Kona Boys – Beach Shack

Fantastic Service. Very helpful with getting us a paddle board by Captain Cook. They load the board on our jeep for us.

Lost an arm and leg even before we snorkel by renting our gear from this place. Very costly rental and yet provides sub par snorkel gears. There are many other places that provides cheaper rental of much better equipmnt. I would rather spend my money buying a snorkel set from Costco than renting from this place.
1 star for its freindly staffs.

We took the Morning Magic tour with Jerrod and Danielle. They were amazing and we had the best experience! Their knowledge of Kealakekua Bay, their stellar personalities, and their post meal suggestions are spot on! Thank you Jerrod and Danielle, as well as everyone at Kona Boys! Mahalo!

Had a wonderful time paddling the Kona Boys wa’a (outrigger canoe) today! I’ve done this a few times in Hawaii, but it was my partner’s first time. No problem! Our Kona Boy, Ali’i (Justice) gave us a quick lesson on proper form with the paddle and off we went from the little beach in front of the King Kamehameha Beach Hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) onto the bay. Ali’i pointed out the features of the canoe and we got our rhythm right away, gliding along the calm waters of the bay. A large yacht, owned by local resident Paul Allen, was in the bay, giving us a great point of reference to «aim» for. Ali’i entertained us with a mix of local history, place names, and current events as we took short breaks between paddling.
At about one hour in duration, this is enough exercise to get the blood pumping, but it won’t exhaust you. You also can do this with little or no experience, and you don’t need to be an athlete. If you do it right, you shouldn’t even get wet above the knees, and that’s just entering and exiting the canoe at the beach.
Ali’i went above and beyond… that’s the legendary spirit of Aloha you find on the Big Island. He gave us a couple of good lunch & dinner recommendations, and even gave us his phone number in case we needed any more local advice or wanted to come back and try any of their other water-​based activities. We tipped 20% on our total… The Kona Boys (and wahine) all were super nice and work as a team to make customers feel at home.
Pro tip: The Kona Boys will give you a little safe deposit bag to store your wallet, keys, etc. and you can leave your footwear at the shack while you play. Best of all, if you park in the King Kamehameha Beach Hotel parking lot, they will validate your ticket.

A very convenient place to rent your kayak or canoe. Just past the dock when you get off the tender from the cruise ship, out the gate and to the left. The guides are knowledgeable and the prices are reasonable.

Kona Boys made it super easy to rent a couple stand up paddle boards and enjoy a morning in the bay on our first day in Hawaii. Using the Unilocal checkin was easy and quick and they even let us trade in our SUPs when we wanted to get a little snorkeling in before our hour rental was up. Highly recommended.

If you like being treated like a haole tourist who deserves to have your money taken from you because you have an unlimited supply and you do not respect the delicate balance between humans and nature and its spiritual significance in this island, for many who hold it sacred (regardless of what you are actually like) — then this is the place to rent your equipment!!!
However– if you are more of a «do unto others as you would like to have done unto you» type of person, and would like to support businesses that seem to operate under the same principle; i.e. you would not appreciate my experience at his place, which was having someone tell me to my face «there is enough demand here that we don’t have to worry if our customers walk away unsatisfied, because someone else will come along even if you don’t come back,» after I went out of my way to very kindly explain what was going wrong in our interaction, then I don’t recommend renting from the Kona Boys shack on the King Kam beachfront or buying anything from their store that is mauka.
If you don’t care about any of the «social» stuff, then FYI– the review of the SUP and paddle I rented (for $ 29 for 20 mins) is this: board was ok– although having told them I was a beginner I would have appreciated one that had a rounder, less pointed front, and perhaps a reminder on a couple «best practices» before I took off. Paddle was made from cheap material (it seemed). It was adjustable but they did not bother to help me size it or let me know how to adjust it. And the paddle part itself, which does the work in the water was a bit «tore up.» Earns one star.
Not sure if other places are different but I’ll be searching Unilocal to find other places to try out and will write a review if I have a notably better experience.
*full disclosure, I am a «fat tourist»; so, according to Louis R., that may make me hatable, even though I didn’t realize…

I’m not happy with this place. First, they did not have fins that would fit my daughter and then her goggles did not work. For that reason my daughter could not snorkel at all. You may want to skip this place and rent your gear from another shop.

