canoe ride in Waikiki

Amw1064

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Has anyone done the canoe rides in Waikiki? I think it looks like a lot of fun and not to pricey. Is this something I would need to book a head of time? (leaving next week) Any recommendations as to where or which company?
 
We just got back from Waikiki and did one, they are super fun. It was $20 for three waves, but the waves are very long rides so you are pretty tired after the three. There are three or four along Waikiki that do it, I would try to go early no need to reserve in advance, they need 4 people so sometimes you need to wait a little while. Not sure if they take credit cards some are cash only alohabeachservices.com

Also I might add the sunset sails and the 3:30 catamaran sails are very popular and are selling out quickly. The morning sail is always open and very nice. I like this company because it has a very nice boat and you can reserve in advance. Leahi.com

Also if you have kids, the pirate boat is pretty fun. Looks like the Black Pearl. https://hawaiipirateship.com/
 
We just got back from Waikiki and did one, they are super fun. It was $20 for three waves, but the waves are very long rides so you are pretty tired after the three. There are three or four along Waikiki that do it, I would try to go early no need to reserve in advance, they need 4 people so sometimes you need to wait a little while. Not sure if they take credit cards some are cash only alohabeachservices.com

Also I might add the sunset sails and the 3:30 catamaran sails are very popular and are selling out quickly. The morning sail is always open and very nice. I like this company because it has a very nice boat and you can reserve in advance. Leahi.com

Also if you have kids, the pirate boat is pretty fun. Looks like the Black Pearl. https://hawaiipirateship.com/
Thanks so much!
 
We just got back from Waikiki and did one, they are super fun. It was $20 for three waves, but the waves are very long rides so you are pretty tired after the three. There are three or four along Waikiki that do it, I would try to go early no need to reserve in advance, they need 4 people so sometimes you need to wait a little while. Not sure if they take credit cards some are cash only alohabeachservices.com

Also I might add the sunset sails and the 3:30 catamaran sails are very popular and are selling out quickly. The morning sail is always open and very nice. I like this company because it has a very nice boat and you can reserve in advance. Leahi.com

Also if you have kids, the pirate boat is pretty fun. Looks like the Black Pearl. https://hawaiipirateship.com/
Was there anybody taking photos of the canoe ride? It's really important to me to get pics, but it's hard to tell who does online. Plus one of the beach boys (not sure which service) told me they often don't show up until close to 9.
 


Yes the beach boys are not overally business like, its the old guys who steer the canoes so 9 sounds about right. We did not get pictures, I know many do, best to ask, pictures are usually great to buy. Here are a couple more companies

faithsurfschool.com waikikibeachservices.com

Faith seemed to have the most boats going out. The other thing is this is real surfing and you have to paddle hard at times, some people get their feelings hurt when they tell you to paddle haddah.

Here is a video that is pretty accurate of what its like
 
Yes the beach boys are not overally business like, its the old guys who steer the canoes so 9 sounds about right. We did not get pictures, I know many do, best to ask, pictures are usually great to buy. Here are a couple more companies

faithsurfschool.com waikikibeachservices.com

Faith seemed to have the most boats going out. The other thing is this is real surfing and you have to paddle hard at times, some people get their feelings hurt when they tell you to paddle haddah.

Here is a video that is pretty accurate of what its like
Thanks so much. My daughter thought the video was awesome.
 
We just got back from Waikiki and did one, they are super fun. It was $20 for three waves, but the waves are very long rides so you are pretty tired after the three. There are three or four along Waikiki that do it, I would try to go early no need to reserve in advance, they need 4 people so sometimes you need to wait a little while. Not sure if they take credit cards some are cash only alohabeachservices.com

Also I might add the sunset sails and the 3:30 catamaran sails are very popular and are selling out quickly. The morning sail is always open and very nice. I like this company because it has a very nice boat and you can reserve in advance. Leahi.com

Also if you have kids, the pirate boat is pretty fun. Looks like the Black Pearl. https://hawaiipirateship.com/
I think I will book with Faiths for the canoe ride and still looking at the catamaran sails. Do you think it is doable to do both in one day. Also do you recommend the canoe ride for morning or afternoon? (Just realized the catamaran sail is the one I found a Groupon for.)
 


