I recommend providing yourself with enough reading material on this to last a few hours - use the search feature at the upper right corner on this site.  I'd search for "VHF".

I've had a few different brands including Cobra, Standard Horizon and others.  I currently have four VHF's.  You should be able to get a quality handheld VHF for around $100 to $120.  No matter what you get, my top recommendation is that you give strong consideration to having redundant radios - that is, get more than one.  Many (likely every one) of the most experienced kayak anglers on this site have had the experience of having their battery die while on the water.  Having more than one VHF is one of the most important safety moves to make other than dressing for immersion including always having a PFD on, IMO.  Redundancy is also super important for navigation tools - GPS and compasses.

I run with 3 radios on the water.

I was driving out to the spawning creeks and didn't feel it.  Got a loud tsunami warning on my phone though, even though I was out of service area and had it on silent.  My wife now has PTSD and said it was horrible, and I had 28 messages on my phone when I got back in the service area.

Hoping for no major aftershocks...

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