Kona Boys Beach Shack — Local services in Hawaii

In the hopes that other older professionals can learn from my situation to have a truly pleasant experience in an outrigger canoe.

Summary: Best for groups; not geared for solos Puffery to obtain sign ups: caveat emptor!! Advantage of being right on the beach Get parking validated at the hotel bar: $10 minimum, but better than $17.50/hr in the lot.

Details: this place, highly recommended by my BnB hostess, has two locations: one “up” on the highway, one “down” on the beach @ the Kamehameha hotel. I set up my canoe experience for the 9:30 AM session, made my deposit, and asked (as usual) if any other information were needed for the event. No, everything was covered, per the charming tanned young woman at the “up” store, with fun souvenirs, beach & surf wear & accessories. Who called me a couple hours later to tell me canoeing had a minimum of one. I pointed out I was one. Oh, she says, at least one MORE. (Why didn’t she tell me this when I was signing up?) We ended up agreeing that I would be called ASAP either way, and if they had enough people for the AM trip I’d drive to the beach, and if not, I would go to Waimea first, then come back for the 12:30 PM outing. She had assured me, during the sales pitch, that facilities were available for changing & rinsing at the beach front location. By 8:30 AM I had heard nothing, so I dressed for the midweek farmers’ market & started the trek up the coast. By 9:10 I was concerned at the radio silence, and called the office. No answer. Got a call back from Jeremy, the only person I encountered in the situation with enough brain cells to rub together, who said the AM excursion was a “Go”. Then he asked, did they tell you about parking? No, they had not. Since they hadn’t even bothered to call, not a surprise. You have to park at the hotel’s parking lot, but the beach shack can validate your ticket. So I shift plans & drive into the hotel lot: $17.50 per hour to park. Yikes! I show up at the beach shack where the very laid back “beach dudes” held court. No, no changing rooms: I could try the restroom in the hotel.

The actual experience was nearly worth the outlay. However, I highly recommend solo travelers pay one or 2 in-shape locals or tourists to accompany you: I got 2 middle-aged LDS couples from a cruise ship. The self-appointed first seat, Scott, couldn’t quite manage to recall the directions about switching sides, making our paddling transitions shaky, and the other male had to fiddle with his sports selfie stick constantly. Scott also found this an opportunity to “make cute” with his wife, seated behind him, and by attempting to splash her only got Selfie Stick & me wet. Our 70-year-old “guide” performed all the sacred rituals (you have to ask the sea to enter & return) and gave us the 101 course of local history, which anyone who had been to the island before would have known. His knowledge base proved adequate until my questions became complex. We actually “paddled” maybe 25 minutes of our time together: the mini-lectures took up the rest. I think Scott gave him a $5 tip; I didn’t. Back on land, asking for the parking validation: turns out they can only give 1 hour stamp, leaving me with $17.50 out of pocket. The ONLY useful information Island Boy provided was that if you ordered at the outdoor bar from the hotel, you could get a full day validation. As usual, nearly accurate. Jody & Kahlin at the bar (when it opened at 11) provided the brightest spot in my morning. Jody told me the hotel required a $10 minimum tab for parking validation, but gave me the stamp anyway (and I tipped her $5, which, with my $5+ Diet Coke® (that she refilled) brought me over the minimum). She also let me use the “nice” guest restroom to change clothes. A pipe & spigot at the edge of the beach allowed for washing feet.

If I go again, I’m going to find a couple people who know how to paddle & take them along: it would be worth the extra $138 just to be able to really paddle. I’ll also surely check out other purveyors, but many make you carry your own rental down...

Some of my childhood years were spent on Oahu boogie boarding 3 to 5 times per week and now, a generation later, I came here with my family and wanted to take them boogie boarding. we went to Kona boys to rent. After we paid the worker, took a pile of boards and threw them down. I could see that they were Kmart style foam boards that were not laminated side to side, while in the back, there were larger boards that were fully laminated. I stepped into the rental building at which time the employee told me to “Get out of the office.” I am not sure why customers are not allowed to look at the rentals prior to renting. I asked the worker if I could have the bigger boards. He said they are all the same. I decided to play along with his charade and I said OK can I have the yellow one? Once I got the yellow one it was much larger, and it was also laminated edge to edge. This was very important because one of my sons is over 6‘1“ tall and he weighs over 240 pounds. Then the saga continued when we were getting fins and he tried to give my son fins that were over 3/4 of an inch too big and he said those are fine. They would’ve come off in the wash in a matter of seconds. We refused that set and got another set. I’m just thankful that I had plenty of experience in my youth because someone just vacationing here without experience would’ve really been up the creek if they went to this rental shop while he was there and they would’ve been in for one really frustrating day as their fins fell off and their soft foam board left much to be desired.

I was treated in a threatening and intimidating manner with my children. The worker had a temper tantrum and told me to get out, and lied about the size of the boogie boards.

My only regret is that I wasn’t wearing a body camera because this would’ve went viral. I literally didn’t say more than five words to this person and he did all of this against my family and I. What a sad day. What poor representation for the owners...

I've lived here on island 12 years and try to find something "new" to experience when Mom comes over to visit each summer. This year we tried Kona Boys 1 hour tour on the Wa'a (outrigger canoe). I assumed we'd share the wa'a with a few other people and was so thrilled to find out it would just be the two of us and our stellar guide Grant!

My mom is turning 76 this month, has double hip and a knee replacement and Grant was so patient and caring helping her in and out of the wa'a. Not only is he an impressive wealth of Hawaiian history, he has such an easy and friendly personality and made us feel completely at ease. The pace of his "tour guiding" was perfect and so conversational. Not like he was just reciting a memorized script like some tour guides, but like he's really taken the time to learn SO MUCH wonderful history of Hawai'i. Even as a 12 year resident, I learned all kinds of things about more recent and super ancient history. All while being circled by a huge pod of sleeping dolphins.

To be so far out in the water in just a few minutes while staying almost completely dry was really cool and to experience and connect with the ocean in such a silent and gentle way was truly, truly beautiful. And considering just how expensive things are these days, I felt the entire experience was completely fairly priced. (Not something I'd expect from the most touristy area of our island.) Worth every penny. I just wish the tipping came after the service, as we had such a beautiful experience and felt so cared for I certainly would've tipped more.

I will be recommending to all my friends here on island and anyone who comes to visit. And I might just have to go again later this summer. Thank you so much Grant and the Kona Boys...