We've been back for a week. This island will not be the same in a few years. There is luxury construction popping up in multiple locations. On our first visit to the island, we stayed at the Sands at Grace Bay. This was a good choice. While its not as luxury as The Regent or Grace Bay Club, the resort had enough amenities to offer us and the prices was at a decent midpoint.

Info on Sands: We opted for the garden view room, a step up from the courtyard. We were on the first floor near a stair well. At times it would be loud but not too bad. There are twice a day vans that go out to the ICA, a grocery store for $8 so you can stock your room with waters, breakfast items, snacks etc. This is a nice grocery store, prices are high but understandable, as most things seem to get shipped to the island. I'd recommend booking your own reservations, the concierge does no follow up and missed the mark on two things we asked for them to do. One example, we had a reservation for Magnolias on our last night and asked for it earlier in the week. We took a cab out to the area, and realized that they were closed for a private party. When I confronted the concierge the following day, our name and “cancel” had been written next in the log book, but nobody informed us. A forgivable (?) mistake, but disappointing. A longer story snafu occurred when I tried to book a fishing trip with the same person. There is internet access here, slow for basic use when you need it.

A few other tips on the island in general:

Transportation: Unfortunately the Gecko, the bus system, has stopped running earlier this year. This was news to us as we read about this in many of the posts and guide books. Depending on where you stay, you can probably walk to a few things, but Cabs are dependable, a little pricey. We did not rent a car.

Dining: GREAT restaurants. We ate quite a bit of lunch at Hemingways as it is on the Sands property. We enjoyed Da Conch Shack, Aqua, and Iguana, and Bay Bistro. Yoshi sushi and service were not good. It was small and crowded so perhaps it was an off night for us. The bar at Anaconda is definitely worth a visit, it’s beautiful! (Grace Bay Club) Mojitos are yummy and a whopping $13. The setting and food at Coco Bistro were wonderful. Its romantic and the service was by far the best we had on the island.

Activities-We went on a boat ride that stopped in at Iguana Island, snorkeling and Conch diving. We booked through the towel attendant at the Sands. It was a fun trip and about $75. That is a deal for the T and C!

Nightlife-Things to tend to shut down fairly early. There are a few places we found after some asking around. Calico Jack’s has live music on Friday night, Conch Shack had live music Wednesday nights around 6:30. Bambooz might also be worth exploring. We are in our thirties, so not having an aggressive nightlife was not disappointing to us.

All in all the beaches were fabulous, weather great. A nice place to slow down the pace and watch the world go by.

Thanks for posting a report. We loved Coco Bistro as well.

Thanks for taking the time to post a trip report. (And thank you for spelling Hemingway correctly. For some reason it's a personal pet peeve of mine.)

Would you go back, or did the construction turn you off?How did Provo compare to any other beach vacations you may have taken?

Please note Da Conch Shack live music is Thursday, not Wednesday! Call or ask around just in case

That is a great question ejcrowe. The construction is more of an observation, but not a disruption at all.

I've only been to Aruba, which I enjoyed as well so its hard for me to compare Provo to other destinations. Before I go back, I need to visit a few other islands!

Great report! We love The Sands too. Unless I misunderstood, you took a taxi to Da Conch Shack? I'm interested in what that cost from The Sands and also, how did you notify them to come back and get you. I'm really trying to avoid renting a car when we return this summer but I definitely want to try this place since we've not done that on our previous trips. The only other place I plan on going that I'd need transportation is Tiki Hut. I don't want to rent a car just to go to these two places if I can avoid it.

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I think the cab ride to Tiki might have been $12-15 and maybe $18 to Da Conch Shack. I'm having a hard time remembering already But in that range, I do not think we paid a base fair of over $20 for the two of us. Leaving the Shack, the bartender called us a cab, and one came within 5-10 minutes so it was very easy. Also, the cab driver who dropped us off gave us his card to call him when we were ready to get picked up as well. Have a great time!

Thanks for the reply travelinallie. That sounds like a pretty decent price. I'm assuming you paid that for each direction - meaning the total trip was around $40 for 2 people?

Any chance you still have the cab drivers information? I think it would be great to have some names of reliable cab drivers with reasonable prices rather than leaving it up to the hotel to pick one for me.

We got pretty lucky with the cabs, we ventured out of the area for 3 nights, two to Turtle Cove and to Da Shack. The only name I have is "Uncle Tom's Taxi" phone: 1-649-244-0531 email:[email protected]

He was so entertaining with good stories that I held onto his card! I wish I could remember the prices exactly but you can always ask around or before you get in the cab before you commit to going so there are no surprises to ruin your night.