National Park Canoe & Kayak Rentals

We came to rent paddle boards. They are the plastic kind that require a fin to at least gain some traction in the water but they didn’t have fins for the paddle boards. The guy even said they are cheap boards and suck and they are trying to sell them to replace them. I understand needing to update but renting crappy boards at premium rates is pretty unacceptable. Paid $ 72 and took it back in an hour because they weren’t fun. Met another couple on them with same experience: /​They definitely need to improve their fleet. It was not very enjoyable.

Excellent experience! The lake was beautiful and a great time was had by all. The price was reasonable for the 3 hour rental. The walk across the street with the equipment was not ideal, especially after kayaking for three hours, but it really was not a problem. Will do it again next time.

Came a second time this year and rented kayaks. A tandem and single. Get reservations! Great service. Gorgeous trip. Can’t recommend enough.
Cheaper prices at $ 21 per person fir the 5 – 8 pm slot.

So this was a first – being late in the season (October 1^st) and late in the day (4pm), we really thought the place would be closed by the time we got there. But we attempted anyway and were glad we did. Though the cash register was closed, they worked on the HONOR SYSTEM. And I guess in a wholesome place like Mount Desert, they can do this without thieves taking the kayaks and canoes. So we put our $ 35 (which gets you up to four hours of rental!) into the envelope to rent a tandem kayak and were off. The lake was just marvelous — quiet and mostly calm. Equipment worked fine and the kayak was comfortable. Lots of good life jacket selection and right across the street from the lake so you don’t have to worry about driving somewhere with a boat strapped to your car’s roof. Hopefully the owners see my message since they weren’t there to thank in person. :-)

This place was great!
First of all it’s super easy and convenient, because the rental place is located right about the lake, so you just get your canoe/​kayak and walk it down to the shore. We made our reservations in advance for 2 solo kayaks for «all day,» since I wasn’t sure how much we’d want to use them, so that was about $ 100.
The guys up at the rental place were cool and friendly, especially Steve, the self-​professed «P.R. guy» who took some pictures of me putting a pin on their map. They sent us off with a map and some suggestions, we got on the water sometime before 10am, and we spent the morning and early afternoon paddling around and having a great time. We pulled up our kayaks on Rum Island and explored there a bit (it is a very small island), and we saw a group of loons. By mid-​afternoon there were quite a lot of canoes and kayaks out on the pond, including one group of parents and kids that was hilariously vocal — «ROW!!! ROW!!!»
We decided to take a break and then come back for some sunset paddling. We ended up picking up a couple of friends and got back to the place just before 7pm, with about an hour of rental time to go. Steve hooked us up with another tandem kayak for our friends, no fee, which was super cool. We all paddled around until it got dark and then made our way back… everybody was waiting for us, oops, but they weren’t mad. They said that we were the latest group they’d had out all summer and we all felt kind of proud about that. It was PERFECT time for kayaking — nice sunset, no crowds of kids, just us out on the water.
We’ll probably try to check out some sea kayaking next time we’re up in Acadia, but I would definitely recommend this place if you’re looking for some lake paddling. Next time, we might just have to do both!

We took our solo kayaks out on the HUGE long pond at 5 for sunset. Great place to kayak! Saw a good amount of wildlife. Everything was very peaceful, quiet, and still! The staff was great about getting us our kayaks quickly and efficiently!
Would do that again for sure!

We were really interested in canoeing or kayaking on a lake, and not in the ocean (even though I really wanted to). Anyway, I happened to find a brochure for this place in our hotel and called the next morning for same day reservations. You should always call them for a reservation because they were totally booked when we arrived and they turned some people away. We rented a kayak initially and then changed our mind to a canoe and had to call back. They were extremely nice and helpful and it was very easy to get there from our hotel in Bar Harbor.
Canoeing on Long Pond was fantastic, except that we kept pulling up at extremely rocky points, so it was hard to swim (and I was wearing the wrong shoes for boating, so that was my fault). However, it was really nice, a cool adventure, and once we returned, it was easy to get the canoe back to the rental place.

Conveniently located to Bar & Southwest Harbor. Very easy to find. Friendly and helpful staff and well organized pick up area. Kayaks were in great condition.
We did the Tandem Kayak for 4 hrs (half day) for $ 30 definitely a steal of a deal.
Long Pond offered calm waters and beautiful scenery. Our ride on the pond was really relaxing and a great way to end a long day of hiking.
I would recommend to anyone looking for a good kayaking trip while on MDI!