Hi everyone!

I really need to buy a Kayak sometime in the next couple of months. I've canoed a lot but am very new to kayaking. I live on the big island of Hawaii and am looking for a sit on top tandem kayak that can store a reasonable amount of gear for an all day snorkel/whatever trip. I've been looking at the "Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XP" www.oceankayak.com/kayaks/tandems/malibu_two_xl.html because it has an adjustable stern seat that can be moved to the center for solo use. I'm not really looking for speed so much as reliability and for the purpose of exploration. Any advice would be very helpful, there are so many kayaks to choose from. Thanks!

-Newbie:woohoo:

it's not a bad sit on top at all. another you should look at is the hobie kona. it depends on how much you want to spend though. hobie's are more expensive, but they do include paddles and back rests. the malibu II should include backrests as well, but it depends. if you wanna have fun in the surf, they're both just fine. the hobie, having a deeper keel will keep it going straight easier. for storage space though, the hobie is probably better, because there are hatches. the only issue is that the hatch is just an opening to the whole inside of the boat, so if you put small stuff in there, it could very well end up at the very front or back or somewhere annoyingly out of reach. and also with the hobie, you can do the middle seat, but you need a special adapter thing. the store i worked at the past two summers sold both equally well. either way they're both fun boats