I booked my sunset catamaran ride with Maitai today because I was concerned about it selling out (end of June).

For the outrigger canoe rides, does the company have somewhere to store a backpack or something? We don't want to leave it at our chairs, and certainly don't want to take it with us! Looking forward to doing this.

BTW---we plan to do both the same day!
 
I took a ride from the beach boys at the main beach back in January. Great fun. They did offer a video for $40. The video was taken from the shore. I didn't buy it but they let you look at it before hand, so at least you get to see it if you don't want to buy it. Good quality.
 
I booked my sunset catamaran ride with Maitai today because I was concerned about it selling out (end of June).

For the outrigger canoe rides, does the company have somewhere to store a backpack or something? We don't want to leave it at our chairs, and certainly don't want to take it with us! Looking forward to doing this.

BTW---we plan to do both the same day!
Yes the outriggers have booths on the beach where they will hold your stuff.

We have been on all the catamarans and the Maitai is our favorite. They keep it clean, they have very good seating and it sails real smooth.

The most popular catamaran is the Na Hoku II because it plays to the party crowd, but it is not a very good sailing boat.
 
Thanks for your comments, longboard! Glad they'll have somewhere for the backpack. Good news about Maitai, too!

PS---my husband won't be bringing his long board, but I'm sure he'll rent a board for at least one day!!!

THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!
 
Update! We did the outrigger canoe ride with Faiths. I booked ahead and they were super nice. We all loved it and a lot of fun. They only do 2 waves versus 3 that some of the other companies did. (We watched) We did a 10:30 ride and asked about another ride later in the day but they were full. The only bad thing was nobody took pictures. They did the other rides. I asked after and the photographer guy was a little rude and said, "why would I bother when you were taking your own?" Ummm, I took no pictures as I was paddling. My daughter was not needed to paddle and she did use the go pro. So my advice would be to make sure you tell them you want pictures. I was a little upset but the go pro video is priceless and I guess we can screen shot from there for pics. Over all I would recommend and they stored our bag in their little booth. We had phones and money in a phone pouch that we wore around our necks.

We did the Maitai Catamaran 1:00 sail after an awesome lunch at Dukes. That was great. I had bought the groupon for it and we had so much fun. My 14 year old daughter actually said she liked it better than the canoe ride. We sat up in front on the sides of the net and got soaked. I would totally recommend it. They had spots on the boat to store your bags so they did not get wet and you could sit on regular seats if you had clothes on. We were in swimsuits so we didn't care.
 
Thanks for your comments, longboard! Glad they'll have somewhere for the backpack. Good news about Maitai, too!

PS---my husband won't be bringing his long board, but I'm sure he'll rent a board for at least one day!!!

THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY!!!
Oh my, the Dukes and Catamaran ride makes the perfect day.

Maybe we should mention, that everyone in Waikiki needs to eat at dukes, but it does get crowded. To get the best tables you need a reservation. You can make them on open table now, for the summer I would suggest 4 weeks in advance. And when you check in say you will wait a little longer to get s seat by the rail.
Update! We did the outrigger canoe ride with Faiths. I booked ahead and they were super nice. We all loved it and a lot of fun. They only do 2 waves versus 3 that some of the other companies did. (We watched) We did a 10:30 ride and asked about another ride later in the day but they were full. The only bad thing was nobody took pictures. They did the other rides. I asked after and the photographer guy was a little rude and said, "why would I bother when you were taking your own?" Ummm, I took no pictures as I was paddling. My daughter was not needed to paddle and she did use the go pro. So my advice would be to make sure you tell them you want pictures. I was a little upset but the go pro video is priceless and I guess we can screen shot from there for pics. Over all I would recommend and they stored our bag in their little booth. We had phones and money in a phone pouch that we wore around our necks.

