 Owner: Gordon Storr |
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Calendar of available rental dates for Octagon house
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Place a reservation
| Rental Period | Amount Per Week |
Amount For Each Additional Night Above Rental Period |
Each Additional Person Above 4 Persons* |
| 1 week | $1000/week | $140/night beyond 1 week | $50/week |
| 2 weeks | $900/week | $125/night beyond 2 weeks | $25/week |
| 3 weeks | $800/week | $110/night beyond 3 weeks | $25/week |
| 4 weeks | $700/week | $100/night beyond 4 weeks | $25/week |
| < 1 week | $175/night | N/A | $10/night |
Example of a 10 night stay: Your rate from the above table would be the 1 week rate of $1000/week. Your additional 3 nights would be 3 x $140 = $420 for a total of $1000 + $420 = $1420
Rates are for 1-4 persons. For 5 or 6 persons, the cost of each additional person is based upon the number of full weeks you are renting. For example, if you rent for 2 weeks and there are 5 persons, the rate would be $1000/week (for the first 4 persons) + $50 (for the 5th person) = $1050 x 2 weeks = $2100. Children 2 years old (before their 3rd birthday) or less are free, and the age of the child is determined at the time your reservation is made. For example, if there are 4 adults and a child and you make your reservation on July 15 for your stay at Octagon on November 17th, if your child's 3rd birthday is on July 1, there is no additional charge for the child. Of course if there are a total of 4 or less persons including the child, there is no additional charge for the child, e.g., 3 adults and one child (any age) have no additional person charge.
The rates are the same for all times of the year except that we offer a significant discount for rentals in the month of September or October. Call for these discount rate. Why a discount? A good portion of the restaurants and hotels/motels on Abaco Island area shut down during the September/October months. The grocery stores are open so you can get food, many of the shops are open, and the marinas (for gasoline) are open. There are few tourists, so it's quite quiet and peaceful during September/October, and there are almost no people at the beaches. Octagon is in a very quiet and peaceful area anyway, just that in September/October it becomes extra quiet and extra peaceful.
Most guests check in and check out on a Saturday, but if the calendar is open, any day of the week is fine. Usually, airlines have lower rates on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so the ideal time would be check in on Thursday and stay 12 nights checking out on Tuesday. The second best rates are on Saturday, so another good choice is check in on a Thursday and leave on a Saturday (9 nights) or check in on a Saturday and check out on a Tuesday (10 nights). The highest airline rates are on Friday and Sunday (usually). No check in/check out allowed on Christmas day or New Years day. We accept personal checks (from any USA bank), or Visa/MasterCard (from anywhere -- great for our guests from Canada -- no exchange difficulties).
The Octagon house has 1 queen and 3 single beds for a total of 4 beds. A set of sheets, pillows, and pillow cases are provided for each bed (2 pillows for the queen bed). Extra pillows and pillow cases are available for each bed (no charge). Linen change is available each week of your stay.
Master Bedroom
One queen (2 persons). Orthopedic mattress.
Bedroom Two
One single twin (1 person) and a bunk bed (2 persons). Total of 3 person in this bedroom.
Accommodating Additional Persons
For that 6th person, we have a choice of either a nylon (metal frame) cot or a twin-size air mattress to accommodate a 6th person. The 6th person can sleep either in the bedrooms (which make for a tight accommodation), or else out in the living room area. Preference: sleep in the living room area, then store the cot or air mattress in one of the two bedrooms during the day. Sheets and a pillow are also provided for that 6th person.
6 persons (some rare exceptions to the 6 maximum occupants allowed, but call first to discuss this)
The kitchen has a large fridge, gas range/oven, microwave, toaster, drip (paper basket) coffee maker, dishes, coffee cups, glasses (drink and wine), cutlery, and blender. A matching "Lighthouse" design set of 8 stoneware dinner plates, cereal bows, side dishes, and coffee mugs are provided.
The bathroom is located between the two bedrooms with locking doors to each bedroom. The bathroom has one basin, toilet, tub, shower, bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths. A change of towels and washcloths are provided for each person for each week of your stay. Beach towels are not provided -- bring your own if you want towels for the beach. Hand soap is provided for bathroom sink and tub. Bring your own shampoo.
Housekeeping is provided prior to arrival and after departure.
There is a golf cart parking area near the entrance to Octagon's front gate. For a boat, a private slip is available at the private Dorros Cove dock located at the northern end of Tahiti Beach, or at the private Storrhaven dock. No charge for parking or boat slip use.
