A Perfect Family Holiday

Guest: David (Victoria, BC Canada)
Date of Stay: 07/01/11 Review Submitted: 08/03/11

We stayed at Sands of Morning Beach for the first time this year and brought our entire family -- eight of us in total, including two grandchildren. The owners were very welcoming and helpful. It was wonderful to have a place of our own for the entire week. The house accommodated us well and was very comfortable. There was space for everybody and it felt like home. With a large private yard facing the ocean, and a sandy shallow beach we usually had to ourselves, this was a perfect place for children. Our grandchildren were sorry to leave, and we have already booked to come back again next year.

Recommended for:Families with young children.

Stunning place

Guest: rb (Seattle)
Date of Stay: 07/04/10 Review Submitted: 06/30/11

We had a wonderful time. The house is on a quiet cove in Galliano, right on a sandy beach. There's a view of the Coast Range across the water, and we could see Mt Baker in the setting sun. There are lots of birds, when we were there there were a pair of nesting eagles nearby. We kayaked out from the house, went on lots of walks along the shoreline, saw the seals. One of the highlights of the trip was an evening when we got a call from the owner about a pod of whales passing through in Active Pass, and got out in time to see 20 or so whales passing through. We're going back again this summer!

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, romantic getaway, sightseeing, age 55+, families with young children.

A truly kid and dog friendly corner of paradise!

Guest: Jim & Linda (Burnaby B.C. Canada)
Date of Stay: 05/10/11 Review Submitted: 05/16/11

We heartily recommend Libby's and Michael's home on Morning Beach. They are truly dog friendly hosts. Frankly we were wary before reserving after reading the one mixed review of Morning Beach. The house is rural even though a relatively short drive or bike ride to Sturdies Bay. It is in the forest on the edge of the beach and as people who have lived on rural acreage, we know it is a constant battle to keep the cobwebs off the mosquito screens and the fir needles out of the roof valleys. And there is some stinging nettle along the road which make a good discussion point for adults and children. Also when one lives in the forest, the bugs journey into the house. Unfortunately there were no insects to examine in the house. nor did we enjoy a nocturnal rodent as one reviewer fretted about. But there was a neighbourly squirrel and dozens of species of birds coming to Libby's copious bird feeders. I only discovered Morning Beach is a B&B when reserving the whole house on the phone. There are reviews of the home on the B&B website. Libby is a painter and a published wildlife illustrator and looking through some of her work is a must. Michael is a resourceful finishing carpenter and most interesting to talk with. The hosts live in the home upstairs when there are B&B guests but vacated to other quarters on the property when they rented the whole house to ourselves. The house is clean, well appointed and there is lots of cooking equipment. But it is the host's home and a couple of drawers are full of the nuts and bolts most of us collect in our everyday life. We took our own Valu Village duvet for our dog to sleep on but the furniture was already covered. If one had a magic wand a more perfect location could not be found. While there are barriers, small children need to be supervised at the low bank front of the property but the vast beach is sandy, garbage and glass free and the water shallow for many meters. Ideal for kids and dogs, nature loving teens, people with disabilities but with mobility. There is a public beach access adjacent to the property. Galiano Island is a romantic destination. There is a great bookstore. We had a truly gourmet pizza lunch at the Galiano Inn and would have liked to try the dinner menu. We had good lunches at three different cafes but mostly we bought Island meat and vegetables at The Market and cooked at Morning Beach. There is no better place to dine anywhere. Many thanks Libby and Michael.

Recommended for:People with disabilities, romantic getaway, pet owners, age 55+, families with teenagers, girls getaway, families with young children.

The best week of our summer! A lovely home, a beautiful location.

Guest: Ronnie and Claire (Calgary)
Date of Stay: 06/13/10 Review Submitted: 03/17/11

I would certainly stay here again, and would recommend it to others - we had a truly lovely, relaxing vacation. Our family of six, including 2 small children and 2 grandparents, (plus dog)was delighted with our stay. The house is located about as close as it could be to the beach. We all spent most of our time on the beach, one of the few truly sand beaches on Galiano. We discovered that much of the island's shoreline is sandstone, with beautiful and unusual rock formations, that are fun and, mostly, easy, to walk along. So it was great to explore the shoreline and intertidal areas, but to have the sandy beach at our home away from home. We loved how the bay changes as the tide levels change in the course of each day. When the tide was way out, the big sandbar was alot of fun, with other kids and dogs there too, to join in play. The house itself had everything we needed for our week-long stay. Very nice bathrooms with each room were a plus. The house was even nicer that we imagined from the photos, and easy to use for small children as it is all on the ground level. It was all clean and well-maintained. My wife in particular is a birder and enjoyed sitting with morning coffee right in front of the window watching the feeder birds with the bay as a back-drop. And most of the birds are so used to people, you can sit quietly right out on the lawn and they still come and go! I got some great photos of Hummingbirds. There is also a resident pair of bald eagles on the bay, ravens, many seals in the bay and on the little island at the mouth of the bay and we saw otters and even a morning mink. We enjoy outdoor activities and Galiano is good for this. Montague Park is good for exploring with children and the other parks too. Though the house, yard and beach are so wonderful, we hardly wanted to venture farther out. And don’t miss the fresh seafood sales on the weekend. A very relaxing stay. Our hosts were very helpful and welcoming. Thank you!

