Monday, January 23, 2012

SeaStar Exterior Continued

Let's resume our tour of the immediate exterior of the larger of our 2 1-bedroom oceanfront cottages, SeaStar. Here's a view that shows the adjacent hammock area. You can just see SeaStar's roof and a glimpse of the ocean.


Here's a slightly more detailed look.


Here's the view from the patio.


In the foreground in the next image is a Desert Rose and behind it an oleander. You are looking towards the other rental cottage, Morningstar, behind the palms, and see a corner of SeaStar's patio.


Here we look at the outdoor shower (cold only) at the back of SeaStar. There's a large almond tree here too, which provides a shady spot to view the ocean.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

SeaStar Exterior

The first image shows SeaStar's patio, which overlooks the ocean through palm trees. The flowering bush is oleander. The patio is paved in limestone. The roof of the living room has an unusual "dutch gable" finish.


Here's a different view angle. The other cottage Morningstar is hidden behind the dense grove of coconut palms.



The next view shows the oceanside facade, particularly the kitchen/dining wing/ Note also the very tall Norfolk Island pine on the right of the image. We will post more views soon.

Friday, January 13, 2012

SeaStar Kitchen

SeaStar's kitchen is quite small, with one window (overlooking the ocean), a sink, a 4 burner cooktop, a toaster-oven, lots of pots and pans, and 2 undercounter fridges, one of which has a separate freezer compartment. We suggest that to save energy, guests try to use only one of the fridges. Noise from these fridges is minimal, and in any case not audible from the dining room next door.


If you need small items such as spices etc (though some are provided) we can usually help.


The next image shows the entrance to the kitchen from the dining room.


In the next post we will look at the outside of SeaStar, and the immediate garden area.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

SeaStar Dining Room

It's surprising that a 1-bedroom cottage should have a separate dining room, but this cottage is actually quite large (about 1000 square feet total). I'll incude the exact measurements of each room in a future post. Meanwhile, here are some images of the dining room.


Here you see the large dining table, which can seat 6 (if you invite guests: we do not allow more than 2 adults, plus 1 to 2 small children, to occupy the cottage). The window here faces the ocean, and there are 2 more windows. You can also see a twin bed, which is nice for daytime lounging, or for a child.


This view shows the open door leading to the bedroom, and various cabinets (with a large variety of crockery, cutlery etc, and a microwave). You can also see a corner of the dining table. The fish cut-out decorations where added by previous renters.


This shows a different view, with the opening to the small kitchen (to be featured in the next post). The parrot batik hanging is from Saint Lucia. You can see the large drinking water bottle.

Monday, January 9, 2012

SeaStar Bathroom

The bathroom is located behind the living room. There is a shower/tub combination, and 2 wahsbasins, a toilet, and a window facing east and viewing the garden, lawn, palms etc. There is lots of cupboard and closet space. There is also an outdoor shower (cold water only) located privately on the south side of the house, near a large clump of firecracker, which attracts hummingbirds. Of course we provide towels and all linen. The house is NONSMOKING! Also, please note that we encourage you to be economical in your water usage - do not leave faucets running! Our water comes from limestone wells in the back garden, and while it is perfectly safe to drink, it does have a high calcium content. We also supply a large container of drinking water (in the dining room).


The shower curtain is visible in the right-hand mirror.


The toilet and shower/tub are to the left of this view.
I will continue with the SeaStar tour tomorrow. In the meantime, you might like to look through an album of Calypso garden photos.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

SeaStar Interior Continued

Now we move to the bedroom and bathroom. The first image shows the southwest corner of the bedroom, with a corridor that leads to the dining room (and has space to hang clothes).


You can see one of the 4 windows (this one looks over the rear lawn leading down to the pond, with various palms and flowering bushes). Under this window you can see the only AC unit in the house. However, since we only rent during the winter/spring (jan-mid may), it is not really needed (and is rather noisy). You can also see a ceiling fan mounted directly over the bed: on low speed this is almost noiseless. Also note that the 2 small refrigerators in the kitchen cannot be heard from the bedroom. Lack of neighbors and noise is one of the key features of Calypso. For us, the greatest luxury of all is to hear only the sound of ocean waves breaking on the outer reef, palms rustling, and the buzz of hummingbirds feeding at the immense firecaracker plant just outside the southeast window.

Here's an image showing the view through the north east window; this window is the only one in the house that does not have a mosquito screen, though these are hardly necessary in the dry season (jan-may).


Next, you see the queensize bed, and also the high ceiling.


Next, the view from the bed to the other side of the room, with the door that leads to the living room and bathroom.


Here's another angle, showing a futon seat that can be unfolded to provide a bed for a child.


We can also install a twin bed for a child (we do not rent to more than 2 adults), and there is a twin bed in the dining room too. I do not seem to have to hand a picture of the best view, through the northwest window, when one is lying in bed. I will add later.

Here's one more view. Bathroom pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Friday, January 6, 2012

SeaStar Interior Continued

Here is a view in the other direction. Sorry it's a bit dark. The room itself is very bright and cheery, with light from 4 large windows (but because none of them face south, and the ceiling is very high, it stays cool).


You can see the large north window, and the leftmost eastern window, both viewing the ocean. Here is the view through the north window.


The top half is a bit blurry because the bottom of the window is open so one is looking through mosquitoe screen plus 2 layers of glass. You can also see the front patio, which is paved in limestone. Here is another view of the living room.


The (very small) TV will play DVDs (we will post a list of those available soon) but there is no cable. There's also a CD player, and we have a large selection of classical music. The nicest thing about this room (apart from the views, and, for a 1-bedroom cottage, the size)  is perhaps that since the trade wind blows from the east (northeast to southeast) there is usually a nice breeze through the 2 open eastern windows. Also notice the honey-colored tile, handmade in Nassau (which extends throughout the house) - even on hot weather always cool to the naked foot.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

SeaStar Interior

In the last post I gave an outline of the arrangement of rooms at SeaStar viewed from the exterior. Today, I move inside, starting with the living room. Here is one view, looking from near the large oceanfront window towards the back of the room.


The window on the left looks east towards the other rental cottage Morningstar, but it is completely hidden in a thick coconut palm grove. The green door is a closet. The door to the bathroom next to it is open - the plumbing is to the left of this entrance. The furniture is white wicker. The CD rack exhibits shells found on our beach. One can stretch out on the couches for naps, but we do not rent to more than 2 adults (who should sleep in the bedroom). You can partly see the cathedral ceiling.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Internet and Phone Now Working!

Ironically, while I was writing the previous post, Batelco came out and fixed our Internet and phone! So now look forward to regular posts. The purpose of this blog is two fold: first, it provides a much more convenient way to post info about our rental cottages than our website calypsocalypso.com, though that remains a definitive source of information. However,  it is much easier to post additional information and images here. In fact, we will probably provide far more info than you really need, but at least it's available.
So let's start with the most important thing of all: the beach!


This image shows the eastern part of our beach. On the extreme right you can see our yellow 2-person kayak, which we normally place at the halfway mark. The 300 foot section that runs east of the kayak (shown here) is for the Morningstar renters. The other 300 foot section that runs west from the kayak (shown in the next image) is for SeaStar renters. You can just make out a white roof about halfway along the image: this is the main house at Island Breeze, which is our immediate neighbor to the east. Even further east (and not visible) are Island Breeze's 2 nice small rental cottages, which we also recommend. Although these cottages are more compact than ours, they are more modern and undoubtedly have more gizmos (e.g. cable TV etc). Our renters usually go more for reading books, listening to our big selection of classical music, or exploring our extensive tropical gardens. Of course the beach in front of the 2 properties is basically the same, and is usually completely empty!


This shows the western half of our beach. You can see the little driftwood cabana that belongs to SeaStar - Morningstar has its own. These cabanas provide shade. However, both these cabanas were washed away last year by Hurricane Irene (of which much more later). However, we will rebuild them as soon as we can find driftwood! Fortunately our houses survived with only very minor damage. Many other buildings in our neighborhood (Palmetto Point) fared far worse. Indeed, the house of our faithful gardener, Kevin, which lies directly under the famous Palmetto Point "Big Tree", still needs extensive repairs.

Our 2012 rental season has started!

We are in residence at Calypso and our first guests arrive at the weekend. However, Batelco has still not restored our phone and internet so postings here will initially be sketchy. Let's start with a general picture of one of our 2 1-bedroom oceanfront rental cottages, SeaStar:


The image shows the front (northeast) side of SeaStar, which faces the ocean. On the left is the living room wing, fronted by a patio that has a nice view of the ocean through palm trees (see above). The large living room window is framed by pink shutters. Then to the right one sees the bedroom. Its 2 northeast windows view the ocean, and the 2 southeast windows (on the other side) a lawn dotted with flowering bushes and rolling down to the pond. Both the living room and bedroom have high cathedral ceilings. The slightly lower part of the cottage, to the right, houses the kitchen (first window) and the dining room. These rooms also have a high ceiling. We will post pictures of the interior soon (see also http://www.calypsocalypso.com/seastar.htm).