Smuggler's Cove Resort

Smuggler's Cove is an older resort, but the units were clean and well-maintained. The staff people were all very friendly.

Our 2 bedroom unit (201) had a full kitchen, dinette, living area, two king bedrooms, and a single shared bathroom. There were adequate cutlery and dishes in the kitchen and the appliances were in good condition. The living area had a 27 LCD TV, sofa bed, love seat, and chair. One of the bedrooms had a 19 inch tube TV. A towel exchange was done Tuesday (for Saturday check-ins).

The internet connection was spotty and very slow at the beginning of the week and was lost altogether by the Thursday of our stay. This was apparently due to some sort of equipment failure they were in the process of fixing.

We had made a few local calls which the resort waived charges for. Free local newspapers were available at the front office each day. My wife borrowed a book from the office library and rented a few movies for the kids ($1 each).

Smuggler's Cove has a nice garden area overlooking the inter-coastal waterway, but only a handful of units overlook this. Most units have a parking lot view. Our unit (201, the westernmost unit) was probably the only one from which you could catch a glimpse of the Gulf across the street. There is a dock on the inter-coastal waterway with a fish cleaning station. There are also BBQs and picnic areas dispersed through the garden. The BBQs were of decent quality, but a few were overdue for a grille replacement. The igniters did not seem to work on any of them, but a lighter seemed to float around between them (you sometimes had to look for it).

There were a few garden hoses around the property, which were handy when my son and I needed to rinse some SCUBA gear after a dive. As for SCUBA, we dove on some ledges about 10 miles off Anna Maria Island, but the visibility was terrible, averaging around 20-25 feet (this was the second week of July).

The resort had a nice pool area, which was shared with the other two RCI resorts on the property (Gulf Stream Beach Resort and The Penthouses at Gulf Stream). Pool towels were provided.

A private dune walkover across the street leads to a nice Gulf beach, where the resort provides white plastic loungers (sometimes there were not enough of these and they are locked up by 4 PM). Beach umbrellas were provided at the office, but we used our own as theirs were pretty small. The dune walkover itself is past due for replacement -- wear footwear to protect against splinters.

Our family partook of the complimentary Monday breakfast (donuts, coffee, and juice) and Tuesday hot dog BBQ ($1 per person -- good value).

In summary, this was a nice, clean, base for a visit to Anna Maria Island. This was our second stay on the property (last year we stayed at Gulf Stream Beach Resort on the same property) and we would be happy to stay again.