2 weeks to go and counting

Colin Fairburn · Post by **Colin Fairburn** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:18 pm

Hi All - been looking at the site since I booked the hols about a month ago, so I feel as tho I know a decent bit about the island and Rex already!
One thing tho - we are going on 27th Sep with our soon to be 3 year old. Is the water relatively calm for him to paddle in, and the beach gently shelving?
Also, if we hired a car, how long realistically would we need it for to see the island at a leisurely pace?
Would bicycles be an option (with child seat of course)? if available
Is there much shade on the beach? Sun brollys, trees etc?

I read a thread earlier about Virgin v Excel. In my opinion, the fact that with virgin you can check in at the hotel for the return journey and turn up at the airport shortly before the flight goes has to be worth the extra £70, let alone the other benefits of flying schedule.

Post by **Steve Wooler** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:25 pm

Hi Colin

Welcome aboard!

I'm going to leave the questions about the sea on Rex beach to others, as I'm not really familiar with that beach.

You can do an American tour around the island in a day, but it's best done over around three days minimum. It all depends upon how detailed you want to get.

You can hire bicycles in Crown Point, but I'm not familiar with anywhere near the Rex.

Again, I'm not sure about shade on Rex beach. There are trees along one side and the hotel do have some thatched shades on the beach, but I don't know how many.

Dave Guest · Post by **Dave Guest** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:57 pm

Hi Colin.

We stayed at the Rex earlier this year. If I remember correctly there were a handful of "umbrellas" at the edge of the beach but these were usually taken by the time we'd finished breakfast. Same thing around the pool. There's plenty of sunloungers but only a few umbrellas. There are plenty of palm trees in the gardens to sit under though.

The sea isn't suitable for kids to paddle in. It's quite a steep drop off at the Rex and the waves can be up to 5 feet high when they break on the beach at times. Enough to knock a grown man over if caught unawares.

The pool area is your best bet as there's a paddling pool right next to the main pool

Colin Fairburn · Post by **Colin Fairburn** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:09 am

thanks for the info chaps

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:06 am

The Rex is well shaded near the beach, especially away from the main hotel area if you don't mind being on grass under trees. This is probably better than the sand anyway as it reduces reflected light.

The sea is OK to paddle in but kids will need watching as the waves and backwash can be tricky. If you wander down the beach towards the nice houses ($1.2 million for the big one but cellar flood, $750000 for the smaller units). There is a small reef just out from the beach that provides a nice sheltered area to paddle in but rocky bottom.

The balconies at the Rex are NOT child friendly so you will probably be allocated a ground floor room.

John Hill · Post by **John Hill** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:06 pm

If you to the Left of the hotel looking out to sea its much shallower and not as rough.

Have a great time as I am sure you will.

Marc Jones · Post by **Marc Jones** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:35 pm

Gentlest beach by far is Arnos Vale (IME). Courland Bay (Rex beach) is quite steep and the waves are strong as noted before my reply.

Car hire? I honestly feel like you could do with transport daily, we went all over the island, out for meals each night etc. Made a big difference (I bet Franco would have had a better visit had he had a jeep).

The far end of the island is a bit of a drive from the Rex (far being off to Speyside) and you'll struggle to see all that end in a day (we went twice within the 2 weeks to catch up and still missing the waterfalls).