We have 2 weeks in Provo beginning 24 June and leaving 8 July.

We are looking for a place that:
* will not be overrun with families
* won't have to reserve chairs early in the am (not before 9am)
* not a lot of foot traffic along the beach (no Beaches Resort)
* Internet a must -- wireless preferred
* walking distance to beach bars for lunch or dinner
* no bothersome construction noise
* something inbetween a big resort and total solitude

We are thinking of renting a house one week and a condo for the next week on Grace Bay. We have found a house overlooking Cooper Jack Hill with easy access to that beach. Any info on that area of beach? Peaceful or full of families?

Any advice on how you would split those 2 weeks. I know the 4th of July will be busy but don't know what "busy" means on Provo. Have potential rental at RWI but read from another post about the disturbing loud speaker from Club Med.

Thought of Coral Gardens but sounds like the beach area will have too much traffic due to the reef entrance.

Would like to stay on or around $400/night and we will have a car.

Please give me your 2 cents!!

i like your 2 place plan however i would do the condo first and get to know the island. then when you go to the villa you can walk in the door with all your groceries and provisions. i have never been on cooper jack beach but know it is on the south side while grace bay beach is on the north, but only a 10-15 min easy drive.
do not worry about lots of kids - there aren't enough activities to draw many families with little ones, except at the beaches club. even club med is all adults.
none of the resorts are huge. look at the FAQ page for a map of provo at www.aquamarinebeachhouses.com it shows the location of most of the resorts. in fact you might consider one of their villas. 3 houses grouped, with a pool directly on grace bay beach. another poster was there recently and said they loved the location and villas. or there is a wonderful villa on the east end of the island www.thechannelhouse.com with a private beach but it is more $$.
i would not be terribly worried about "traffic" at coral gardens.

I agree with virginia, there isn't a lot of 'traffic'

We stayed at CG last August and there was only one occasion that we had trouble getting loungers under a palapa and that was after lunch and due to the fact that they had just 'rented' 2 palapas to people not staying at the resort

They have plenty of loungers for their guests - they just don't lay them out until they are needed. I waited 10 minutes and a palapa became available.

We found the wireless worked best on the terrace outside the room. DH was working when we visited, so he needed to be online and he found the connection to be very reliable.

If your only concern about CG is the amount of people on the beach outside the resort then I would say that might be an issue in 'High Season' but certainly not in June/July

I love to snorkel and it's the only place I'd stay on T&C.

Happy planning

Royal West Indies is a nice place 2 stay. For that time they should have good specials. Should get 4 or 5 days free. Not a lot of foot traffic on beach plenty of chairs. Construction nowhere near. Ports of call .5 mile down the beach. Ride bikes or walk. The Texaco on the main road (a 1 mile bike ride) has botteled water at a good price. Homemade bread a $1 a slice to die for. Little deli in shopping center 1/4 mile from RWI also a Chinese place that sells excellent caribbean meat pies. I forget the name.

Royal West Indies does not have wireless internet, it has a computer in the lobby, you have to wait your turn.
Other than that, it's a beautiful resort that meets your criteria. You don't hear the noise from Club Med, unless you are outside next to the Club Med line, even then it's muffled.
Coral Gardens has wireless internet. I think when you are going it's not overrun with people. In general, Provo (except for Beaches) is not overrun with people.
I don't know if Alexandria Resort has internet, but if it does, it would fit your criteria nicely.
If you like modern decor, Le Vele would really fit the bill for you. You can walk to numerous restaurants, they have internet, hardly any foot traffic on the beach, not overrun by anybody, almost have the place to yourself! Villa Renaissance has the same deal, I do think they have a surcharge for internet, but excellent place to stay. You can get a studio at either in the $300 a night range. Renaissance has units on www.vrbo.com (rent by owner, not the resort, excellent value!) RWI and others also has rentals on vrbo.
I personally am not crazy about the Cooper Jack Beach area. The beach there is not that nice, and the roads leading to it are horrible!!!
Chaulk Sound has amazing views from their houses, no beach. Sapadilla Bay is a great place to rent a villa, even Taylor Bay. Turtle Tail and Turtle Cove are also nice areas to look at.

Who needs wireless . I thought you wanted 2 go on VACATION! U only live once . Life is no rerun! Leave cyberspace at home. Get back 2 the basics of life. Enjoy the beauty of the sea not a screensaver.

conch, where were you finding the homemade bread? the texaco or did you mean at the deli?
i recall going to a small store next to an elementary school on the five cays road that had loaves of homemade bread that we thought were yummy.

Found the breads at the texaco on Leeward Highway. Right across the street from the McCLean Robinson Real Estate office. Hope this helps. Not 2 far from the Ports Of CAll shopping center. Also right next door 2 the Ports of Call is another little mall like place. Thier is an ouside place 2 eat. Again I forget the name we never ate thier. But go around back and they bake and sell fresh bread. Watch out 4 the dogs. But they have more bark than bite. Amazing what u can find out when u ride a bike around at 7am. Let the tourist pay top $$ for breakfast at 9 or 10. I like where the locals go.

