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Our heritage cottages have been renovated to modern standards. Settled on a private one acre point with morning sunrises to start your day and evening sunsets to finish your day. Low bank ocean front with two sandy beaches and tidal pools for hours of entertainment and great swimming. Next to East Point Park where the Orcas travel on a regular basis. You could reach out and touch one, but we advise you use your camera instead! Watch the sea lions, seals and dolphins frolic in the ocean as you relax on the front lawn. Be amazed by the bald eagles diving for their dinner, and be prepared to be startled by a deer nibbling the tree outside the bedroom window. Your stay also gives you access to 44 acres of private hiking trails for you and your dog to enjoy off leash walks. The cottages are fully equipped with linens, towels, full kitchen and outdoor barbecues. You do not need a 4 wheel drive to reach our retreat as the roads are well paved and great for biking. Bring your boat, kayak, or canoe and launch it at our private boat ramp.
I just returned from a 1 week stay at cabin #4 of the East Point Resort Ocean Cottages. A good week, all in all, but with a couple of issues that added some unnecessary frustration.
First, the good stuff. The cottages overlook the ocean and Tumbo Island, and are spectacularly located right next to Saturna's East Point Park. Easy walks, great local beach, spectacular scenery, wildlife everywhere (including birds, seals, otters, sea lions, eagles and killer whales), very peaceful, and killer sunsets.
The cottages themselves are nicely laid out and comfortable although they're a bit tired. There is at least one much older cottage that suffered from a mice infestation (live mice along with their noise and droppings).
Property management is careless or poor. Some examples: - several cabins weren't ready at 3:00 p.m. on check-in day. Ours was ready at 5:30; another was ready at 6:00 p.m. - our cabin was advertised as having a BBQ. It didn't have a BBQ. - our cabin had all the basic cooking equipment but was missing dish soap - another cabin (see above) was mice-ridden
Responses from the property manager, Amanda, were less than what I (and others) had hoped for. For example: - delays in responses - emergency number unable to accept messages (mailbox full) - "The rental agreement doesn't include a BBQ." even though the website clearly lists it. - "You should expect mice in rural cabins. BTW, there are mice traps under the sink."
To be clear: my cabin (#4) didn't appear to have mice and, after the initial disappointment of not having a BBQ and of having to wait an extra 2 1/2 hours I had a great week there.
The experience could have been outstanding, though, and I hope that the property manager applies a little more caring and discipline in her approach in the future.
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Date of stay: July 2014Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed in cabin #4. The listing on VRBO says "updated". It is not. Okay, the floors may be new, and the oven looks newer. There is definitely a new toilet, but other than that, calling it updated is a real stretch. The Bathroom Yes, there is a new toilet. The bathtub is in horrible shape. You know it's clean, but it just isn't inviting to have a bath, no way. And maybe in the interest of conserving water, that is a good thing. Shower worked fine, and I was pleasantly surprised that the water pressure was adequate. The bathroom sink! Oh my... it took over half an hour to drain the water, just from washing our hands after using the toilet. By the second day, it was hours and hours. We knew that we had to call the contact person for a quick fix, as new people were checking in after our departure. With sporadic cell phone coverage, it took a few calls back and forth to contact her, and arrange a time that we would be at the cottage, and she wasn't working her other job. But fix it, she did. It had started to leak underneath the cabinet, and towels had to be rewashed as well. But there are plenty of towels there, so that was not an issue. No beach towels though. There is actually shampoo and conditioner supplied at the cabin, "earth friendly" ones, as the cabin is on a septic field. The mirror in the bathroom is held together with duct tape along the bottom. There is a hole in the wall behind the door, made from the door knob, before a door stopper was properly installed. The windows in the living room and kitchen give way to gorgeous views, but no blinds of any kind are on any of them. And not one of those windows open. I can not imagine how hot it might get in there in the summer months. There is the door to the balcony, but there is no screen. No screen on the front door either, and the doors don't line up, so no chance for a cross breeze. I did see an electric fan though. The living room has two full sized couches and a big love seat. Lots of seating available with comfy cushions. Easy to get curled up in one, with the electric fireplace going. I actually managed to finish two books! But there are rips in the sofa cushions, in all of them. At least half a dozen rips, so be careful if you are wearing any rings, so as not to snag them. The couch against the window had not been pulled out for a while, as it was quite dirty behind there. I had only moved the couch to get it away from the electric baseboard heater. Dead flies and mouse poop, that had obviously been there for a while. When the woman came to fix the bathroom sink, I did point it out to her, so that it could be properly cleaned once we left. She did volunteer to clean it