North Shore Oahu Surf Cams — Complete Guide to Pipeline, Sunset, Waimea

The seven-mile stretch from Haleiwa to Sunset Beach on Oahu’s North Shore is the most-watched coastline in surfing. Pipeline alone has more video footage than any other surf break on Earth. Live cams let you watch this coast from anywhere — useful for forecasting trips, checking conditions during big-wave winters, or just getting a tropical Pacific view at your desk.

This is the cam-by-cam guide.

Pipeline (Banzai Pipeline)

The most famous wave in the world. Located between Ehukai Beach Park and Pupukea. Three-tier reef break: Backdoor (right), First Reef Pipeline (left, the iconic barrel), Second Reef Pipeline (much bigger swells, breaks farther outside).

Best viewing:

• Late afternoon — the offshore breeze peaks, hollow conditions
• Bigger swells (10ft+) — Second Reef activates, rare and dramatic
• Pipeline Masters competition (December-February window) — most live coverage of the year

The cam typically points down-the-line catching breaking waves. Sound on captures the wave thunder.

Sunset Beach

A mile and a half east of Pipeline. A point-break setup that handles bigger swells than Pipe — Sunset works clean up to 20+ feet. Different vibe: more open ocean, more wind, longer rides.

Best viewing:

• Big NW swells (15-25ft) — cleanest at Sunset
• Mornings before trade winds pick up

Waimea Bay

Just east of Pipeline, the home of Eddie Aikau big-wave history. Waimea typically doesn’t break unless waves are 20+ feet — a “rest of the year, swimmable bay; 4-5 days a winter, biggest waves anywhere” pattern.

The Eddie: the contest is held only when swells exceed 20 feet at the Bay. Most years it’s NOT held. When it does run, every cam in Hawaii spikes.

Best viewing: giant swell windows (typically December-February). Waimea cam is generally boring 9 months out of the year, then spectacular for ~5 days.

Off the Wall + Backdoor

Off the Wall is just west of Pipeline (toward Pupukea). Backdoor is the right at Pipeline. Both share cam coverage with Pipeline often — same vantage point captures all three.

Haleiwa

The town of Haleiwa is the western anchor of the North Shore. Haleiwa breaks (Ali’i Beach Park, Pua’ena Point) handle smaller swells than the bigger names — useful when “real” North Shore is too big to surf.

Velzyland

Eastern end, near Sunset. Punchy right-hand reef break. Cam coverage is lighter here than the marquee spots.

Where to find the cams

Several broadcasters/sites carry North Shore cam coverage:

• Surfline (subscription for HD; free SD on most spots)
• HiSurfAdvisory Instagram (clips, not live)
• Camsurf (some North Shore cams)
• Port of Cams aggregates and links to live spots when available

When a cam URL goes stale (the cam stops broadcasting), our feed-health-check script auto-disables it within hours. So the cams you see on Port of Cams are working when listed.

How to read a North Shore cam

Wave size estimation:

• Pipeline cam: when waves are taller than the cliff/horizon line in the background, it’s 10ft+
• Sunset cam: count “stories” of the lifeguard tower — waves taller than the tower = 12ft+

Wind direction:

• Whitewater blowing offshore (back into the wave) = clean conditions, good
• Whitewater blowing into the wave (onshore) = messy, bad
• Glassy (no whitewater spray) = perfect, rare

Crowd density:

• Empty lineup at a famous spot = either it’s marginal, or it’s a crowd-thinning factor like “extremely big waves” or “evening light fading”
• Pack of 30+ surfers = something epic happening

Best season

• November - February: peak North Shore winter season. Big swells weekly. Pipeline Masters and similar events.
• March - April: shoulder. Smaller swells, less crowded, easier conditions.
• May - October: small / flat winter spots. South Shore picks up the slack (Waikiki, Diamond Head). North Shore cams show calm bays mostly.

Pair with the broader Hawaii cam stack

If you’re already watching North Shore Oahu, also worth bookmarking:

• Sheraton Waikiki for South Shore reference
• Kilauea live cams for volcano content (different island, but same trip planning)
• Mauna Loa Observatory for above-the-clouds context

For more Hawaii cam guides, see the /cameras/region/oahu/ and /cameras/region/big-island/ regional pages.

Visiting in person

If watching the cams pushes you to book a trip, North Shore Oahu is at its best November through February for big-wave watching. The drive from Honolulu Airport to Haleiwa is ~45 minutes.

For tours and lodging, Viator’s Oahu tours lists guided North Shore experiences and surf-watch packages. The Turtle Bay Resort area is the closest large lodging to Sunset Beach; smaller B&Bs and rentals dot the coastline.