1 alarm clock with AM/FM radio. No TV. Stereo receiver (tuner/amplifier -- JVC brand) and CD player connected to receiver. Two Acoustic Research AR2AX speakers (sound great).
VHF Marine Band Radio provided in the house. This method of communication is used throughout Abaco Island, and we have a Bahamas Government Radio License so that you can legally use the VHF Radio in the house. The VHF radio is used extensively for making restaurant reservations, finding out about business hours of operation, etc. A VHF radio can be used to call from land to land (prohibited in the USA), land to water, and water to water. A telephone office (and telephone) is available in Hope Town Mon-Fri and also in Marsh Harbour. Wireless internet service is available on all of Elbow Cay -- service provided by an ISP on a daily or weekly access fee. Free internet access is available at Harbours Edge restaurant (Hope Town) if you have your own laptop (wireless) computer) -- request their secure WEP code when you place your food/drink order. An Internet cafe is available in Marsh Harbour if you don't have your own wireless notebook computer. Protocol: 802.11b
In the house, there is the following:
There is a beautiful rustic winding path around the 1 acre of land that the Octagon house is located on. The land has fruit trees/plants (orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lime, sugar apple, sour orange, sour lemon, sugar cane, pineapple, banana, papaya, mango), flowers (hibiscus, Jamaican ginger, night-blooming cereus, desert rose, etc.), native trees (coconut, royal poinciana, gum-elemi, boxwood, sea grape, pigeon plum, saw palmetto, native fig, Canary Island fig, croton, Christmas palm, and curley croton). Note: outside deck of house not child-proof (open under-rail area).
Dock area provided to moor rental boat. 6' draft (water depth at low tide) on main dock, 2' draft on private Storrhaven dock. Maximum length of boat: 36'; maximum beam (width): 10'
House is elevated approximately 6' above ground with wood deck 1/3 around house (house is 12 sided -- basically a round house). Overlooks huge fig tree, coconut trees, other tropical colorful trees, shrubs, flowers. Ocean is not visible from Octagon house deck, but there is a fantastic view from Octagon's stand-alone deck (15' from Octagon's front door). This double decker deck is 12' x 12' square and is connected to the main Octagon house's wood deck. This deck has a lower deck 9' above ground, and an upper deck whose rail is 25-1/2 feet above ground. The upper deck provides a beautiful panoramic view of the main Atlantic Ocean, the Abaco Sea, Abaco Island, and the surrounding keys, and if you look down from the top deck, you are looking at the tops of 20 year old coconut palm trees, so you are up quite high. This is the highest stand-alone deck and the second highest deck on the southern end (Dorros Cove area of 20+ houses). There is one deck that is on the roof of one house that is about 3 feet higher than the Octagon stand-alone decl. Sunsets are usually spectacular most every evening, and if you want to rise early enough in the morning, a cup of coffee on the top deck watching the sun rise is wonderful. Four chairs and a small snack/drink table are on the top deck for that evening crackers & cheese and drinks watching the sun set. Four chairs and small table are also on the main Octagon house deck near the BBQ grill.
The rent is due 45 days in advance. A reservation/security deposit of $200 is required to hold your reservation. Visa, Master Card, Discover, American Express, PayPal, and checks are accepted for deposits as well as for payment of the rental. If you cancel prior to 60 days from the start of your stay, your deposit will be refunded. If you cancel in less than 60 days and we are able to get a rental for your original reserved dates, your deposit will also be refunded. Any non-refundable deposit can be applied to a future Octagon rental within 18 months of your original reserved dates.
Dogs and cats are allowed but must be specifically approved by us prior to submitting your reservation. There are some Bahamian government forms that are required for bringing in pets, and we will be glad to direct you to the Bahamas government web site that lists these forms and requirements. Please plan ahead as it might take several months to get a form approved -- time moves slow in the Bahamas.
There is no specific quiet time rule, however, guests must respect neighbours. Loud music is not allowed.
Children under 3 years stay free. There is an infant (up to 1 yr old?) feeding station (Graco brand) at Octagon (baby sits in a cradle strap with a feeding tray in front -- about one foot off the floor and a base of about 30 inches so the infant doesn't tip over).
You may check in after 2pm and stay until 10am on your departure day. If we have no other guests checking in on the day you are leaving or checking out on the day you are arriving, generally, you are welcome to come in (and check out) at your leisure, however, please contact us to verify early checkin or late checkout just to make sure there are no conflicts. There is no additional charge if late checkout or early checkin is approved. If late checkout is requested, we request that linens (sheets, pillow cases, towels, wash cloths) be available by 10:00am on that checkout day.
