Island Style Adventures - Maui Surf School Kaanapali — Local services in Maui

I attended a paddle boarding class taught by Matt, and unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience. From the start, Matt didn't wear a leash or ask us to wear it, setting a poor safety example. His entire instruction consisted of only three brief points: stand in the center with feet apart, keep the paddle's back facing you, and use two long strokes. He then quickly paddled away, leaving my partner and me behind. My partner couldn't even hear his brief instructions to get on the water since she was busy catching up.

As a beginner and not a strong swimmer, I specifically asked how to safely get back on the board if I fell. Matt's unhelpful response was, "Just get back up!" When I inevitably fell, I struggled significantly because I didn't know the paddle floats and was worried about losing it and couldn't get back up while holding it. After several stressful minutes and explicitly asking Matt for help, he casually informed me the paddle floats—essential information I needed earlier.

He then paddled away again, chatting from a distance and vaguely encouraging me to stand up. Due to the lack of instruction and support, I ended up sitting and relaxing on my own.

The water itself was beautiful, but the "class" added unnecessary stress. Honestly, I would have had a better time just learning from YouTube or going out with friends. Definitely NOT worth it for paddle boarding...

My daughter and I took surfing lessons from Island Style Adventures while visiting Maui 2 years ago, and we had an amazing and unforgettable experience with friendly and skilled surf instructors. At that time, my 7 year old daughter ended up surfing more waves than I could count on her own after catching a few waves with her very helpful and experienced instructor. We decided to book lessons again for our trip this year, and I immediately went with Island Style Adventures since I knew we would be in good hands and have a great time. Sadly, the day before our lesson was scheduled, my daughter developed a severe ear infection and had to stay out of the water. I wasn’t sure what our options would be, so I called and spoke with Nick who was extremely kind and understanding. He offered us multiple options for rescheduling or reformatting our lessons, but we were leaving the island the next day so none of the options would work and he agreed to a refund. We were so sad to miss out on our surfing experience this year, but I appreciated Nick’s willingness to work with us, and we will definitely book surf lessons with Island Style Adventures the next time we...

This is located right in front of Whaler’ village, on the beach. There was a 30-minute training session and then you walk down the beach to find some waves. Surf board, surf long sleeve shirt, and beach shoes provided (trust me you want these items). Our instructors Steven, Peter and Julian were great. They gave good tips and were flexible with surfers that wanted lots of instructors or those like myself who preferred to learn through experience. NOTE!: My wife and I went in early August and the waves were pretty small. I was expecting 5-foot swells at least but the biggest wave I surfed was probably 3 feet tall. Just keep that in mind. Good for first timers and children. But this is the case regardless of the surf company you go with, they obviously have no control over the size of waves you get at each time of the year. Overall, I would recommend Island Style...