Cove Cay Marina — Attraction in Largo

There are plenty of kayak rental businesses in the Tampa Bay area, but Cove Kay Marina offers several advantages for customers that the others don't.

First, the rates are very good ($30 for a single or tandem kayak for four hours at the time of this review). Most of the other kayak companies charge significantly more for a shorter duration. Also, the staff is not strict about the return times (i.e. they will not charge you a late fee if you happen to return a few minutes late). On a recent outing, I got lost in the canals and was 30 minutes late on return. The staff was very understanding and did not penalize me for my stupidity.

The key advantage that Cove Cay Marina has over the competition is the quality of the kayaks they use as rentals. They use Hobie kayaks, which retail for around $1300. This may not seem important to the casually kayaker but for those of us who kayak on a regularly basis, we know that trying to kayak for long distances using the cheap, bathtub like kayaks that other companies offer is a miserable experience. For this reason alone, I will not rent a kayak from other companies because I don't want to expend all my energy attempting to paddle these monstrosities in a straight line. Hobie kayaks are very stable and easy to paddle, even out in the open bay where you will encounter currents, waves and wakes.

Finally, you the choice of two very different kayaking experiences to choose from. If you are of the brave variety, you can venture out into the open ocean and possibly spot dolphins or do some fishing. If you prefer a more relaxing, scenic route, you can navigate through the canals amongst the mangroves and birds that populate the area. I have found that with other kayak companies, you can only one option to choose from (e.g. river, open water, etc).

For these reasons, I STRONGLY suggest using Cove Kay Marina as you primary kayaking...

Rating right now because of someone who rated earlier. I have used the boat mechanic ( Bengi) there for 3 years and counting. I trust him so much I have referred him to my lieutenant, several friends and family. The review that has been left us beyond ridiculous. Bengi is beyond professional, honest, respectful....but one thing he has is a no frills...bs attitude... he's great at what he does... in particular a review went as far as screen shot their text thread...(sorry for me that's just sketchy and as a man I don't really go that route) trying to throw the R word....I'm sorry but bengi is practically off the boat from Puerto rico.... I myself am a Cuban born (political refugee here in the states) American. In our culture we describe eachother based on what ever we have... I'm bald... so I'm called out as bald.. if someone looks asian we call them asian... if someone is chubby... we call them gordo..etc .. so calling him racist is hilarious... trying to hurt someone's job and livelihood is just beyond crazy amd shows how petty some people can be.... if you want a great mechanic.. see bengi at...

If I could leave 0 stars I would bc I was so hugely disappointed with our experience. We traveled all the way from New Orleans and expected something totally different. We've rented boats before and they were by far the most disappointing. The staff was somewhat friendly but the boats are not up to par. Speakers were NOT working so no music, There was NO GPS or depth finder on the boat raising a lot of concerns amongst the group. There also wasn't a gate door on the right side of the boat family time we were going to to rent so there was a concern about our stuff flying off the boat. They did try to accommodate us but we just have a higher standard of rentals and just chose to leave. Thankfully they gave us a refund. You truly get what you pay for so if you want something cheap with little to none amenities this is the spot for you. For us we will be paying for better quality next time. Island Marine Rentals is where we...