up then, but we were leaving the next morning anyway. The kitchen has lots of dishes. Kettle, coffee grinder, coffee machine, and a toaster were among the small appliances. We needed to wash a lot of the dishes before we would use them. I get that. I've had to do it before. It is not the cleaners' job to wash dishes. We, the renters, are responsible for cleaning the dishes after use. I can accept the dusty wine glasses, as not every one enjoys a glass of wine, but there is no excuse for putting a small pot back in the cupboard that is lined with greasy slime in the bottom. Gross! We washed dishes as we needed them, before use, and kept them separate. If there had been a dishwasher, I would have gladly loaded them all in, and run them through. Or if we had been staying longer than 3 nights, I would have washed more. The fridge is not full sized, but it is big enough to hold quite a few groceries. There is a small microwave available as well, on a lower shelf, so not that easy to use. Not enough counter space to have it on the counter. Some spices are available, although some are dated from 2013. We only used the master bedroom. The space is very tight, but there is enough room to have a bedside table with a lamp on each side of the bed. And a very big outdated dresser. Bedroom is carpeted. Lots of hangers in the closet. There are separate controls for electric baseboards in each room. That was nice, as I like a cooler bedroom for sleeping. The door to the balcony was a bit of a problem, opening and closing. There is a lot of glass in the door, and we were concerned about yanking on the door knob too hard, and having the glass shatter. We really had to push carefully, to shut the door as well. It may be nothing more than a change in the temperature, and the wood swelling. Bring a mug for your coffee or tea, if you prefer that. Only cups and saucers in the cupboards. Just wouldn't do, and I actually went over to the "Grouchy Crab" pottery place to buy a mug. Apparently, she gets a lot of business from people staying in the cabins, looking for something other than a cup and saucer! Key is at the front door, in a lock box. It stays there, on a chain. It can be a nuisance to get key out every time you return, especially if you forgot to leave the front porch light on, and you are returning in the dark. But at least there is no chance of losing it! Water is drinkable, and quite safe, but they do supply a huge jug of water for your use, if you prefer. The people in the cabin beside us were quite jealous of our water supply, as they went to the store to buy jugs of water. Remember, no blinds, so she saw the jugs of water through the window. With all the faults of this place, and the issues with plumbing and mouse poop, we would still stay here again. It's a cabin, and it is rustic. And you should expect the possibility of mice, especially in the spring, when the cabin opens again (they close over the winter months). The views from the living room and the kitchen, along with the proximity to East Point park, is what makes this place great. And well worth putting up with all the other "stuff". I would not want to stay here in the summer (too hot for me I think, without windows that open), but I would absolutely stay again. I would question why we are paying a damage deposit though!
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Date of stay: September 2016
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
If you basically want to get yourself a few notches above camping then this place will be perfect at least it was for me. But if you are used to higher resorts or hotels be prepared for some items that may cause you concern. Yes there were mice so hide all your food and be prepared to remove a dead one in the traps, yes it will get real hot in the summer as there are no ceiling fans and yes the place could use some upgrades here and there. But it's a rustic cabin located in one of the most beautiful locations in all of BC. So I would put up with a lot to be where I am as my young kids couldn't care less about upgrades they just loved the great outdoors. And I loved that I wasn't in a tent and I had a private bathroom. So I would recommend cabin 4 to anyone looking for a family getaway as your family will surly enjoy staying on this waterfront cabin.
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Date of stay: July 2017Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
First let me start by saying that this review in no way reflects on either the Island itself or the residents of Saturna Island. The natural beauty of Saturna is one to remember, as it is teeming with wildlife and sea life. We saw deer, seals, sea lions, porpoises, and even whales!! The residents of the island were very friendly and helpful. Everyone waves as you drive past them and people stop to ask you where you’re from and genuinely care about the visitors that come to their island. The hiking was great as was sitting out at East Point and watching the sea life.
Now on to the review of the Cottages – we stayed one night in Cottage 1 and then had to be moved to Cottage 3.
In all my life and 20 + years of travelling around Australia, NZ, the US, Canada and Europe, I've never encountered such a poorly maintained cottage or vacation rental. If I owned this place, I'd be embarrassed to even show people this cottage let alone rent it out. I wouldn't even let people stay there for free! The owner should be charging closer to $50 a night and turning it into a hostel as only backpackers would pay for and put up with such filth. Not to mention the health hazard of mice and their droppings but I’ll get to that in a bit.
