Our family of 5 plus one friend had an enjoyable stay. For our group the unit was spacious with 3 teenagers sharing the loft area and one in the guest bedroom — we could have easily brought another friend along! We really liked being able to spread out over 3 floors. The location was great for almost daily surfing right from the property (perhaps a 3 minute walk to the shore).
The community:
The Puamana community is a perhaps bit overly picky about noise. The ocean pool is designated as a quiet pool which is fine, but visitors should be aware that another of the pools seems even more strict. I think there was an adjacent owner who must have called security on us each time we tried to use it (mid-day and with the only noise being pretty normal teenager pool play). By the end of the week we realized that pool was almost always empty so we assumed that he/she calls security on almost everyone who uses it! We finally gave up on that one and used the more busy “kids’ pool” even though our crew at 12,14,17 and 18 were a bit on the older demographic for that one. Note that this minor issue was outweighed by the generally friendly and family-oriented feeling of the community. I share it just to be clear that this would not be a place for those looking to listen to loud music outside, party at night, etc. It’s a quiet, gated community within walking distance (approx 1 mile) of Front Street and within a very easy drive of everything you’d need for your stay (Walgreens, Safeway, Starbucks, etc).
The host:
Joanna was very responsive to our few questions during the stay and communicated everything we needed prior to the visit.
The unit:
Other reviewers mention road noise and that is probably the only negative on the unit. We were impacted by it mostly when having our coffee on the patio in the mornings. When we didn’t need AC at night we ran it them on ‘fan mode’ which successfully drowned out any noise inside the unit. Overall, I believe other units in the community that are away from the highway of similar size rent at a much higher price, so the trade off in my opinion is definitely worth it. Kitchen was well-stocked — we mostly cooked in the unit for all 3 meals. There is not a washer and dryer which we normally look for in a rental but the clubhouse had coin/credit card washer and dryers that were not busy and ended up being just fine for us. Included are nice extras (which may depend on wear and tear and who rented ahead of you) like beach chairs, and umbrella and a couple Boogie boards as well as a nice large cooler and 2 beach totes.
Overall:
We’d stay here again for sure. The proximity to good surf, beautiful ocean sunset views, and the quiet, peaceful feeling of the community along with the clean, comfortable, well-spaced unit would make it an easy decision.