The water is crystal clear salt water. There are two docks available, both private (non-public). There are two main beaches at the southern end of Elbow Cay: eastern and western.
Tahiti beach: rated as one of the 10 best beaches in all of 700 islands of the Bahamas. Its located on the western side of Elbow Cay (2-1/2 minute walk or 30 seconds by golf cart) and is a 1200' crescent shaped beach with a coconut tree plantation (inactive) on shore. Water is glass calm. Sand spit (sand bar) at end of beach: very large, shallow. Swimming is good at sand spit. High tide: "spit" is about 3'-5' deep and fine for swimming. Swimming is also good out from edge of sand spit (glass calm water). Spit is quite safe for young children as water depth is very gradual from shore and no big waves. Mostly very fine sand with occasional areas of small shells, some whole, some broken. Beautiful view, and there is the sound of big breaking waves about 800' away in the Tilloo cut area. Beach almost never crowded and is often unoccupied -- depends on season and/or holiday. Tahiti Beach is sometimes used as a setting for a beach wedding ceremony, especially beautiful at sunset.
On the eastern side of Elbow Cay there are big waves with both a rocky beach area and a sandy beach area. Great beach combing. 3-3/4 minute walk or 1 minute golf cart ride. Not good for swiming as waves are usually too big although there is one section that has a rock outcrop about 50' from shore that breakes up the big waves. Here its nice to wade (1' - 2' deep) out towards the rocks and have the residual waves come at you from two sides. I've only seen 4 persons on this eastern shore beach in 35 years.
If you have a large party (7-12 people, there are two rental houses about 75' and 175' away -- they both have 3 bedrooms (we don't rent this house but have information about this house if you also want to rent this unit) so if you are trying to get 2 houses close together but still want some privacy between the large group, this is great.
By boat, 7 minutes takes you to Hope Town harbor where there are about 5 restaurants most of which are on (several are over) the water and 3 have a dock at the restaurant. Fantastic picturesque harbour with candy-striped lighthouse and 1-2 dozen sailboats anchored in harbour. Also, 3-4 small "tourist" shops with excellent selection of mostly native Bahamian items (dresses, books, prints, jewelry, etc) and two small mom-and-pop type grocery stores with an excellent variety of foods (fresh fruits, frozen foods, canned goods, and (usually) fresh baked bread every morning). By golf cart, it's a 20 minute trip plus about a 2 minute walk (no vehicles allowed on the 2 streets of Hope Town). If you wish, there are also 2 additional restaurants on Elbow Cay (away from the Hope Town area) that provide van pickup at the house (free pickup) for evening meals -- both provide full-course meals with excellent food. Take a short (3 minute) boat ride over to Lubbers Quarters island and there is also a great elevated (second floor) restaurant, excellent for lunches and/or drinks. For extended shopping, you can also go by boat to Marsh Harbour (about 20-25 minutes, public dock available) for more extended shopping or eating, or you can make a noon trip easily over to Man-O-War Cay (about 15 minutes by boat) where there are restaurants and interesting shops (boat and custom furniture building ususally going on).
On Elbow Cay: to western calm side (Tahiti beach), 2-1/2 minute walk or 30 second drive by golf cart; to eastern (big wave) side, 3-3/4 minute walk or 1 minute drive by golf cart. Free golf cart provided for trips to these two beaches with signed usage agreement and also up to the two restaurants in White Sound (1/2 way up the 3-1/2 mile long Elbow Cay). Boat is not provided, but rental boats available from 3-4 marinas nearby (Elbow Cay or Marsh Harbour). By (rental) boat, there are multiple beaches 10-15 minutes away along the outlying cays, pristine, beautiful, isolated, and usually unoccupied. Great snorkeling and SCUBA diving areas also 10-15 minutes away. Full dive shop facilities (tanks, air, masks, fins, etc) available near Hope Town and dive tour operators in Hope Town area.
A 13 page information packet is available including maps, boat/cart rental information, and pictures. Request packet on main Bahamas page.
If you are looking for low airfares, we've listed below the more popular web sites that we've used in the past to find air rates. As we travel to our Octagon house about 12-15 times a year, we have found that the best on-line service for the lowest rates is Orbitz.com, Cheaptickets.com, or Kayak.com. Using Orbitz, we often save about $20-$100 per ticket over the other on-line travel reservation services. One other option is to search for the best rates through any of the below sources, then finding an itinerary, go directly to that specific airline's web site, e.g., to http://aa.com or http://usair.com, and see if they have that same rate. It might save you a $5-$10/ticket booking service charge (times the number of people that are going with you) that most other services charge.
