Surfer bear was honest and awesome. At last minute my husband wanted to schedule a surfing lesson, and Bear was great about wanting to accommodate us the very next morning, but also letting us know that he wouldn't take his group out if the waves were bad. We really appreciated that he ran his business in this manner and wouldn't... more

If you are on the big island and want to learn to surf, call Surfer Bear! My boyfriend and I had a 2 hour beginner lesson with him this morning and had the best time. Bear is patient, attentive and extremely knowledgable. With his coaching, I got up on my 3rd try (my boyfriend got up on his very first... more

My husband, sister and I had never surfed before, but really wanted to try. I read the reviews for Surfer Bear on Trip Advisor and gave Barry a call. He was very accomodating and even agreed to reschedule on a short notice because my husband was badly sun-burnt. Barry brought Jeff along to help him keep an eye on us... more

We booked lessons with Surfer Bear because of reviews we saw online. I called Barry a couple of weeks before our trip and told him we were interested in lessons. I have 3 kids, boy-15, girl-13, and boy-11. He was very easy to talk to and put us on his books as interested....we would try to surf as conditions allowed.... more

While in Hawaii my 6 year old wanted nothing more than to learn how to surf. While perusing the Kona Boys website I found Surfer Bear and gave him a call. He agreed to do a tandem lesson with my son the next day. We met him at the beach in Kona and he supplied the board, the rash guard... more

We're two Midwestern landlubbers who've never seen a board up close, much less ocean waves (Great Lakes ripples are more our thing). But we've always wanted to give it a whirl, and after reading about Surfer Bear here on TA and talking to the dudes at Kona Boys, we booked a two-hour lesson. Bear and Jeff met us at Kahalu'u... more

Surfer Bear was terrific with our ten year old daughter. He spices up the lessons with fun games (he had her pretending to be Superman, an alien, etc.) while teaching skills. I noticed when she took a big spill he was over to her in seconds. I felt our daughter was completely safe with Surfer Bear. more

I started surfing in college, and continued to surf into adulthood. My two youngest kids (aged 9 and 12) wanted to also learn to surf during a recent visit to the Big Island, and we found Surfer Bear through a local surf shop. He met us at a local beach just south of downtown Kona, and set the kids up... more