The Brazilian Bikini on the North Shore of Oahu

The North Shore’s surf spots such as Chun’s and Puaena are known to frequently have young ladies in tiny Brazilian Bikinis floating around.  How is this allowed to happen? Some call the North Shore the Bible Belt of the island?  a nod to the many Christian based churches based here.  The classic old school local girl used to wear board shorts and a -T-shirt at the beach as a way of being modest.  So what happened?  The answer is that in the ’80s a flock of Brazilian Bodyboarders arrived not only wearing tiny bikinis but selling them to all the local surfer girls.  Some even opened bikini shops, married locals and changed the culture for better or worse.  For the record, the policy at North Shore Surf Girls surf school is for all our instructors to wear leggings, not only for modesty but to protect our skin from the sun’s harmful rays while teaching surfing lessons.