There are some new unique web sites now that poll 10-20 other web sites to find the best rates. They also have a great option for you to put in the dates you want to stay at Octagon, then request 1 to 3 days before and/or after each of those two (starting and ending) dates. What you get is a sorted list of the best rates for the date rages you want to look at. You often get some amazing differences in price if you choose a day or two earlier (or later), or extend your stay at Octagon for 8, 9, or 10 days instead of the standard 7 days that most people take. These web sites do not charge a booking service charge, but do list the web site(s) and price of the other web sites that they have queried for the best rates. Sometimes the best web sites will be the actual airline web site, e.g., "aa.com", or it might be a site such as "cheaptickets.com". Note that some of the sites they list with the best rates will themselves (like "orbitz.com") have a booking service charge but that charge is built into the price that is quoted, so the bottom line is, you can select the bottom-line lowest price fare. By clicking on the lowest price, you are then taken to that particular web site, e.g., "aa.com" or "cheaptickets.com" to continue the booking process. The two sites that we use for our own fare selections are: "kayak.com" and "sidestep.com". Both are about equal in their display technology although we do slightly prefer "kayak.com".
The list of web sites below are ordered from (usually) the highest rates (Expedia) to the lowest rates (Orbitz) although you might try all of them to make sure you get the best price. Caution: most of the below travel search web sites will provide some of the flights that have an extended layover (overnight?), so just review the itinerary with a little caution. Second caution: DO NOT GO THROUGH NASSAU, go through Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach. Also, we have found that leaving on or coming back on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday will be anywhere from 10% - 25% less, and we allow checkin and checkout dates to be any day of the week. Recommendation: allow a minimum of one hour layover (in your South Florida connection) going down to the Bahamas and 1-1/2 to 2 hours coming back to the USA. One other point: 7 days is often too short for exploring the region and really relaxing and unwinding during your vacation -- we find that a 9 or 10 days is the better time to really enjoy your trip. So think about arriving on a Tuesday of one week and leaving the Thursday of the next week (9 days for lowest air costs), or a Thursday (first week) to Saturday (next week), a 10 day stay. Final note: plan that your arrival time to Marsh Harbour (MHH) is before 5pm in the evening.
Key to city designated airport code in below chart (code can be used when booking reservations on-line):
FLL |
Ft. Lauderdale | .............. | MCO | Orlando International | .............. | FTP | Ft. Pierce, FL (not an actual airport code) |
| MIA | Miami | MLB | Melbourne, FL | NSB | New Smyrna Beach, FL (not an official airport code) | ||
| PBI | West Palm Beach | JAX | Jacksonville, FL | DAB | Daytona Beach, FL |
| Airlines (underline = web site link) |
Telephone Number |
City That Airline Flys Out Of |
Type of Aircraft** |
Typical Size Of Aircraft* |
Air Florida |
(800) 373-9593 |
FLL |
C-402 |
9 |
| (800) 433-7300 | MIA | ATR-42 ATR-72 |
35 - 60 | |
| (800) 222-4262 | PBI | Dash-8 | 35 | |
Calypso Air (1) |
(866) 325-9776 | FLL & PBI | ? | 9 |
| (800) 231-0856 | MIA, FLL, & MCO |
Beech 1900 |
19 | |
| Florida Coastal Airlines | (888) 435-9322 | FLL & FTP |
C-402 |
9 |
| Island Express | (954) 359-0380 | FLL |
C-402 |
9 |
| US Airways (2) | (800) 428-4322 | PBI, MCO |
Dash-8 |
34 |
| Vintage Props & Jets | (800) 852-0275 |
NSB, MCO, |
B-100 + |
8 |
| (954) 359-0292 | FLL | C-402 | 9 |
* Number of passengers in typical aircraft (guesstimate)
** Type of Aircraft legend: (all planes are twin engine turboprop except for the C-402 which is a twin engine gasoline prop plane)
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Notes:
(1) Calypso Air might be a charter-only service -- call them to find out.
(2) US Airways suspended direct service to Marsh Harbour on/around January 1, 2005. I believe they are flying only to/from Nassau from Marsh Harbour with no direct flights from the US to/from Marsh Harbour. Recommend NOT going through Nassau to get to Marsh Harbour -- too complex a trip.
All specifications about the planes are to the best of my knowledge and is to be used as a "comfort" guideline in selecting a plane and airline carrier. Most pictures of the above aircraft are from file fotos and do not show the airline's actual planes.
Calendar of available rental dates for Octagon house
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