Emerald Shores/Taylor Beach
 

I'm looking at renting Emerald Shores on Chalk Sound. Has anyone stayed there? Is Taylor Bay Beach good for kids, not too crowded?

hi again, glad you have selected provo. i think you will like it and find it to be fairly conservative. chalk sound is stunning but i am not sure about swimming in it. it is brac i think.
i have not stayed in emerald shores but did stay nearby in one of the ocean point villas which adjoin taylor bay beach. taylor is very quiet and very very shallow (like under knee deep for 100+ yards and then less than waist deep out almost 500yds). good for very little kids. you can swim in the channel that was cut for the ocean point villa docks.
you will be about a 15 min drive from grace bay beach where all the resorts, restaurants and everything else are. a 3 min drive to sopadilla bay beach which is not deep but deeper than taylor. sopadilla is not marked - but on the way back to town on chalk sound road, maybe a 1/4 from the left at the refinery, on your right (same side of road as taylor) there is a small beach road with a couple parking spots just before the beach starts. you can see the water from the road.
you will find both these beaches to be fairly deserted.
fyi: when you stand on taylor looking out to sea on the far right end of the beach is an older good size house. it is dick clark's. he wasn't home when we went to check the place out and enjoy a sunset from his patio.

Thanks. It's very gratifying to get answers. I'm excited; Provo sounds perfect for us. We will probably hang out at our pool quite a bit, actually, and the quiet sounds good to me. Should we definitely rent a car, as we are that far from restaurants, etc? Is there any snorkeling near Taylor Bay, or do we need to go by car? Sorry for dumb questions, I've been trying to scan other posts for answers, but I get overwhelmed easily.

no problem with the questions. provo is one of my favorite subjects.
Yes you will definetly need to rent a car. you will be in walking distance of nothing! taxis are $$. you will not have access to the gecko shuttle.
you will need a car to get to any/all restaurants,groceries and the real beach. you can not go to provo and not spend some time on grace bay beach. you will like taylor but grace bay is one 10 most beautiful on some lists. there is a little snorkeling at taylor. when you are there you, will see that it is a small u shaped bay. if you swim out the boat channel to the dock off the last house, then turn right you'll start to see some rocks and coral with some fish. frankly its a long swim for mediocre snorkeling. the easiest (and best) to get to is coral gardens. they have parking for nonhotel guests and a wooden path to the beach. also a beach bar/snack place if you're so inclined. the other great place is smith bay reef near turtle cove marina. take dirt road just east of turtle cove marina towards beach. over small bridge to dead end. turn left. go down to sand road on right that does not have a house. park and walk onto beach. there is a break in the ironshore (black rock, looks a little like lava but is not) almost directly down from the beach path. go in the water there! swim out and to your left. this reef is very pristine however. it is not marked and protected like coral gardens. YOU must make sure you do not touch anything with your hands or fins. there are some very shallow spots that you need to stay away from. but the coral and fans are nice and a good variety of fish. we even saw a southern ray laying in the sand that was easily as long as i am. he seemed to think he was hidden from us though as he did not swim off.
as quiet as provo is, i recall how relaxing (that ahhh thing) it always feels to return to "our" part of the island. being in a villa especially in the chalk sound/taylor area (all houses) gives you that sense of home away from home that you never quite feel in a hotel.
how old are your kids? they might like an excursion to the conch farm. not if they're little though. it's quite a bit a walking and looking at things that are over waist high.
there is a really good map you should look at. go to www.aquamarinebeachhouses.com click on any of the 3 houses. then click on FAQ. scroll down to map of provo. taylor and your villa are to the left of the airport.

Thanks, Virginia. Lots of good, very specific info. I'm bringing your post with me. :)
Our kids are 12, 7 and 7 months. We are going the last week of March, the 25th through April 1st.

i'll be there 3.18 to 4.2 so maybe i will see you there. i'm staying over by turtle cove marina.
would dh or you and 12 yr old enjoy riding a jet ski? they are rented out of leeward marina at far east end of island. tandem parasailing off grace bay beach - have no idea about age or size requirements.
bring extra sun protection (big hats, sunbrella) for the baby.