Beachfront Villa, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

� Trip Report - Atlantic Ocean Beach Villa - 7/15-7/24/09 �
Jul 27, 2009 6:44 PM
We've just returned from a 10 day trip to Provo staying at the Atlantic Ocean Beach Villa (�AOBV�) near Turtle Cove Marina. Before we went, I did obtain some insight regarding the area and the villa from some of the destination experts. That was very helpful and I wanted to give back by going into more detail about AOBV. As compared to a resort, there are only so many people who can stay in a villa a year and thus the number of potential reviewers are reduced, making detailed information about a particular villa difficult to come by at times.
We have not traveled extensively, having only begun doing Caribbean destinations a few years ago. TCI was our fifth place (Dominican Republic - La Romana, BVIs - Cane Garden Bay, Caymen Islands - Seven Mile Beach, and Playa Del Carmen). This is only to provide some perspective on our review.
We absolutely loved the BVIs and have been itching to get back there. But, we also want to see other destinations as well. We compare everything to Cane Garden Bay and all have fallen short, until now. In our opinion, it would be impossible to overstate how great TCI is. And we only experienced a fraction of what is offered because we enjoyed staying at AOBV so much and did no excursion and only one day of island exploring. If you have the opportunity, I would highly recommend TCI.
The destination experts and other travelers have fully covered where to go and what to see, so we mainly just wanted to concentrate on AOBV in this review. However, I did want to mention the other worldly view of Chalk Sound. We have all seen pictures of locations where the colors are touched up to make them more vibrant. Staring out over Chalk Sound and the iridescent color was unbelievable. If there is a more stunning view of water anywhere in the world, please advise. When you fly into PLS you go over Chalk Sound and you are stunned, but figure the land view will not be as good. Wrong. It is even better looking out over the sound from land.
On to AOBV. It is FANTASTIC! From the price, to the accommodations, to the location, to the service, it truly more than met our expectation.
Price
We stayed for 9 nights, rented both the upper and lower levels, and had 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 kitchens and 2 living rooms. For what we paid, I could not get a stateside house for the same rate, let alone another 4 bedroom oceanfront villa on Provo.
Accomodations
Upper Level - one king size bedroom, one queen size bedroom, a/c in both bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen, dining room and living room. The kitchen, dining room and living room also have a/c. The a/c works very well and the entire upper villa was cool and comfortable. Ceiling fans throughout. The upper level has a wrap around deck, with the portion off the dining/living room roofed over and shaded. Seating for around 10 people on the deck. The constant easterly breeze keeps this area comfortable to sit out, even during the hottest part of day. The back of the villa faces north, looking out over Grace Bay, and the upper deck stays shaded all day.
Lower Level - The lower level has less square footage than the upper level. It has a king size bedroom (that we had split into twin beds) with a/c, a queen size bedroom, a kitchen (with microwave, 2 top stove burner and full refridgerator), and a living room. The living room and kitchen has a/c and kept the temperature comfortable. The queen bedroom does not have an a/c. However, there is a fan built into the wall that draws the a/c from the living room. Using that, ceiling fan and the tower fans provided, the queen bedroom (which is the one my wife and I slept in), maintained a comfortable temperature. There is a verandah with a ceiling fan off the living room and you can set out there and still have a view of Grace Bay.
Facing the beach, the left side of the back yard is for the upper level and the right side for the lower level. We rented both levels so that was not an issue. If you only rent one level, rent the upper. More space and better views. The lower level would work if it was the only one available and I think you would have enough privacy, based on how the grounds are separated.
Location
The backyard is dotted with what I believe are sea grape and casuarina trees and various other plants. The grounds are meticuoulsy kept (which I will discuss later). There is no grass, but a variety of trees and other plants turns the whole yard (from entrance to sand dunes) into a great garden.
At the foot of the stairs to the upper deck and connected to the lower level verandah is a stone pathway that leads you the beach entrance at the crest of the dunes. I'm guessing the length of the pathway may be 30 feet. There are two places where you can rinse off sand when coming back from the beach.
Right before you get to the beach entrance there are sandy lounge areas to the right and left of the path, one side for upper level and one side for lower level. Each lounge area has about 8 chaise lounges and a number of upright chairs to sit in. These are not the hard plastic chairs and lounges, but the vinyl strap kind that are comfortable for sitting in all day.
At the end of each lounge area towards the side of the yard is a grilling area (stone pathways to the grilling area also). The grilling areas are wooden decks that at one time had palapas or trellises. I can see where the support beams had been cut flush. I assume the hurricane took them out and were not replaced. We didn't need them because there was enough shade either in the trees or on the decks of the villa. I can't imagine a better grilling experience that being perched literally at the crest of the dune, firing up the gas grill, slow cooking some of the best ribs we've ever had, drinking a cold one and staring at that water. If you like to grill, it does not get any better than doing it steps away from Grace Bay.