My husband and I rented a two person kayak and used the Unilocal discount. So it was $ 29 for two hours, very reasonable! They were very friendly & helpful. We had a great time and enjoyed the scenery from the water.

I hate long lines. I hate fat tourists. I hate annoying mainland southerners in Hawaii.
This spot had none of those when I got my kayak. Aloha.
Easy and quick, when it comes to grabbing a kayak or canoe, setting off, snorkeling or free-​diving in the Pacific to peep some green turtles and coral fish.
The guides are very helpful when it comes to general info about the Big Island.
Mahalo braddaz.

I got the Unilocal deal and went paddleboarding!
I really liked getting the SUP board here. staff was friendly, helpful.
i struggled in the beginning with paddeling and they made sure to give me some helpful tip to make sure i got it right.

This is the place to go on Alli Drive for watersports rentals. …kayaks, paddleboards and more. I had am amazing time renting a kayak and paddling around with about 50 dolphins — simply amazing! Alii with Kona Boys was very helpful — Mahalo!
Located on the beach at the Courtyard Marriott King Kamehameha’s Hotel.

Came here to try out their canoe experience. Our guide was great and gave us some good food recommendations during our stay.
It was a fun experience and we definitely got a good workout out of it. Would recommend for anyone looking to experience some activity while you’re out here.

Very conveniently located right on the beach.
We had called in advance to make sure they’d have Kayaks available when we arrive and we were in the water in no time.

Our adventure to Captain Cook’s monument this morning with kona boys was truly amazing. Kai, our guide, was so fun, informative and knowledgeable. He is a local with extensive knowledge of the bay and Hawaii. He was able to answer just about every question my 4 kids threw at him. Thank you Kai for your patience and calm spirit. Kona boys is one of 3 outfits able to go on land at the monument. The whole experience was unforgettable and so special. The snorkeling was the best we found on the island. Kayaking while a pod of dolphins swam around us was just surreal. Awesome day!!!

Great day at the Captain Cook monument with Ben and Danielle. The history lesson while paddling the kayaks was enjoyable and informative. My fact-​checking husband even said Google verified all the information shared! It’s great this company can land on the monument and provides you with dry bags and a yummy catered lunch. Of the choices out there, these guys leave earlier which gets you in the water before all of the large catamarans arrive. The price was reasonable and the personal attention was first class. Thanks for a great day!

These boys were a great help. They were helpful in getting us our stand up paddle boards as well as keeping our beach bags safe while we were out.
We had mentioned that we wanted to see the dolphins when we had arrived. While one of them was checking us our boards, Wyatt snuck away to find out where the dolphins were. Very impressed with his sneaky tactics and letting us know where the dolphins were.
Had a lot of fun on my first day paddle boarding!

Wifey and I did the Midday Meander with Lauren. She was extremely knowledgeable, professional, and personable the whole way through. An absolute awesome day of snorkelling and kayaking! Frank in the shop was also top-​notch, in getting us outfitted with the gear we needed, as well as laying out exactly what we would be embarking on, and what to expect.
Kona Boys provided an excellent experience for a reasonable price from start to finish. Highly recommend!

Great prices, nice staff… BUT…
They keep your credit card information on paper in a little box with no lock. This is incredibly bad when POS systems are cheap and offer encryption. Identity theft is very common now and I would hate to see that ruin a cute business like this.
Otherwise, 5 stars.

What a deal! Stand Up Paddleboard Rental: 2 hrs for $ 29 w/​Yelp checkin (1 hour free w/​one hour paid). Kona Boys is located in front of the Kamehameha Marriott’s private little beach in Kailua-​Kona. There is also a large ABC Store up the street. KB also rents kayaks, and a bunch of other beach items like snorkels, chairs, et al.
My cuz wanted to try SUPing, so I said WTH. I’m down! Little did I know that I would be falling «down» a lot — LOL!!! I finally got the hang of it and paddled past the outside area. Unfortunately, there were no waves. However, the little area in front of the hotel was the perfect place to learn. The water was calm, and it was deep enough, but not too deep. In addition, there were plenty of colorful, local fish to see.
The workers there are super cool and they take credit cards. They let you punch in your own phone number or email if you want a receipt.
If you are in the Kailua-​Kona area, and want to try SUPing, I highly recommend Kona Boys. You won’t be disappointed. BTW, for once that beezie yf of mine Dani was right about some place. Although, I think she liked Kona Boys because she is pake (cheap)! LMAO!!!