There has to be a first time for everyone.

And yesterday, for a whole passel of North Shore newcomers, the timing was perfect.

"We've always wanted to see this," said Bret Hooppaw, 45, of Raleigh, N.C. Hooppaw, his wife, Veronica, and twin 12-year-old boys James and Clayton, witnessed the fabled North Shore big waves at Sunset Beach on the day the National Weather Service issued its first high surf advisory of the season.

"The boys have never seen anything like this. They're going, 'Look how small the surfers are.'"

Not far away, Pete and Melissa Thomas of Tallahassee, Fla. — celebrating a two-week honeymoon — watched in awe. Pete Thomas marveled at the waves and those with the skill to ride them.

A lifelong Daytona Beach surfer, Thomas said he's waited all his days to lay eyes on the North Shore swells he's seen for years on film and in magazines. He couldn't believe his luck in arriving at Sunset at the same moment the season's first 18- to 20-foot waves rolled in.

"When I was a kid, we'd get in front of the TV set and watch ABC Sports, and it was Gerry Lopez, Rory Russell and Mark Richards and all the guys," said Thomas, 38.

"This is the real thing. I've been surfing as long as I could swim, but I'm strictly an observer today. I wouldn't touch those waves."

North Shore lifeguards spent much of the day warning the inexperienced about the hazards of huge swells.

"The surf's up, and it's big and dangerous," said North Shore lifeguard Pat Kelly. "And the best break right now is Sunset Beach. A lot of people here have never seen waves this big before."

Not many first-timers seemed anxious to do anything more than stare goggle-eyed from the shore and snap pictures.

"Just swimming in these conditions would be challenging," said surfing buff Jose Torres, 38, of Portland, Ore., who had never been to Hawai'i before but who declared the North Shore his No. 1 Island destination.

"What these guys are doing out there is something that maybe 1 or 2 percent of the extreme sports fanatics can actually achieve — to get out there in 18-foot waves? It's crazy."

Torres' wife, Jill, was so overcome by surfers hurtling down the face of mountainous cliffs of water that she clapped and cheered out loud.

"Look at that guy right there!" she screamed. "How big is that? There goes another one — look at him, look at him!"

Toby and Nicole Babina of Chandler, Ariz., were equally mesmerized, although Toby paused to inform those around him that he had actually surfed before.

"In Arizona," he said. "At Big Surf."

Still, the couple showed no desire to get any closer than where they were planted in the sand — about 50 yards from the water's edge.

The happiest human on the whole beach may have been 7-month-old Ryan O'Connell — decked out in a wide grin and a "Little Surfer Dude" T-shirt — who gleefully took in all the action, along with his parents, Ted and Nichole O'Connell of Los Angeles.

"We were just doing a loop around the island and got lucky, I guess," said Ted O'Connell, a scoreboard operator with the Los Angeles Lakers. "We didn't know this was the first big swell of the season."

Meanwhile, inquisitive first-time North Shore visitors Linda Harry and Carol Jones of Virginia, sidled up to veteran surfer Paul McCurdy as he waded to shore with his surfboard tucked under his arm and a satisfied expression on his face.

"How do you know what you're looking for?" Harry wanted to know.

"It comes with 30 years of riding waves," began McCurdy.

He then paused to detail to both women how a big-wave rider goes about angling across the wave in such a way as to remain in the "clean, smooth face and as close to where the breaking white water is — and, hopefully, it goes over you and you get into the tube."

And as wave-riding days go, the women wanted to know, how did this one stack up?

"This is as good as it gets," said McCurdy, 46, a man who has literally experienced the Endless Summer, having surfed the best waves in 20 countries.

"There's no better place than the North Shore."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.