Kaneohe Bay Base Marina

Best deal on the island! When family comes to visit we always rent a pontoon and take them to the sandbar. Find a landing spot away from the tourist, Have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful scenery on your own, can’t beat it. They also rent smaller housing boats, and a speed boat, kayaks, etc.

Kaneohe Bay Base Marina is a hidden GEM! Offered to military and DoD employees, they offer a wide variety of services to rent for cheap!
(Current Pricing of Recreation & Equipment Rentals)
First experience at Kaneohe Bay Base Marina was to rent a pontoon for a birthday party. Prior to the event, at least one person had to get their boat license (marina boat license, different from the state boat license) to drive the pontoon.
Licensing is simple.
–watch a series of licensing videos on their site
–short online quiz after videos
–schedule and pass a bay check with an instructor
(only the marina boat license is required to drive their boats)
The bay check was a group test despite what the site says, which was great! Less pressure! Instructor and staff were all friendly and helpful. After obtaining the license we rented the new luxury pontoon for $ 180 for 4 hours. (This was during the winter season; summer season prices are a little higher)
The birthday party was a success despite the cloudy weather… would definitely plan another pontoon party in the near future!
Tips:
–check weather (KBBM honors cancellations with a 48 hr advanced notice)
–KBBM refunds if weather is severe & ruins trip (more than just rain… call to ask before returning to the dock)
–bring lots of food & drinks (non-​alcoholic) to share with friends!
–BBQ grills are no longer allowed on pontoons
–ask workers for the fishing pamphlet to read up on their rules/​regulations (outlines rules pertaining to the marina’s wild life, includes a map of the allowed fishing areas)

We rented a pavilion out for the day which was $ 30 so not bad at all. My problem was that its impossible to find if you don’t know the base well. I was sort of the party planner so I had people calling me off the hook and I had no clue where to tell people to go. I tried calling the office probably ten times and nobody answered. Once we did find what we thought was our pavilion there were people there bbq’ing. I proceeded to ask if they had this rented and they said no. So nobody from the marina is managing who has what rented out for the day. We drove around till we found an empty pavilion and just took it over. The people next to us didn’t pay to rent so we figured they would get booted before us.
I would say know exactly where your pavilion is before you go and go early incase someone else has decided to set up camp at the one you have actually paid for.
I still would like to know where these mysterious pavilions are…

I love this place. Due to the fact that they offer everything from sailboats to footballs. All sorts of ocean gear, fishing gear, camping gear, bar-​b-​que equipment and leisure items such as bicycles and hats.
If I ever feel like renting water equipment, this is the first place I look. I am confident in saying they might have the best deals I’ve seen on the island. At most places you’ll drop over $ 50 for a few hours of rental time, but here you can get a 24 hour rental period for less than $ 40. I’ve rented kayaks here several times, paddle and back rest included (unlike those BS tourist places that charge for the back rest). And for 24 hours it cost me a measly $ 25! Awesome! And a paddle board is $ 35 for 24 hours unlike most places that charge $ 60 for a day.
The staff is civilian so no need to worry about any hassle, and they also have great customer service. (if this place wasn’t ran by civilians they’d probably have less stars.). But anyway! They’ll have you pull up your truck to the loading area and the staff will take your receipt and fetch your rental as well as help you load it into your truck.
When you return your equipment they ask that it is clean and they conveniently have a hose you can use to rinse off your equipment right near the return area.

At Kaneohe Bay Base Marina, those eligible through military or dod service may rent a pontoon boat for 4 hours for $ 110 INCLUDING VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED GASOLINE! There is ample free parking. We arrived early and watched the unloading of some big transport vessel. Kinda interesting.
I have been invited several times in the past to go on a 4 hour tour to the Sandbar but I had previously always declined. I finally decided to go and it was a very fun afternoon motoring to the sandbar and back. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

My only complaints are the hours. I wish they could stay open longer. But, how can I complain about renting a sailboat at $ 5 an hour?

Rented the SUP’s for 3 hours and its much cheaper than any other place on the island. We have yet to utilize the boats/​licensing but we will do that soon!

Great place to rent a boat or put yours in the water… if you’re military that is.

Where else on the island can you rent a pontoon boat for 4 hours for $ 110? What an awesome deal! I just got my fishing boat license ($ 20 annual fee) and can’t wait to rent out one of their boats and head for the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay!
At the Marina you can also rent things such as kayaks, OC-1’s, SUPs, water skis, snorkels, bouncy houses, boat slips, etc. They have pretty much anything you’d need for a fun day in the sun.
It’s the best kept secret for marine enthusiasts and unfortunately you have to be active/​retired military or DOD employee/​spouse to take advantage of their programs.

We went here to do some kayaking today. Bad choice in days, it was quite windy making it hard to go very far. Guy at the front desk was nice, explaining that we can just choose our kayak, let him know the number and then leave.
To rent a double, 2 person, kayak it is $ 7 an hour. For a single kayak it’s only $ 5. You can’t beat those prices. They also have boat rentals, sailing classes and other water sport options.
Only bad part is that you can’t leave the bay. I like to have a destination or at least some wildlife to look at when kayaking, but there isn’t much opportunity for that here.