Owner response:Our family is very pleased when we hear that families have really enjoyed their time on Morning Beach and Galiano Island. We are glad to have children stay here, as our own children and grandchildren have grown up coming to this bay, being in nature and playing for hours a day in the sand and the water. Your Hosts, Michael and Elizabeth

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, pet owners, age 55+, families with teenagers, girls getaway, families with young children.

I expect more for this price.........

Guest: Chandy (Seattle, WA, USA)
Date of Stay: 06/27/10 Review Submitted: 07/05/10

This property has a great view and location. The beach is public and there is an access trail on the border of the property. Most of the sand part of the beach is directly in front of the property so people tend to stay there when they use the beach, not a big problem. The ferry access to the other islands is limited, usually one over and one back per day to Pender or Salt Spring with only 2 hours or so before returning and no ferry service on peak weekends so visiting other islands is not really a good option. The owners are very nice people and use the house as a bed and breakfast much of the time. This may explain the "stuff" [junk really] in the kitchen and laundry areas which can be hard to work around. Things that a bed and breakfast guest would not need access to but a week long tenant would. There are many bird feeders and watching them is very entertaining. The downside is that there is bird poop on all the lawn furniture and the occasional nighttime rodent. Perhaps fold up furniture under cover would solve this problem. All of the couches had throws over them. I'm not sure if it was because they knew we were bringing our dog or because the furniture was old. We used a cookie sheet one night to warm something up in the oven but had to scrub it first The house has 3 bedrooms. One has 2 twin beds which could be put together to form a king but the beds in that room had not been made up. The bedroom with a double bed had not been made up either and there was laundry [I think clean] all over to be folded and put away. The queen size bed [I guess that was the room they had decided we should use]had been made up and was very comfortable. At home my husband and I sleep in a king size bed so when one is not available, we sometimes ask or 2 beds in case one of us is too restless and needs to move. So later the 1st night, I decded to make up the double bed. When I pulled the quilt off, I was disgusted to see that the mattress pad and the mattress were horribly stained [vomit, urine, I don't know]. I washed the mattress pad in hot water and bleach and the stain came out, I put clean towels over the stain on the mattress so we could use it if need be. This was enough to make you gag and inexcusable. If we had been told that there was a problem with this bed and they hadn't had the opportunity to take care of it, I would have understood but to discover this was really bad. It ruined the whole experience for me and we came home 2 days early.

Owner response:We have learned a lot from Chandra’s review! Some of it will be applied to make our popular vacation property even better. We have been booking our beachside house to well-contented guests for 6 years. As guest satisfaction is our primary goal, we are very disappointed that we did not know right away about Chandra's needs so that we could resolve the problem! I especially wish they had specified their need for the King bed configuration, either before arrival or at any time, and the King bed would have been ready in 15 minutes. Because our pricing is based on 6-7 guests and 3 bedrooms, if there are only 2 or 3 coming, we usually offer a reduced rate and limit the number of bedrooms+bathrooms used. This is what we did during the booking of Chandra’s reservation because there were just the 2 of them and their lovely big dog. On arrival, we showed the couple the 2 bedrooms and bathrooms that had been prepared for them, with beds made for their use. So they would know that theirs were the largest and nicest 2 of our 3 bedrooms and bathrooms, we also showed the 3rd bedroom, but clearly stated that, as per our previous arrangement with them, this was the room not for use during their week. That is why it was not made up. From our reservation email to Chandra: “The rate as shown on the web site, $xxxx. for the week, could be discounted to $xxxx. for you because you are a party of only 2, you probably do not need all 3 bedrooms, and I'm sure that your dog is well behaved and would neither get on the furniture wet and sandy, nor run through the small garden beds! If you were to book the earliest dates, there would be a small discount as well, to $xxxx, because it is partly outside the peak period.” We are pleased to be a Pet Friendly location; most rentals here are not. We cover the furniture, nicely, when dogs are coming so everyone can relax well! We personally greet guests, show the house and ask if there are any questions or apparent needs. We arrange to stop by the next day and ask if everything is to their satisfaction, which we did. Is everything working well for you? Chandra's reply was clearly, “Yes”, as it was the next day when I saw them. We give our telephone contact information and leave guests to their privacy. Sadly, in no case did we receive any indication that there was dissatisfaction. It would have been our pleasure to make things right for Chandra. We were completely unaware of her unhappiness and of her early departure.

Recommended for: