We stayed here for a week the middle of May. We loved this house. The view is unbelievable!!. We saw no one in a week. The house has two master suites on each side of a large living/dining/kitchen. It has a large patio overlooking the beach and new steps down to the beach. The kitchen is huge and has nice appliances but since the owner does not do a lot of cooking it was lacking in some things such as baking dishes, stock pot, cookie sheets, garlic press and other things we were used to at home. We like to cook a lot. But believe me we improvised and wouldn't trade this place for any other. It is on the best road on the island. I can't say enough good things about this place and Jim, the owner, is a delight to work with. Hope this helps. When are you going?

We'll be there in a couple of weeks, and I'll be happy to let you know how it was for us. I enjoyed reading LuvTravel's earlier report, and look forward to adding my two cents. :)

Here's a short synopsis of why we settled on Da Villa, other than the obvious beautiful house on a beautiful beach:

Has the required (for me) washer/dryer, and a/c

Good access from the road

Quite close to GH, so easy to make food and drink runs, and runs to th GH bakery (which has excellent cheese and coconut danish - and I don't usually go for danish!)

We rented in North Palmetto last year, and while we had a gorgeous little beach, the road was *very* difficult to drive - I am glad to not contend with that this trip.

Anyhoo, I'll be happy to share my experience when I get back!

We stayed there in April, great house, quiet beach, very nice!

Hi...we are staying here in November...can you please tell me if you can snorkel from the "back yard"? Also, is the grocery store in biking/walking distance? Did you go to Glass Window or Preachers Cave? Did you rent a car? We're thinking of renting for one day just to tour the island then doing a lot of biking/walking the remainder of the time-do you think that's realistic?..this is our first trip to Eleuthera and appreciate any info. you can provide. We like peace, quiet and lots of adventure without lots of tourists, so we're really excited...we're only staying a week and I'd like to maximize our time, so anything you can say about the best places to snorkel, do some caving and shelling. Did you go the Friday night fish fry? Also, I heard that fresh meat is hard to buy...how about veggies? Fresh fish? Do you know if the grocery store takes Visa? Thanks so much!!! you can email me if you like rpnme2_2@msn.com

Hi Maui,

We stayed at Da Villa in July for 10 days. It is a *lovely* house, in a beautiful setting. You will need a car there - it truly isn't optional, IMO. The nearest grocery store is in GH, which is at least 5 miles away, on a road that I would be scared to bike on - and I have never seen anyone, tourist or local, riding a bike on it. Also, the road has no lights on it, and is not painted (no lines on edges or down the middle). Arthur Nixon is the local POC for Da Villa, and he has a car rental company. We rented from him this year. The POC for the place we stayed last year was Stanton Cooper. Both are businesslike and helpful - it was convenient to rent from Arthur Nixon, since he then was our POC for both car and house. Also, he has a liquor store at the airport, so on our way out we were able to pop in, settle up for the car and return the house keys. Expect to pay $350 to rent a car for a week - and it won't be new!

There is some very nice snorkeling off the beach at the house. We found that as you look at the water from the beach, straight out from the house and then moving to the left (north) had the most interesting formations and creatures. The first several days we were there, though, it was too rough for us to feel comfortable trying it, esp. as we had kids with us. They enjoyed having surf for a while, and then we spent those days going the Caribbean side and exploring there - that is one of the great things about Eleuthera: if it's rough on the Atlantic side, on the Caribbean side it will probably be calm with a pleasant breeze. It's a different kind of snorkeling there, though - big stretches of it are flats with turtle grass. We got some fun snorkeling at Rainbow Bay, Alabaster Beach (by Coco di Mama Resort), and esp. Papaw Bay.

Get a copy of The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera (see elusivebeaches.com) - there's a lot of good info in there.

Hardly anyone on island takes credit cards - including the grocery store (Burrows) in GH. My husband found one place that did - trying to remember - I think it was a liquor store. Also travelers' checks are out. There is a cash machine in town, but we brought what we thought we'd need. We discovered halfway through our stay that there is a safe in a kitchen cabinet at the house (to the right of the fridge) but didn't use it - I'd check with Jim Davila (owner) about using it if you are interested.

We brought our own frozen meat, which a lot (most?) also do. We used a soft sided cooler and brought it as a carry-on. Search this forum for more info on this. We didn't find a huge selection of veggies and fruit, but bought what was available - you might have better choices in Nov. FYI milk bought from the fridge spoiled quickly, as I think a lot of its shelf life gets used up on the trip to the island. We bought boxed milk instead - packaged in what looks like big juice boxes.

If you have other questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. I hear Nov is a wonderful time of year in Eleu!