Secluded Beachfront Apartment on Beautiful Pools Beach

Our family loved this location. You are literally right on the beach, roaring waves at the foot of the building. Nice breezes coming through, lots of windows to open, light and airy. Kitchen was adequate for making coffee, light snacks and breakfast. We mostly ate out, though.

For a family of four, it was a bit tight bed-wise, not fault of the apartment. We knew that going in. Our 12 yr old slept on the fold out; our son on a cheap blow up from Walgreens. In the future, I think we'll find an official 2 bedroom with beds for everybody. Our son wore himself out surfing and it seemed he should have his own bed at the end of the day.

The only other comment we can make is an advisory to families and those who like to sleep at regular hours. One night, there was very loud live music from Pools Bar ( we love the restaurant, by the way) that started after 11 and went after 1am. This is typical of spring break weeks. Also, our upstairs neighbors were young and had folks over who made some noise--not late, however-- one night or two. If you are there during peak season and would be uncomfortable with this keeping you up later than usual, you may want to seek out a quiter part of town. Otherwise, it is a great place.

My fiance and I stayed in the Surfwatcher apartment in March 2013 during our first Puerto Rican vacation, and we could not have picked a better place to stay. The location is perfect - nestled steps above a near-private beach with swaying palm trees and pristine blue water and some of the best sunset views in Rincon! We spent just about every morning and evening on the deck soaking in the incredible views. There are virtually no man-made structures in sight, which really makes this location special. You can snorkel and surf right out front which is a plus. The views are exaclty what you see in the pictures!

The Apartments at Pools Beach is situated just far enough from the busier Sandy Beach (separated by a small headland to just to the east) to offer plenty of privacy, but also close enough that we could enjoy the restaurants and bars at Sandy Beach just a short 2 minute walk away (Tamboo Tavern, Casa Verde/Big Kahuna Restaruants, the Mango Beach Shop, and Pool Bar are some popular spots). The Red Flamboyan restaurant just up the hill to the west is a great spot for some local cuisines and was one of our favorites. Check out the path to Maria's Beach as well.

Now for the basics - the apartment was stocked with all essential kitchenware and bedding, shower and beach towels, and the AC unit located in the bedroom worked great. It was very clean upon our arrival. There are also about 5 fans located througout and screens on all the windows/doors which make the place great to keep open at night. The sound of the ocean right outside is something we really enjoyed! There is enough dishware to cook about any meal, and the kitchen included a coffee pot, blender, microwave, stove, oven, full size fridge/freezer, etc. The apartment is set up to accomodate two couples (or a small family) with one bedroom and a living area with a futon that has privacy curtains, as well as two full bathrooms.

The owner James was extremely nice and helpful and prompt with responding to emails, answering all of our questions and providing many recommendations for our trip. Within a day of our departure (it was really a sad day when we left!) he had checked in on us about our stay and refunded the security deposit. The local manager, Elier, was super nice as well and had the place ready for us when we arrived. The customer service was excellent.

We highly recommend to anyone and will surely be booking our next visit here soon! Cannot wait to return!

Absolutely wonderful location right on the ocean. This apartment is on the second floor so the view is spectacular. Unfortunately, you cannot swim there due to the strong undercurrent (riptide), but the surfing is great. The sound of the ocean tide makes for great sleep and relaxation. There are a couple of bars nearby and the music can get very loud on Friday and Saturday nights but the rest of the time it is fine.

The pictures of the property were very accurate. Having a private parking area was definitely a plus for this location. It was clean and there are screens on every window so even though there was A/C, we did not ever need to use it as enough air blew through to keep the apartment very comfortable. The balconies that overlooked the ocean are spectacular and we enjoyed our coffee out there every morning. This apartment definitely can only sleep 2 adults in the bedroom and there is a fold out futon that is very hard and small. Our two teenage daughters were very cramped and not very comfortable sleeping - we knew from the description that it would be tight sleeping quarters but it was worth it for the location.

There is a grocery store about 4 miles into town that is great. They had a LOT of what we wanted as Americans for food and supplies. The apartment does have an extra outside water tank so that when the town water shuts down (occasionally), there is still water. We were very conscious to not be excessive with water use. The locals told us they have not had much rain this season.

The property manager is excellent. He is very responsible and can be reached via phone and through texting. He recommended restaurants that were excellent and provided a map of the immediate vicinity that was very helpful. The Red Flamboyan restaurant (about 1/8th of a mile from the property) was excellent and Pizzaland in town had wonderful pepperoni pizza.

The driving is scary to say the least. The roads are very narrow, steep and the locals drive a bit radically at times. It is not unusual to see dogs, people on horses, people sitting on the side of the road (with no sidewalks), and at times vehicles stopped in the road. There are no sidewalks on most roads and the road drops off on the sides so there are a lot of flat tires. So if you rent a car be very careful and defensive when driving.