Eating out€1,010
Car, transfers, fuel€652
Data + extras€308
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 23% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

Spots nearby

Fishos🇦🇺 Australia · score 77.8Imperial Beach🇺🇸 United States of America · score 78.7Aivados🇵🇹 Portugal · score 77.3Fisherman's🇱🇷 Liberia · score 77.0
Compare Abalolo Reef with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.
Open the interactive profileMore spots good in November