From what we saw and experienced, there is an extreme lack of care of the cottages, especially for the price we paid to stay there. This place is NOT worth what we paid for it. We saved up and paid a lot of money for this experience and I am disheartened and angry and upset that our vacation was ruined because the accommodations were so severely lacking and not as advertised. For the same amount of money we were charged for this cottage, we have stayed in some very nice, very clean and comfortable vacation rentals on other islands. I’m actually surprised by the positive reviews left here given what we found when we arrived. We actually cut our vacation short and came home early as we were so unhappy with the accommodations and the lack of comfort. Especially given how the cottage was described in the various ads on VRBO and HomeAway etc....
This place is not modern, not fully equipped, and not comfortable or relaxing - it was not even clean. The only place we could relax was when we were out exploring the island or sitting on the point watching the sea life.
Here’s why....
Cottage 1 – Hyak
The pictures on the website are deceiving as there are 3 cottages on the property and it’s not clear which one is which given that the photos are mixed up on the various listings. Cottage 1 “Hyak” as pictured is actually Cottage 2, same with the exterior cottage photo of the patio. Note that there are also no photos of the master bedroom, the kitchen or the bathroom. There is a reason for this...if you saw them, you wouldn’t book here
The place reeked of what we originally thought was cat urine due to a cat spraying somewhere in the cottage. The smell was so bad it set off my wife’s asthma and my allergies. When we spoke to the owner about this, she expressed shock and claimed no knowledge. We took her at her word. We were later informed by more than one person on the island that actually, the ammonia smell was due to an accumulation of mouse excrement in the walls and/or cottage. This would make sense as at 1:00 a.m. we heard mice scratching and crawling around in the wall. We also learned the next day from a couple of residents of the island that we weren’t the first people to complain about the smell and have to move out of that cottage. I’m not sure how the owner couldn’t be aware given that there is a mousetrap under the sink and tin foil shoved into a corner of the baseboards in an effort to keep something out.
We called the owner and told her we could not stay in the cottage any longer and either she’d have to refund our money or move us. She did agree to refund our money and after some additional prodding and negotiating, she agreed to move us to Cottage 3. More about Cottage 3 later....
Only Cottage 3 takes advantage of the “spectacular ocean view”. While Cottage 1 did have a deck, it was far from comfortable as described in the listing as there was no comfortable furniture to sit on. There were a few padded office chairs which were soaking wet and the rest were not comfortable.
Cottage 1 does not have a “fully equipped kitchen with a full sized fridge and stove”. The fridge is condo size, the stove was missing the large, main burner, and there was NO microwave. When I inquired about this, the owner told me that none of the cottages have a microwave which was not true as Cottages 2 and 3 have them. The kettle was disgusting as when we went to pour out the water, it was rusty and brown. The coffee maker was filthy with coffee stains. It was evident it hadn’t been cleaned in ages; nor had the kitchen itself. The knives and cutlery were rusty and dirty. There was mold behind the sink faucets and mouse traps under the sink. We ended up buying paper plates and plastic cutlery so we didn’t have to use the ones provided.
The bathroom, while functional needs a serious upgrade. The bathtub enamel is peeling and the tub itself was littered with dead bugs and/or dirt. The whole bathroom just felt dated and dirty, especially as the ceiling was covered with dead bugs/fruit flies. I understand that due to its forest location there are a lot of spiders which eat the bugs however, it is quite easy to take a broom or mop and clean the ceiling before each guest arrives.
Just FYI, Orcas do not pass through almost every day from May to September just to temper one’s expectations. We got very lucky to see them – as many people told us. Yes, they do pass through by the point and it’s one of the best spots to see them but the description made it sound like they cruise by each and every day, which they do not. It depends on their food supply each given year. That said, seeing the whales is what made our trip and visit to Saturna Island memorable.
We were told there was internet/Wifi, which is not true. There is only Wifi in Cottage 3. If you’re staying in Cottages 1 or 2, you have to go sit outside of Cottage 3 to get any service. That should be made clearer on the advertising and the listing for Cottage 1 should not say there is Wifi and/or internet when in fact there is not; nor is there a phone.