We did the Maitai Catamaran 1:00 sail after an awesome lunch at Dukes. That was great. I had bought the groupon for it and we had so much fun. My 14 year old daughter actually said she liked it better than the canoe ride. We sat up in front on the sides of the net and got soaked. I would totally recommend it. They had spots on the boat to store your bags so they did not get wet and you could sit on regular seats if you had clothes on. We were in swimsuits so we didn't care.


Dukes and a Catamaran ride makes the perfect day.

We should mention, everyone in Waikiki needs to eat at Dukes. But it does get crowded, they give the best tables to the ones with reservations. You can now use open table, I would suggest for the summer 4 weeks in advance. AT check in tell them you will wait a little longer to get a seat by the rail. Also in the evening its a good place to pick up a nice lei for the Mrs.
 
Can little kids do this? My girls are 3 and almost 6 and I think this would be fun, but not sure if they are too young? My older daughter loves roller coasters and has just gotten a lot more comfortable with the water - I think she would get a kick out of this.

The Beach Boys website says 3 and up, so they are both eligible - just curious if anyone has done it with kids this young - obivously the girls won't contribute too much to the paddling.

Also do we need a reservation? We have 3 nights in Waikiki and I'm trying not to overbook, but also don't qto to miss out - we're going next week so it will be a holiday week and I'm expecting crowds everywhere :)
 
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Can little kids do this? My girls are 3 and almost 6 and I think this would be fun, but not sure if they are too young? My older daughter loves roller coasters and has just gotten a lot more comfortable with the water - I think she would get a kick out of this.

The Beach Boys website says 3 and up, so they are both eligible - just curious if anyone has done it with kids this young - obivously the girls won't contribute too much to the paddling.

Also do we need a reservation? We have 3 nights in Waikiki and I'm trying not to overbook, but also don't qto to miss out - we're going next week so it will be a holiday week and I'm expecting crowds everywhere :)
There was a family with 2 young boys in our canoe. They were behind me so I do not know if they were paddling or not. I think I would hold a spot because we did it at the 10:30 time frame and wanted to do it again and it was full for the rest of the day. We could have gone to another company had we thought about it.
 
Can little kids do this? My girls are 3 and almost 6 and I think this would be fun, but not sure if they are too young? My older daughter loves roller coasters and has just gotten a lot more comfortable with the water - I think she would get a kick out of this.

The Beach Boys website says 3 and up, so they are both eligible - just curious if anyone has done it with kids this young - obivously the girls won't contribute too much to the paddling.

Also do we need a reservation? We have 3 nights in Waikiki and I'm trying not to overbook, but also don't qto to miss out - we're going next week so it will be a holiday week and I'm expecting crowds everywhere :)
If you really want to do it, I'd make a reservation. The company I talked to talked me out of doing so (ah! No worries! Just walk up!!) and then there were ZERO captains (there or any other company) to take a boat out the day we went. Then the beach was closed on our Kona day, so we never got to do one, and that was high on my list
 
Was there anybody taking photos of the canoe ride? It's really important to me to get pics, but it's hard to tell who does online. Plus one of the beach boys (not sure which service) told me they often don't show up until close to 9.
Again, not one canoe went out the whole time I was there (which was just until noon or so), but the same guy who told me not to make a ressie (grr) told me the same thing about the photo guys.

I can tell you this--the company my kids took surf lessons from (as walk-ups) also had canoes but no captains that day, and their photo guy was there by 8. They were called Hawaiian Oceans and we were very happy with our instructor, our photos, and their prices. They were not among the companies I had researched (not sure why), but after the issue with the canoe ride, I wasn't using those guys, so gave Hawaiian Oceans a shot and was pleased. They're right behind the Duke statue.
 
Pulling my own thread back up as we are heading back to Aulani and definitely want to take a day trip to Waikiki and do another outrigger canoe ride. Since it has been a few years, does anyone have any new recommendations?
 
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I have already booked a surfing lesson for our DD, but think she would enjoy an outrigger canoe ride too. Thanks for sharing your video @Amw1064 - it's great and shows what a wonderful time you all had. I'm off to research canoe operators now.
 

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