Taylor Bay (Ocean Point) v. Grace Bay
 

I'm looking at a villa near Ocean Point, on Taylor Bay. Clearly this area is less-developed than Grace Bay. Are there any drawbacks to this area assuming we don't need to take advantage of resort amenities? Is it an easy drive to the Grace Bay area restaurants? Is the beach nice? Any other comments?

It is almost impossible to answer your question without knowing which villa you are considering. We rented one in that area last spring and loved it. I could tell you about that one, but the situation, beach, etc. at a different villa might be completely different.

hi, we stayed in 'the cottage' - one of ocean point villas - a few years ago. have rented villa on grace bay twice since to be closer to snorkeling .
you'll be approx. 15-20 drive to the restaurants, grocery, and grace bay resort area.
i actually liked being on the south side as it is much quieter and more residential.
the only drawback is taylor beach itself. the beach has the softest sand you'll ever feel but is shallow (knee deep) for a loooong way out. you can swim in the channel that was cut for the ocean point villas though.
fyi: if the villa you are looking at faces chalk sound there is not good swimming either as it is brack water.
bahia mar and bamboo are both nice choices on taylor...

thanks -- it is 'the cottage' that I am considering. Weighing that versus a villa at RWI. It sounds like the biggest drawback of being on the south side is the need to drive to snorkeling at Grace Bay, though I think we'd have to drive to snorkeling even if we stay at RWI. Are there any beach chairs set up at Taylor or do you have to haul your own over there? Or did you end up spending most of your time on the deck at the Cottage?

hi chicago, yes you would have to drive from rwi too. but a 10 mins vs. 20 min drive. i liked being out and about on provo and seeing what was around besides the resorts. the best snorkeling is in front of coral gardens hotel or at smiths reef near turtle cove marina. (just east of the marina there is a dirt road that goes to the new yacht club hotel. go over the little bridge and turn left at the dead end. go to the end of that road and park in the sandy lot. then walk onto the beach and back towards rwi about 1/4 mile. there is a rock carin on the beach in plain sight where you should enter the water. go out maybe 75? yards and to your left. if that isn't enough you can go out another couple hundred yards to the right and there is another reef.)
no chairs on taylor unless you take them and none of henry's chairs are very light. we usually just sat on towels. the deck is very nice to hang on. has a ladder down to the water and you can easily swim over to the beach. at the far end of taylor is an older villa - it belongs to dick clark.
we often ate bfast/lunch on the deck and there is a nice little screened deck upstairs for meals as well. you may suffer a bit from villa envy as the neighbors are all quite large houses and they have pools. we did manage to sneak a dip in a couple of those pools though...:-)

LOL Virginia you really made me smile when I got to the part about sneaking a dip. I can only imagine....
thanks much for the info.

let us know if you choose the cottage. i could come up with a few more tips about the house, the south side and the island in general...
try this link for a dandy map: http://www.aquamarinebeachhouses.com/map.htm