Thanks everyone for your tips on lodging. I have found a rentals at Aquamarine Beach House, Royal West Indies and Villas Renaissance that are about the same price. Awaiting replies for availability.

I am having a problem finding a house to rent in a different location that is less than $3000/week. If we were taking our family I could justify it but its just the two of us this trip.

So, since we have 2 weeks, would anyone recommend visiting another island of T&C for a week instead of 2 full weeks on Grace Bay? Just wanting to experience a little more if we can.

Ready to get my toes in the sand!!!

We love Aquamarine Beach Houses. Having wi-fi is great, just to send out pictures of the beautiful view you are looking at while the rest back home toil away in the office. ;-) I know, kinda mean. LOL.

The router and modem are in one of the villas, so if it acts funky, more than likely all you need to do is recycle the modem.

We are renting a very small villa for just the two of us called "Coridander Cottage". It has its own pool and is right on the beach and within walking distance of several restaurants. Here is the website in case you are interested.

http://www.sandstonevilla.com/

The folks that own this place own several homes as you can see on the website and are out of Alanta.

conch - i can't believe how excited i am to buy bread from a gas station. leaving the 18th. woot woot. i will mind the dogs...
chasechow - i will be interested to hear how you like coriander. i have stayed in one of mr. moogs houses on the other side of the island. they were all very nice. i am staying just down the street from there this time.
beachgirl. if you get renaissance or rwi and still want a villa, windows ala mar is under 3. have you contacted www.prestigiousproperties.com they are a big villa rental on island. there should be properties on sopadilla & taylor bay beaches and around chalk sound that you can get for under 3.

Mymoosie: Aquamarine is still in the running. Thanks for the "tech" help!!

Chasechow: I have looked at Coriander Cottage and sent a request for availability. Will be a splurge for us but location and pool is ideal. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it when you return. When did you say you were going??

Virginia: great website! Don't know how I missed that on google. I found a few that fit the bill so hopefully we'll get lucky for the 4th of July.

Conch: I'm all for no internet for my vacation -- except for the occasional pictures of the beach to torture the land-locked friends at home! Prefer places with no tv/phone frankly. My choice was 6 nights vacation with no internet or 14 nights with occasional email to clients. Call me stingy!

And what is this bread at Texaco???

Beachgirl (Laffin), believe it or not, we aren't going until next February, but I always start early. Was a good thing too though. They were booking that far in advance. The owner said they still had some availability for some weeks between now and then though. It is a little of a splurge, but we just REALLY loved it. Have heard from some other posters on other forums who have rented other houses from these owners and they LOVED them. This cottage was just finished in November 2005. If you end up staying there, I'll look forward to hearing what you have to say about it. Good luck!

I ran into a couple that rented a house in Cooper Jack & seemed disappointed. It is away from everything & they said it was a small cove like beach. Provo is known for Grace Bay beach & the reason being Grace Bay Beach is gorgeous.So if you are going to Provo why would you stay anywhere else but on Grace Bay Beach? I have heard North Caicos (Whitby) is supposed to be nice too but any condo along Grace Bay is fine.You can't go wrong with any of them.

ksmith: we are looking at a villa/house for a week on Grace Bay -- waiting for responses on a couple.

Also, considering a week on North Caicos for a real getaway from things but haven't found much on this forum.

On Grace Bay, we just didn't want to be in the "busy" area. We like solitude and a little privacy.

Beachgirl,

Have you considered a stay on Middle Caicos? I think that is what we are going to do next year. A week in Provo, a week in Middle Caicos. We did a short trip there this year, and fell in love with it there.

Anyone else ever stay on Middle Caicos for a really laid back trip? I'd love to hear it all, the good, the bad, and if there is any ugly!

Ikemerson: I read your trip report and liked hearing about going to another island. We are looking at Whitby Beach on North Caicos. Just in the early stages of checking out transportation and such. Sounds like you really enjoyed Middle Caicos. It all sounds good!!

How did you like sailing? Was the open water fairly calm or rough waters? We would like to find a sailing company to take us from Provo to North Caicos via a few stops along the way. Who did you use?

beachgirl: No sail boats will take you to North Caicos, it's too far! BUT, power boats will. look into Silverdeep and JBtours.
Every time I've gone, the water has been calm. BUT, I've been there when it was extremely windy and choppy, they usually cancel the boat trips. (Unusual, but Jan was rough off and on) If it's for tranfers, they can usually take you on the other side, but then they can't make stops.) It's a gorgeous trip through all the cays!

Thanks Blamona. Wasn't sure how far by boat. I'll check them out. We may have to take a cat from Provo to Middle Caicos or something to get out on the water. Think that's what Ikemerson did.

Any day trips you recommend for deserted white beaches that may come with a beach bbq/lunch on the boat?? We are sooo excited about this trip as we've had T&C on our must-go-to list ever since we saw its beautiful beaches.