President Barack Obama and his family visited a beach Sunday on the western edge of the same Marine Corps base where he's been using the gym and has played golf and shot hoops during his vacation.

Reporters traveling with the president weren't allowed to accompany him to the shore and wasn't able to see what Obama's group was doing there.

The beach, known for its great bodysurfing waves, is the same one the president briefly visited Saturday after playing a round of golf with friends.

It was unclear if Obama, who grew up bodysurfing in Hawaii, went in the water. White House aides said only that the president and his family were enjoying lunch at the beach.

Obama hasn't been seen on the waves himself since August 2008 when he returned home for a vacation during the presidential campaign. That time, he spent about 30 minutes in the water at Sandy Beach, a favorite bodysurfing spot on Oahu's south shore.

Pyramid Rock has been dubbed “;one of Oahu's bodysurfing jewels”; by the Honolulu weekly paper Midweek. The Marine Corps sponsors an annual bodysurfing contest at the beach.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay is just minutes away from the Kailua beachfront home the Obama family is renting for the holidays.

Earlier today, Obama worked out and played basketball with friends and staff at the gym on base.

The president arrived at the gym at shortly before 7 a.m.

Obama has been to the gym at Marine Corps Base Hawaii every morning since he arrived on Christmas Eve.

His family plans to stay until Jan. 3 in Kailua, where he's rented a beachfront vacation home.