From the beach entrance (crest of the dune) to the water it is about 50 to 75 feet. The sand between the high and low tide line was unbelievably fine and soft. Having grown up on the beaches of North Carolina, you only have to scratch the surface before you hit hard shells. Not so here. My kids dug deep into the sand and that's all it ever was - sand.
If you look at the aerial shot of the villa, you'll see a clear ribbon of water, then a dark patch. The clear ribbon of water is pure sand. No rocks, just sand. Watershoes are not needed. The dark patch is a grass bed. However, during dead low tide, by the time I go to the edge of the grass bed, the water was up past my chin, and I'm 6'3� tall. There is plenty of soft sandy swimming area in front of AOBV.
Snorkeling Tip - within a zero to five minute walk, there was excellent snorkeling. For no walking, facing Grace Bay in front of AOBV, go to the left side of the property and swim straight out. After you pass over the grass bed, you'll come to a sandy area. Just past the sandy area are a number of large coral heads that are great for snorkeling. I'm guessing this is about 100 yards out. For a two minute walk to a great reef you have option a or b. Option A, facing Grace Bay, turn right and walk towards the resorts. About 3 or 4 house lots down, you will come to a yellow round house. Straight out from the house is a great reef system, with numerous coral heads, that starts about 50 feet into the water. At low tides, you can see the very top of the reef peeking out. Option B is to turn left and you'll see almost a circle amongst the grass bed. This is a shallow reef patch that offers great view. Finally, you can turn left and walk five minutes to get to Smith's Reef. There was a plastic pylon in the sand that we used as a guide to enter Smith's Reef.
BEST SNORKELING TIP - the current flows east to west. Go to the yellow round house to begin an hour to two hour snorkeling trip. You hit the reef there, ride the current to the reef in front of AOBV, float some more to the circle reef patch, and then finish up at Smith's Reef. Along the way, you'll be surprised at the diversity of sea life even among the grass beds. On the attached Shutterfly link, I tried to map this snorkeling path. Even if you stay elsewhere, you can use the public beach access a couple houses down to take this trip.
Our snorkeling trips allowed us to see all manners of fish, barracuda, rays, turtles, lobster and supposedly a shark.
Turtle Cove Marina is only a five minute walk from the villa and you can dine at Sharkbites, Tiki Hut, Baci (I know there are others, but these are the places we went). IGA was at most five minutes away.
As an aside, we brought in some spirits and a cooler of meat. In hindsight, it was not necessary. I prefer Captain's Morgan and the price is the same at the IGA as at the local store back home. Beer is expensive, $43 for a case of Miller . Meat - some more�Light, but what's $43 a day when you're on vacation expensive, some less. I went to the local grocery store yesterday the day after we got back. Ground beef was on sale for $3.99 a pound. We paid $2.99 at the IGA (The IGA Gourmet had a 10 lb tube for $1.99 a pound). Dry goods seemed to be more expensive, it just depends. Overall, more expensive, but no more than what we saw in BVI and Caymans. We only took the cooler since Delta still allowed two free bags and it did not cost us an extra bag fee. It did come in handy bringing back conch shells we found on Long Bay Beach. Checking a cooler and clearing customs was a non-issue going both ways.
Service
AOBV is not a newer villa and does not have granite counter tops, Viking appliances or other type upgrades (although their beds are wonderful, my back never felt better). But AOBV does offer daily maid service. Luz is truly a special person. I'd often wake early in the morning and Luz was taking care of the grounds. One of the things you like about a resort is that the beach is raked of seaweed at the high tide mark, the chair areas have also been raked and placed back in order, rooms are cleaned daily, etc. You get all that with AOBV, which is included in the price. Besides raking the beach and the grounds, when I grilled out, Luz would be out there the next day cleaning the grill throroughly. The villas were cleaned meticously each day. We tried to keep the villas neat, but with four teenagers, it was difficult. But Luz took care of it all, even on the couple of days we forgot to wash dishes. We really appreciated all that Luz did for making our vacation truly memorable.
Other
Doreen and Jim are the two owners I spoke with regarding the rental. Doreen answered every question I had and Jim spent almost an hour talking with me about some concerns that came up not related to the villa. Very good people to work with.
The villa is fully equipped with towels (beach and bath), linens, soap, paper, etc. Both levels have access to snorkeling gear and you can leave yours at home. We brought ours since I rarely find fins that fit me, but they had a pair for my size 13 feet.

Wrap Up
We really liked staying at AOBV and thought the Turtle Cove location was great. Provo was wonderful and although we like to go to other islands each year, there is a good chance we will be back in TCI by 2010.