The description says that Cottages are modern – HAHA sorry but they are dated, rustic, run-down Cottages at best unless these people are from a much earlier era. I’ve stayed in budget accommodations and youth hostels that are more modern and clean.
The furniture is not comfortable at all and the place just felt dirty as did the furniture.
It is truly a shame that such a wonderful opportunity to provide a beautiful, comfortable, cozy cottage steps away from such natural beauty is being squandered by the owners. These cottages have so much potential if they just received some TLC and attention from its owners. It is also a shame for the people of Saturna Island who have visitors come to the island and stay in such a place that truly makes it appear like the owners don’t take pride in or care for their investment on the island.
Cottage 3:
The view was fantastic as you could see the ocean and spot seals, otters and whales. This cottage does have a fully loaded kitchen with regular sized appliances that actually do work and a microwave! The Wifi worked. We didn’t find the bed or the furniture to be all that comfortable. The furniture really needs to be updated and replaced with something more comfortable. While the kitchen itself was clean (except the black mold behind the kitchen sink), there were cobwebs and large spiders in the empty cupboards and where the pots and pans were located which was kind of scary and off putting.
While Cottage 3 was a vast improvement to Cottage 1, the only reason it was clean is because we cleaned it ourselves. They definitely need to find a new cleaner as whomever cleaned the cottage before us did not do a good job. There was a large, disgusting ring of mold under the toilet seat. I don’t know how the cleaner could have missed it as you see it the moment you lift the lid. The bathtub didn’t drain and we ended up showering in ankle deep standing water until we bought Drano. These are things that guests, paying guests should not have to deal with.
If you still decide to stay here, I would highly suggest that you only stay in Cottage 3 or find the listing on VRBO for Cottage 4 (owned by someone else) or stay at 6 Lilly Lane (which use to be Cottage 6). While I can’t attest to the level of cleanliness or comfort of Cottages 4 or 6, it has to be cleaner and more comfortable than Cottage 1!
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Date of stay: September 2016
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Ask for Cottage 3 or better yet, book into Cottage 4 or contact 6 Lilly Lane rental. Bring...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
To begin, my family has been going to Saturna island for many years. The island itself is absolutely gorgeous and the people are amazing. If you are wanting to go to a place to relax and get away from the busy city feel, this is the place to go. It is one of my favourite places to go and in general, we always have a great time.
We've stayed in the east point resort cottages before, each time we've gone to the island actually, but we have never experienced such awful conditions. In fact, I've stayed in cleaner hostels while hiking in Spain.
We stayed in cabin 2, and as soon as we arrived we noticed that neither garbage cans were empty, and in fact were filled to the brim from the previous renters. We were supposed to pick up the key from the mini safe by the door, but that was broken open and the key was sitting out. When we walked inside we immediately smelled a very musky smell, which we presumed was just the smell of a cabin.
While the kitchen was small, we were fine with this. What we were not fine with was the excessive amount of mouse droppings throughout the entire kitchen (inside the cupboard, on pots and pans as well as the cutlery, glasses and plates).
It was known that we would be needing the pull out couch as we had 7 people staying there, and that night as we started to set it up, the sole sheet that was on the flimsy mattress was covered in mouse poop and bugs. In fact, you could clearly see under the couch was filled with mouse excrement, clearly not having been moved in a long time. We were shocked (understandably so), as they knew we would be needing the couch bed, why had it not been cleaned? And what else hadn't been cleaned properly?
Over the next few nights we experienced multiple problems.
Our stove broke on the second night, it had shorted because of the kettle which was constantly leaking over what must have been a long period of time. We were given the solution to use the other cabin's stove until someone could come resolve the problem.
The garbage was never picked up throughout the entire week, which in turn attracted more vermin.
The toilet would not flush sometimes, and we would have to leave it for over an hour sometimes before we could flush it. The shower head appeared like it hadn't been replaced in years, water sprayed all over the tub and walls, the shower curtain itself was mouldy. Again, we were unsure of what had even been cleaned. There was no cleaning supplies and minimal toilet paper left for 7 people to use, and we had to purchase our own.
At night you could hear the mice in the walls and in the kitchen, in the mornings there was mouse poop on the counters. Every morning we rewashed the dishes in the cupboard before we used them.
When we complained, a cleaner was sent out, and while she did the best she could, you cannot get rid of the mice that come out again that night to scrounge around.
As we had stayed there before, we did not read reviews prior to booking. However, after the fact we realized that this was a known problem.
