Five Waimea Bay surfers brave the high surf today. Close attention will be paid to the conditions at the beach today. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Beach closing, contest-postponing, washing-over-the-road huge.

With wave faces of 20 to 30 feet and occasionally higher, the National Weather Service this morning extended its high-surf warning for all northwest facing shores.

A high-surf advisory also was in effect for west-facing shores on O'ahu, where some spots could see waves of 10 to 15 feet, the weather service said. Large surf was forecast for all islands, but the swell was expected to decrease slightly by tonight.

On Kaua'i, lifeguards reported 40-foot wave faces in Ha'ena and closed beaches from Hanalei to Polihale.

O'ahu lifeguards on the North Shore called the surf the largest so far this winter.

O'ahu Civil Defense Acting Administrator Doug Aton today said the strong surf, which prompted the closure of Waimea Bay yesterday, had not damaged property. But waves washed over Kamehameha Highway at Laniakea and Sunset Beach and along Ka Waena Road.

Aton said civil defense volunteers and city lifeguards would be paying close attention to conditions at Waimea Bay, where the mountainous waves regularly lure unsuspecting beachgoers into hazardous conditions. Yesterday, the surf washed all the way up to the Waimea Bay restrooms, a distance of about 50 yards.

Spectators and photographers line Waimea Bay today to view the monstrous waves. Officials warn that beachgoers may be lured into hazardous conditions. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"That's pretty far," Aton said. "I'd say if it does keep up this way, we will close the park."

City lifeguards, who prepare all year for conditions like this, were on edge today as they worked to keep the public at a safe distance.

"It's super-dangerous," said veteran North Shore lifeguard Lt. Pat Kelly. "These are the kind of days where it is dangerous just to be on the beach. Every once in a while, a rouge wave can wash up the beach where it wouldn't before."

Conditions were so gnarly that even professional surfers stayed out of the water.

Heats in the Rip Curl Cup, a professional surfing contest at Sunset Beach, were canceled for the second day in a row. Waves were closing out along the normally calm channel at Sunset Beach.

"Today we have the biggest swell I've seen all year," said Randy Rarick, executive director of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which oversees the contest.

"It's breaking out on what we call the fifth reef, about a mile out to sea. It's at least 20 to 25 feet plus at Sunset."

Some waves flooded the contest area on the beach, Rarick said.