Kayak Central at Pineapple Park

This place is a rip off, and the owner Annie is a rude, heartless, female dog. After renting snorkel gear for my family (5), for 24 hours, I found out that they are not only over priced, but the equipment is marginal. I returned the gear about 1 hour after the 24 hour rental period, and Annie said,” you late, pay extra, pay extra!” I thought maybe she would let it go, or charge for a half day, no such luck from grumpy Annie. I then had to tell her that my 7 year old daughter had her snorkel and mask sink to the bottom, after trying to get the straps to stay snug for about the 20 th time. She said that it was $ 90 new, but it had been used a few times so she would only charge me $ 50. First off, we would still have the gear if it had worked properly, and secondly, I bought the same mask and snorkel in San Diego at Dicks sporting goods for $ 29.99. Save yourself being ripped off and being treated like crap, and rent your snorkel gear anywhere on the island but Pineapple Park.
Thanks Annie, for the only bad experience after a week in Kailua Kona.
Btw, the only reason she has more than one star for reviews, is for the Hostel, and not the Snorkel rental.

Hook your mesh bag to the kayak! If it capsizes and you lose all the equipment and don’t realize it until you’ve rowed away, the replacement fee’s $ 80 per snorkel set.
Everything’s a little more expensive than if you rent in downtown Kona, and they only let you keep the kayak until closing (instead of a full 24 hours), but it’s conveniently on the drive down to the bay… and they’ll let you play with their dog.

We rented snorkel gear early in the week to haul around the island. The owner, Annie, was out and Mike rented us the gear. He gave us advise on how to hike to the Capt. Cook monument, and also kayak across the bay. We went back Wednesday and rented a kayak. They had us loaded up and on the road in 15 minutes. We had the most amazing snorkeling experience at the monument but I lost our car keys when I threw them in the boat… there are holes in the bottom of the kayak. (sigh)
A couple from South Carolina was there and had rented a kayak the same time we did. They hauled us (and our gear) back to Pineapple Kayak and Hostel in their rented truck. Annie immediately offered us her truck keys to save us the $ 100 Budget was charging us to deliver a new key to the car. We drove to the airport got the keys and we’re back vacationing in time for dinner. We returned the truck and Annie noted our sunburn (we didn’t put on sunscreen) and promptly cut some aloe plant from her backyard. She rubbed aloe on us and showed us how to cut the rest of the plant she gave us. We cannot recommend Pineapple Kayak and Hostel enough. THANKS ANNIE!

We were planning on renting a kayak from the place next door, but found this place instead.
An older gentlemen helped us with all the rental gears and strapping the kayak to the rental car. He gave us direction to go down to the bay. He was very nice and helpful.
The place actually has very nice women life jackets and very comfortable, but the men’s jackets are more like the typical ones you see at all the other rental place.
The rental price is actually cheaper than all the other places I checked out online and in the guidebook’s recommendation. This was a very good surprise find.
Definitely would rent from them again if we come back to Big Island.

Hubby and I rented kayaks from Annie and were impressed with the equipment and service. Annie was really sweet and told us a lot about the Big Island. We originally stopped in just to buy anti-​fog stuff for snorkel masks we borrowed from friends. I’d intended to rent a kayak from one of the places listed in the Big Island Revealed guidebook (a great resource for the Big Island!), but once we met Annie and found out her great prices we decided to rent from her. Someone who works for her loaded the kayak onto our truck and told us that local folks would help us down by the launching point closer to the bay, and they were right. The locals down there were awesome and helped us unload the kayak and gave us advice about how to tie it up once we got to the snorkel area. We were so grateful and tipped them well for their service.

Wow Annie is a great hostess. We stayed 2 nights and rented gear from PPK. We upgraded to the room w bath. Great for a Hostel! We hostel all over the world and this was like many with a common kitchen (including interesting people and the yummy smells) We recommend it to any wanting an inexpensive, homey place to do the Kona coast from.
PS check the Euro SCUBA shop across the street!

We rented our kayak here. It was one of the cheaper places (don’t remember the exact price), but you can rent for ½ a day. The owner was really nice and had a super cute dog.
Not a 5 star experience because we had to bring the kayak down to the beach ourselves. If it wasn’t for a super nice guy at the dock, we would have had trouble loading and unloading the kayak on to our car and into the ocean.

When another kayak rental outfit down the road ran out of gear, they begrudgingly recommended Pineapple Park as an alternative. Next time we’ll go there straightaway. Annie was very friendly and helpful, and gave us a discount since it was late in the day. In very little time we had our boat and gear loaded and we were off to spend an amazing afternoon kayaking and snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay.

Great place to rent a Kayak if you are heading to Kealakekua Bay. The owner made sure we had everything we needed for Kayaking. She was very detailed in explaining how to get to the Kayak launch dock and and how the dock is opperated. She also give us other suggestions for what to do on the Island. The equipment was also in great condition. She provided everything we need to load and unload the Kayak onto our Rental Car.

The owner is extremely helpful and puts you at ease. She helps you load the kayak on your car and answers any questions you have. The gear offered is in good condition, and it’s extremely close to one of the best snorkeling spots on the big island.

After renting kayaks in a couple of other places in the Hawaiian islands on this trip, I think I can say with confidence that Kayak Central has it down. Nice kayaks, nice gear, nice people. They’re the closest kayak rental to Kealakekua Bay, which means you’ll only have to drive a couple of miles down a ridiculously windy road with kayaks strapped to your rental car.
They’ll load the kayaks on and off the car, give you tips on where to go if you need them, and are some of the friendliest people I met while I was on the Big Island. Annie, one of the owners, was a riot.
I recommend going into the bay in the relatively early morning (in Hawaii that’s like 9AM), putting those kayaks into the water, and paddling out into the bay in hot pursuit of the spinner dolphins, who’ll gladly let you swim with them. Good luck keeping up! Captain Cook Monument is a little farther away, but worth it… the best snorkeling I’ve ever done, along the most beautiful reef I’ve ever seen!