virginia

hi beachlover, i would love to hear about your experience at these condos. would like to know about the beach. is there snorkeling? sandy entrance to the water or ironshore? can you get to malcolm road beach from there without going back to the center of the island? do they have a restaurant? beach bar? what about any toys (kayaks, etc) available? what about a pier for divers to be picked up?
what did you think of the condo's? size, furnishings, do they have decks, the view, are the kitchens well supplied (pots, dishes,etc)
did you feel isolated or did you choose it for that reason? mostly families with kids or couples? younger or older crowd?
thanks. i've been hoping to find some first hand info about nwp for a couple years now.

blamona

sorry I'm not beachlover2, but I always have an opinion.

I have been through the condos,never spent the night. I went through when they were called Crystal Bay. The condos themselves are very nice, pretty landscape, pretty furniture, pretty pool, nicely maintained.
I have never seen the restaurant open, ever, and I've been at different times of day.
I've never seen the pool bar open either. No real snorkeling there, best snorkeling is at Smith's reef and in front of Coral Gardens. (About a 1/2 car ride away.) The road is not paved out there, but they have rolled it so it's better than it was.
Malcolms Beach is about 30-40 minutes away form everywhere, mainly because of the road to get there. (I've heard they have filled in the end a little, makes it easier, but I would still have a 4x4)
The beach has small sandy areas to enter,but it is a very grassy area. I've never seen anyone in the water there. I have seen people walking the beach, as it's long. No pier for pickup, pretty long drive to dive places, no dive places will pick you up there.
There is hardly anyone out there. One time I saw 2 people at the pool. Last time (Peak season) there was 5 people at the pool, 2 people walking the beach. No one else, no couples, no kids. Another time 3 people at the pool, with rotweiler who would not let me go by to the beach. (dog owner didn't hold him back either)
You have to have a car, for supermarket and restaurants, there is nothing else close to it.
If you pretty much like having a place to yourself, then you would be fine.

Beachlover2

Yes there is snorkeling - we walked about 5 minutes from the resort and there is a reef about 30 yards from shore (still only about 6-8 deep) which has good snorkeling. It is a sandy entrance to the beach - but there is a lot of turtle grass there (so you may have to walk 50' feet down the beach to get a good clear sandy area - there are definitely a few clear swimming areas there - although the turtle grass is soft and doesn't hurt. We also walked about 15-20 minutes down the beach and snorkeled at the NWP National Park. Saw lots more here. Yes you can get to Malcolm Beach fairly eaisly from there - no need to go back to the center of the island to get out there - but the road to Malcolm was horrible. They are also opening up the Aman resort the 1st of March by Malcolm Beach - so I think this end of the island is going to change in the future. (These rooms are going to rent in the 1500 per night range).There are also plans for two more resorts that they are preselling down there as well.

The restaurant was running on the weekends when we were there - but we were told they had hired someone new to take it over full-time and they were to start running everyday starting the Tuesday after we left. The bar was opened when the restaurant was. We had a great Superbowl party there.

Snorkeling equipment - kayaks - lifejackets - day sailers are all available as well. There is no pier to diver pickup though.

The condo we were in was a large 2-bedroom - about 1400 sq ft. - beautifully furnished - kitchens were well-stocked with dishes - pots-pans etc. Beautiful views from the patios/balconies. Every night we could sit out in total darkness on our patio and look up at the full moon or stars while in the distance we saw the pink lights from Grace Bay. The night of the full moon - it reflected off the water and was just awesome.

We did not feel isolated - but then we went with 3 other couples - so we always had a party if we wanted one. The majority of the visitors were couples. Both young and old. We had a car and didn't even use it often - we were all content to stay at the resort - most nights we grilled out - the few nights we ate at the resturant - the food was great. We met a lot of the people that own there and are either living there or down for the winter and they were all really nice and friendly. We also met lots of the couples that were there on their own and everyone seemed very pleased with the accomodations. I know we will definitely go back. We even looked at a unit that was for sale - but don't think our bank account can afford that right now.


If you need some pix - let me know - I can e-mail them to you.

virginia

beachlover and blamona, thank you so much for your oh so thorough responces. i will be on island for my 3rd trip in march will be staying at windows ala mar near turtle cove marina. i've been considering trying to buy a place. nwp interests me because it is away from "resort row". but really i would prefer a small house if i could find one. anyway your responces were very helpful. one last question if i could. is nwp gated or will i be able to just drive in and take a look around? yes please, i would love to look at your pics e me at [email protected]

blamona

you can drive up and look around.
try www.tcrea.com
has all the listings from all the companies, and you can put it in for your budget.

Beachlover2

It is gated - but the gates were open while we were there - the sign says they are open from 10-10 - but I know they were open before 10 am and also after 10 pm.