We highly recommend “Once upon a Tide”. We have come to Whidbey Island for short getaways from the city for years and have stayed in many places. “Once upon a tide” beats them all with a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains, a long sandy beach for early morning and sunset walks, and a spacious lot with enough lawn area for ball games. We saw and heard many bald eagles with their young ones; there were deer, herons, and even a shy coyote.
The house itself is cozy and inviting. Rentals are often impersonal, minimized for potential damage and maximized for the number of beds. This house is a clearly a family home and their happy spirit lingers everywhere. The kitchen is better equipped than my own with a large cooking range and oven, an extra griddle for pancakes, all possible coffee equipment, and lots of utensils, silverware, plates, cookie sheets, a kitchen aid, cutting boards…if you look carefully enough you will find everything you will ever need. We loved the big dining table that had room for all of us to enjoy meals together.
As promised the beds/mattresses were fabulous; there were big comfy hammocks and beach chairs available on the large deck, in addition to a beach fire pit. Our kids fell in love with the large grey beanbag-like couch in the living area (Not squishy! Truly comfortable even for adults!) Perfect!
The house works best for one large family (like ours) or 2-3 families knowing each other well because the bedrooms offer limited privacy. The master bedroom is located on the spiral staircase landing – although the space is generous and has fabulous views, a fire place, a truly impressive master bathroom and closet, it has no doors and everyone accessing the bunk bed room has to walk through there (unless they use the outside deck stair case). We loved the large sunny room with the three bunk beds, foosball table and dart board – it is really pretty and offers amazing ocean views. The “third” bedroom offers privacy but also houses the washer and dryer. We wish the bedroom layout was explained more clearly to set the right expectations. It worked well for us after the initial surprise.
In any other way, communication with the hosts was seamless; the neighbors were super friendly. We made great memories.
Overall, a really great, indeed stunningly beautiful place! We hope to come back with some more time to spend and our crab cages and kayaks.