If this is your first visit to the island, you will be blown away by this property. The house is wonderful, with personal touches throughout, that make it feel like a home. It is equipped with everything you need for cooking, and of course, the view is incredible!
BUT, if you are an avid researcher before you book a place and read through every review and detail like me, I feel that this was the first time that the reviews and photos didn’t fully prepare me for a very important component of our stay. This was our third trip to the island, so we have experienced two other beachfront homes and countless beaches, and we were truly disappointed by the rocky shoreline. If you book this home, you should be prepared that you will not be walking barefoot, dipping your toes in the sand. At best, the shore is crunchy shells, and at worst-there is dangerous, craggy rock that will cut your feet and cause you to easily slip if you do not wear water shoes— which is not how I want to spend my vacation. We love to spend most of our time at the house we are renting, roll out of bed, and walk right on out into the water. The rocks made this very difficult. We were surprised by this because the pictures of the beach posted on the listing didn’t seem to reflect this. Looking at them now, the picture that comes closest is probably 17/27. I ABSOLUTELY want to acknowledge that in the house manual, there is one sentence: “Ocean shoes are nice for navigating the rocks at the shoreline.” So, I cannot say that we weren’t warned at all; HOWEVER, the house manual is only made available to you AFTER you have booked. Even so, we felt this very much underrepresented the severe level of rocks (you really CAN’T navigate the rocks without water shoes) that really took away from our overall beach experience, which is why I am taking so much time to warn future guests. If smooth sand from the house to the water’s edge is a priority for you, this may not be the home for you.
HOWEVER, with that said, John, who was VERY friendly, and wanted to make sure we had everything we needed, mentioned that they have plans to clear out the rocks. So hopefully this will make a difference for future guests!
We were also bummed to find that the house did not have a beach umbrella and "folding chairs" (think camping or football tailgate) for lack of a better term, that we could take with us to other beaches. These basic amenities have been available to us in previous homes in Tarpum Bay and would h