I want to start by saying that Redwood Beach Resort has the single most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The sand is soft and black, and the water is clear, warm and gentle. The resort is beautiful, the days are golden, and relaxation reigns. For those reasons I have to give it a five star rating.
Our group included myself, my husband, our four children, my husband's younger brother and his girlfriend. I planned our 9 day trip, and Redwood was our second stop. We flew into Managua the night before, rented a van and headed for our first hotel in the city. To make a long story short, our first hotel was not a hit with the fam, night driving in a country without street names was scary, and there was a lot of "why did you bring us to this horrible country?" sentiment among the group. So when we arrived at Redwood after nearly 4 hours in the van, during which we were stopped by a man with an AK 47 who demanded we turn over all our passports (he gave them back and was harmless but it was a little unsettling) and the last 30 min on a terrible dirt road, we were very ready for some r&r. Instead of the warm welcome we were so in need of, a man who spoke absolutely no English, asked if we had reservations. This was unsettling since the whole resort is only six cabanas. I explained that we had booked and prepaid for two cabanas, but he said that they weren't expecting guests.
You have to understand that our group was feeling as though we had just battled our way through hell to get there, so when we were told that we didn't have reservations the temperature in the car was nearing panic. The man told me that Mike and Stacy had gone to Managua for the night, but that he would try to reach them. Eventually he gave me a phone with Stacy on the line, she told me that somehow our reservation had not made it into the system, and that she thought she had closed the resort for three days. She said she had to look into it and would call back. It took about 30 minutes from the time we pulled in to get the good news that our reservation would be honored. This news was again delivered in Spanish, and when my husband received it he came to tell me that we weren't getting a room. I went to talk to the guy in charge and he was trying to tell my husband that we would have our rooms after they were cleaned. If I hadn't been able to speak Spanish on behalf of our group we would have been completely lost.
After we got our rooms everything turned around. We were finally able to relax. The beach was perfect for kids, shells everywhere, and an uninterrupted stretch of sand as far as you can see. Hammocks and wooden beach rocking chairs are peppered all over the resort. We were told that someone went to get fresh fish for our dinner, and asked what time we wanted to eat. Dinner was delicious, and the service was second to none.
The next day when Mike and Stacy returned Mike came to our cabin right away to ask how we were enjoying the resort. I told him that while we were positively in love with the room and the beach, that our reception was less than I'd hoped for. At that moment he seemed to make it his personal mission to do everything in his power to insure that we got the full Redwood experience. He played pickle ball with us, he drove us out to see the cliffs, he set up a movie outside for us that night, and even had someone cut down fresh coconuts for us to have after dinner! What a treat.
We did the "Moro hunting" excursion one evening which was so much fun! The kids wanted to stay out all night. We also did the horseback tour of the local farm. We asked to reserve 6 horses, but when we got there they only had four. I stayed behind with my young daughter who would have been riding with me and my other kids doubled up, so it was fine. My daughter and I walked around and looked at the pigs, chickens, cows, and puppies. I practiced my Spanish a bit by trying to make conversation with the mother there while her little girls fawned over my daughter. All in all a great afternoon. However when it came time to pay, they told us that we would pay Stacy, which was great because I was thinking that way I could put it on my card, but when we settled up with Stacy on the morning we left she had written down that we used 6 horses. I corrected her and explained that they only had four. Stacy told me that she had to call to verify, and when she came back she said that the people at the farm insisted that we took out four horses, and then two again in a second shift so we had still used the equivalent of six horses. While it was discussed as an option that we go out in two shifts so that my daughter and I didn't have to miss out on the excursion, it never ended up happening since everyone else was hot and tired and very ready to return to the resort at the end of the tour. Stacy told me that she trusted the farmers, but that she'd meet me in the middle and charge for 5 horses. I tried very hard not to be offended, and can only assume that there was some miscommunication or misunderstanding along the way, and I really didn't mind paying for the extra horse since the price was so fair.
The only reason that our stay was less than perfect is simply because Mike and Stacy are human and misplaced our reservation. What they are doing is great, and obviously working well for them. It just happened that I took the mistake a little harder than most since I had the weight of a group of eight's satisfaction on my shoulders. The only other aspect of our trip that was effected by their absence on our first day, is that it was never explained to us until the morning we checked out that the bar is based on an honors system, you help yourself and write your tab down. The whole time we stayed there we couldn't figure out how we were supposed to get a drink outside of mealtimes since there was no bartender at the bar and it was obvious that the cooks didn't handle the drinks.
Would I return? Absolutely. Would I recommend this Resort? In a heartbeat, but I would recommend arranging transportation rather than trying the self drive model. The roadside armed guards and 13 km of dirt "road" are not for the faint of heart.