March 2009

Rating: 8 out of 10

Tariff: 2 bdrm house #88845

• $1,290/wk

Atmosphere/Location

View from across bridge (yellow house)

After exhaustive searching on VRBO.com (Vacation Rental By Owner), the house we rented was an older bungalow on a quiet neighborhood street oceanside at the southern end of Key Marathon.  Key Marathon, for those not familiar, is about half way down the "key chain" between Miami and Key West. The house is "keys-y" as the agent I spoke with put it.  By this he meant it has what you need, but it is not a glamorous vacation home. It's got additions here and there. It's quirky. That's just right for some visitors.  A table for four in the small kitchen was fine for us as we were only three. Right outside in the side yard was a big patio table to spread out onto if necessary. The two bedrooms had a/c, while the rest of the house had fans. The living room had a couch and several comfy chairs.  The sun porch, sort of a second living room, had a pull out couch and was positively loaded (crowded!) with chairs! The main bathroom was small and pre-fab but in good condition and one bedroom had a small private bath.

The yard is concrete and is lush with plants, both in ground and in pots.  It is also loaded with furniture.  On the one hand, it has a bit of a cluttered look, but on the other hand it has a keys-y sort of charm. 

Lines of chairs and loungers run the length of the back for the best canal view. The streetside yard, as mentioned, has a table and chairs. There is even a tiny backyard that is landscaped and has a wash line. The one remaining side has several old Adirondack chairs and leads to a garage and driveway.

This vacation rental is set on a canal, right next to a small concrete bridge and the first day there my brother saw a manatee drift by! Iguanas climbed in the mangroves by the canal's edge. Of course, you can dock a boat there and be minutes from the Atlantic.

Pros/Cons

The old-timey bungalow may not appeal to everyone.  Some guests may want a more updated or modern place to stay. We did, however, have everything we needed. The yard was fenced and the rental was pet friendly so that made my Dad happy as he travels with his small canine companion. Although some rental ads say you can swim in the canals, they don't look like something I'd jump into! No hot tub or pool means you need to go to the beach. On Marathon, Sombrero Beach is lovely. Heading south over the seven-mile bridge is the renowned Bahia Honda State Park Beach. It would have been nice if the property had a kayak or paddleboat to explore the peaceful canals, but none was available. The location, while not upscale, was quiet, safe, and very close to shopping and restaurants.

VRBO

Using this website has been a very positive experience--here in the Florida Keys, on the California coast, and in Hawaii. There is a consistent format on the internet that helps you find what type of property and features you require. You can sort by location, price, number of bedrooms; you can check easily for whether a property is pet friendly or if the dates you want are available; then you fill in a brief form and you can deal directly with the owner to have more questions answered and to negotiate your stay. I feel these are better deals because there is no middleman as with a rental agency. Sometimes there may be personal negotiations or inside info an owner can offer that an agency would not (discount in a down economy, flexible arrival day, recommendation of best local restaurants, loan of kayaks or bikes, etc.). It's definitely worth giving VRBO.com a look when contemplating a vacation rental property.

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February 2007

Rating: 8 out of 10

Tariff: 4 bdrm house

• $

Atmosphere/Location

This newly updated 4 bedroom ranch house on the gulf side in a small neighborhood at the north end of Marathon near Vaca Cut was plenty roomy for 6 of us. It's most enticing feature--a 'beach' front turned out to be more of a view than anything else.  Although we had a sandy yard and dock over the water on a natural cut through, what we found was that loads of saw grass and natural debris gathered in the water there and made it unfit for wading or swimming.  We had shared use of kayaks but were unprepared for the difficulty of using them in that location.  The tide running through the cut between the ocean and gulf was very strong and unless you could leave the property headed toward the gulf side, hugging the coast tightly, you would be pulled into the current and washed toward the ocean side!  What sounds like an amusing anecdote now was actually a very scary kayak trip with my two teenagers.  One was carried away backward with the current until he disappeared from sight as we watched helplessly and tried to steer into a nearby canal to disembark and search for him.  After a frantic time dragging the kayak out of the water and running for the car, we drove off to find access to the area where he had been heading. Luckily he was able to beach the kayak and then had to drag it across a wild, scrubby  field  where we found him.  It was really quite a dangerous situation and we were lucky when I think about it. I guess it's good to be aware

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Pros/Cons