I will return to Saturna Island, of course, I love the place and the locals, but I do not recommend anyone to stay at this cabin.
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Date of stay: July 2017
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hubby and I can't stop reminiscing about our four wonderful days in the oceanfront cabin, with the picture perfect views, full of silence and sea life.
Cabin (known as #4 within the resort): - Clean and tidy; stocked with essentials; newer appliances; appreciate individual room heat controls; great fireplace; love the kitchen sitting nook; three comfy living room couches; firm bed mattresses; excellent lighting throughout the cabin. - Bathroom had newer toilet, adequate sink and shower/tub. Tub converted little flow into very adequate shower pressure. Fun to open the shower window and talk to the robins on the grass while you're showering!
View: - Unbeatable. Incredible. Peripheral vision left to right was full of the ocean from the floor to ceiling living room windows, kitchen window, and off the balcony. - Spectacular entertainment watching sea lions, harbour seals and variety of birds from within the cabin, or from the balcony.
Neighbours: - There were no other guests at any of the five other cabins, so we were spoiled with solitude. Our cabin #4 was the closest to the water. The closest neighbouring cabin is angled away from #4 pointing up the channel so even if there were neighbours, you wouldn't be disturbed by them.
Miscellaneous: - In the course of four days, we only saw 4 people in total walking in the national park. Four humans in four days - pretty busy eh! - During our 20 kms driving exploring the island during the four days, we passed 8-10 cars in total - gotta love that! - One evening during dusk I drove the 15 minutes into the village and passed 15 deer. I think there are more deer than people on Saturna. - From the cabin, there were many shoreline access points throughout the area for walking adventure, not even including the national park.
Directions: - VRBO site for cabin didn't give any directions under "Location" and I never received any prior to our arrival. However, I'd done my homework and studied google maps, and looked at photos on the site. Ferry docked at 8:30 p.m., it was dark, and we got lost. Drove to Narvaez Bay instead. Learn from us: Climb hill from ferry; at top take fork to left; at Stop sign turn right; at National Park sign go only 10 feet and the resort overgrown driveway is on your left (sign covered in shrubs and branches). Hopefully cabin porch light will be on (it was for us). Hopefully it won't take 90 minutes to find like it did for us!
We highly recommend this idyllic oceanfront cabin.
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Date of stay: April 2016
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We just returned from a wonderful stay at the East Point Cottages. We booked our 2-night trip on short notice. The cabin was in good condition and everything was clean. The only thing we noticed that detracted from the cabin was that one of the cabins was very worn and could probably use replacement, but we didn't go there to sit around on the couch.
During our brief stay we enjoyed frequent walks along the beach and to East Point, watching seals and sea otters, and at one point say 13 golden and bald eagles diving in the bay for dinner at one time and sitting in the trees just off the back balcony. We saw a family of deer at the entrance to the resort and were able to enjoy just being away from urban life. The only disappointment was that that we didn't see any orcas at East Point, however, we found out during our stay that their season is usually between May and November. We were lucky enough to see a pod during the ferry ride back to Tsawwassen, however, so we got everything we were looking for out of our trip.
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Date of stay: March 2016
Rooms
Cleanliness
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We sent this e-mail to the owner after our trip on June 4 : FYI , you said our cabin was ready for early check in yet when we arrived on Sunday just after noon the cabin was still being cleaned. The young woman quickly finished up and we moved in. It was quite obvious that the beginning of the season thorough clean had not taken place as there were cob webs across the interiors of the kitchen cabinets and shelves badly in need of fresh shelf paper or a good wash , sticky cabinet handles , crumbs behind the microwave and coffeemaker , a thick layer of dust on the top of the fridge . As you can imagine immediately we began to question how clean are the dishes and so on......I washed down the counter, table tops , cabinet handles and prewashed all dishes to be used ( not a great way to conserve water )..When we stayed June 2013   drinking water was supplied so we don't know if that was an oversight or no longer your practice......would be nice to know as we would have brought our own. We love the location and are fully aware that if the cabin were done up to the latest copy of house and home it would be well out of our price range but we do feel that we should arrive to a well cleaned cabin for the price we paid . By the way the kitchen faucet is dangerously close to braking off . We still have had no response.
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Date of stay: May 2015
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Â Bring your own cleaning supplies.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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LOCATION
CanadaBritish ColumbiaSaturna Island
NUMBER OF ROOMS
6
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