Bayfront Property

Guest: Sharon (Hannibal, MO)
Date of Stay: 09/21/10 Review Submitted: 10/11/10

This house was just OK ... As others mentioned, it does have space for spreading out, which is a plus. Some of the furnishings were old so didn't seem as crisp and clean as I would like. The kitchen utensils/cooking items were old (there were only a few teaspoons, cookie sheet was icky, etc.). The closets were really unorganized/unkept and the garage was a mess ... dirty with misc. "stuff" scattered around with no organization. The large bedroom (with twins and full) didn't feel very clean and my son/wife were disappointed that the larger bed was a full instead of a queen (the listing said full in one place and queen in another so they were hoping for a queen). The bathroom that is next to this larger bedroom is in major need up updating. While the bay water was pretty, the beach area where you walk is not very wide and hard to walk on ... lots of small shells. The trees provided needed shade but we got pooped on the head by pelicans two days in a row while sitting underneath. On a positive note, we did see dolphins frolicking around on our last day which was pretty cool. After hanging on the gulf side for a few days, I would definitely prefer to stay on the gulf side next time and think we could have found a better place for the money.

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Guest: Ginny Miles (Louisville, KY)
Date of Stay: 06/09/09 Review Submitted: 06/09/09

Great vacation! House was better than advertised. Don't let the front exterior discourage you. You open the front door to a bay front beauty. Awesome location. Spacious, well-decorated, comfortable home right on the bay. We watched the dolphins, sting-ray and even a pair of parrots who nest in the back yard pine tree from the deck, found live sand dollars, snails, fish and shells in the bay. We rented a kayak from just-4 fun (they delivered immediately and picked up on time). We kayaked around the rod n reel pier to Bean Point and saw our first up close and personal manatee sighting, they seem much larger up close! A little intimidating even though they are gentle creatures. Lots of rays at Bean Point. Another day, we took an inland fishing trip with Mark at Legends (at Annie's marina). We are inexperienced fishing people so it was exciting to catch grouper, shark, red fish and our son even caught an endangered Jew fish. We realeased them all b/c of the strict size/weight laws, but it was still an incredible experience. My favorite day was going to the public beach in Anna Maria, swimming out to the sandbar and finding dozens of sand dollars. We ate dinner out most evenings although we did use the gas grill a few times, it worked well. We found two favorite restaurants on the island. The best we found was the Island Gourmet. It has New Jersey/New York style Italian that is out of this world! Great wine selection, fresh salads, delicious pizza and authentic Italian food. The eggplant parmesian was memorable! So reasonably priced too. The other eatery we found on the day before we left. My husband ran over to the city pier, less than a mile away, and picked up some lobster bisque and a mahi-mahi sandwich. Very nice! FYI, we went to the Publix on Anna Maria Island to do some grocery shopping - just the basics since we planned on eating out most evenings. We could not believe the prices! I am very willing to spend my hard earned money on a nice place to stay and memorable adventures but I hate to spend it on groceries! We asked one of the workers at Publix if the prices were higher on the island than the inland stores, she said yes, so we left, drove about 5 miles down Manatee and found an inland Publix, saved about 30 percent! Sweet Peas was a fun place to shop during an afternoon rain storm as well as the Island Egert. The house is located in the residential area of the island at the tip. You can see Egmont Island and it's lightho

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Guest: diana21 (Kalamazoo, MI)
Date of Stay: 06/03/09 Review Submitted: 06/03/09

This is a very large house, that will well acomodate 2 families. The 3rd bedroom is huge, perfect for teenager to share the room. It is also in a separate wing of the house and has a 1/2 batch, that inldues a shower. Very close to pier, bean point beach and troley stop. The pine tree was really helpful in the afternoons, when we've already have enough sun!

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