Notes from the host
Beach View Retreat Near Fish Hole Adventure Golf
175 five-star ratings says it all with Beach Views at Bridgeport 202 + 203 + 207 similar layouts!! Perfect location next to Beach + Restaurants + Bridge Street + Free Trolley with Large Pool!! Relax, relax, relax. The options are many once you enter the Beach View Retreat. Wake up to the sunrise across the Intercoastal bay on the east side of the complex. Check out the beach, dolphins and fish/tarpon jumping, and diving birds in the Gulf of Mexico through the high-powered binoculars. Head out to the white powder sand of the beach. Return to enjoy a dip or more horizontal time at our condo swimming pool. Watch the sunset into the Gulf of Mexico from the beach, from the home's living room, from the home's master bedroom, or from the home's lanai open-air patio. End the perfect day with a walk across the street to the BeachHouse Waterfront Restaurant or a couple blocks south to the Bridge Street restaurants for dinner.
Florida's best kept secret, Anna Maria Island, features beautiful white sugar sand beaches, older Florida charm, award-winning restaurants, year-round golf courses, and pristine shopping all within easy walking and driving distance, or a ride aboard the free 'Anna Maria Island Trolley', which stops near your next vacation destination, the Beach View Retreat. One of the few places in the world where the sunset is regularly applauded, this tiny slice of paradise stretches for 7 miles into the Gulf.
The Beach View Retreat is located in the highly valued Bridgeport Condos. Sightings along the Gulf of Mexico beach and inter-coastal waterway include Manatees, Rays, Dolphins, many kinds of fish, huge Pelicans, Blue Herons, Egrets, Osprey, Terns, Gulls, and other amazing creatures. Some people even get married at the beach area and stay in the home with family! Common sites along the beach areas include Sea Turtle nests and bird nesting sanctuaries during special times of the year.
“Anna Maria Island’s Hot Spot” is now Historic Bridge Street on Bradenton Beach, the southernmost city of Anna Maria Island. Bridge Street, where the original wooden bridge was the only means of access to the island, where a beautiful fishing pier is in its place today, leading to an active street where you can Shop~Dine~Play from beach to bay. Bridge Street offers a walkable community with spectacular water views from the both the pier and the gulf beach and only a couple blocks from Beach View Retreat.
The Beach View Retreat offers everything you need for your beach stay! Just bring your food, clothing and toiletries. Beach chairs, beach umbrella, and beach toys for the kids are available in our garage level storage room including beach chairs and toys. Dishes, pots, pans, linens and towels are all provided - just bring your swimsuit and enjoy! The Beach View Retreat features a master bedroom having an en-suite bathroom with large closet and a guest bedroom with its own bathroom. Additionally, there is a LazyBoy sleeper sofa in the family room. Other amenities to perfect your stay include:
• Covered Lanai/Patio with nearly 180-degree direct beach views
• Living Room picture window with nearly 180-degree Gulf of Mexico views
• Grocery cart for easy carrying from car to elevator and up to home
• Garbage bag drop right around corner from home
• Elevator access or stairwell access for handicap access at your convenience
• High-Speed Wireless Internet service with 120 MB+ per second download speeds + 12 MB per second upload speeds
• Cable on 3 Televisions - 2 LED flat-screen TVs in Living Room and Master Bedroom as well as another Cable TV in the Guest Bedroom
• New Trane air conditioning unit
• Keurig K55 Programmable Coffee Cup Maker
• 1,060 square feet living space
• 2 Car Parking Spaces
• 2 Bathrooms
• Washer & Dryer
• Grill available
In less than 2 minutes, you will be spending your day on the beach, or venture out a bit further and hang out fishing in one of the many great spots nearby. Sightings along the Gulf of Mexico beach and inter-coastal waterway include Manatees, Rays, Dolphins, many kinds of fish, a wide variety of birds, and other amazing creatures. Common sights along the beach areas include Sea Turtle nests and bird nesting sanctuaries during special times of the year. Once in a while, you’ll come across a Gulf-side wedding!
While some prefer the isolation of the nearby beaches, others opt toward more people at the public beaches. If that is your desire, venture to Coquina Beach at the south end of Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria Island, or Manatee County Beach at the west end of Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach, or Anna Maria Pier at the east end of Pine Avenue for the intercoastal/Tampa Bay access. Anna Maria Pier is a special place where many times you can see fish, rays, dolphins, and manatees swimming underneath you as well as fish from the dock and have a nice meal or an ice cream cone at Two Scoops Ice Cream Shop. (The Pier is currently under repair, Winter 2017.)
If you're in the mood to tour around the rest of the island, catch the free trolley around the corner and it will take you to any of the beaches, restaurants, shops or grocery stores along Gulf Drive anywhere on Anna Maria Island. Take the trolley to the old historic Bridge Street area of Bradenton Beach to enjoy the Key West style restaurants and shops. If you enjoy painting or photography, the sunsets are among the best in the world.
Enjoy live music nightly and dinner at Manatee Public. By timing it right (usually 7 pm), you can enjoy sea creature (fish, eel, and shark) feeding by the owner while enjoying Ice Cream at Holy Cow Ice Cream.
A lovely sunrise can be enjoyed along the Coquina Baywalk. Bean Point and Coquina Beach are great beaches to visit along with Sunset Park next to our home.
Just across the Cortez bridge on the south side of the island, is the old school Florida fishing village of Cortez, where restaurants have excellent seafood and some have live music. Swordfish Grill is our favorite on the dock.
We have 3 favorites for breakfasts: 1) Rod & Reel Pier, 2) Ginny's & Jane E's, and 3) The Donut Experiment (fun for the kids but not completely filling).
Eco tours and on the Gulf and Intercoastal via boats, kayaks and jet skis are always nice. The Ringling Museum in Sarasota is great.
The Regina is a sugar barge that sunk just off our beach during a storm in 1940. It is in about 20 feet of water just 150 feet or so off the beach. It is marked with a buoy. The Regina is 10th Florida Shipwreck Underwater Archaeological Preserve.
There is a small reef of rocks about 150 feet northwest from the Sunset Park Beach directly west of our home. I like to swim out to it and then dive down 8-10 feet to see colorful fish like the striped Sheepshead, etc.
Our kids love going to the Bridge Street Pier or taking the free trolley just outside the door up to Anna Maria Pier and looking for fish in the water (especially in the morning to early afternoon when you can see well through the clear water), talking to the fisherman, and eating at the restaurant or getting ice cream at Two Scoops. The Blueberry Pie ice cream is my favorite... The Trolley stops every 20 minutes from about 6 am to 10 pm.
Come enjoy the unbelievable location of the Beach View Retreat near corner of Gulf & Cortez!
Please consider bringing more family/friends to our 15 Florida Beach Homes or 8 Colorado Mountain Lodges or 3 Tennessee Lake/Country Homes on either Vrbo or the other primary platform. The number at the start are the # folks who can stay there:
Island Salt Life!
7 • "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" - 2nd floor - "Over the Water" -https://www.Vrbo.com/1920061?dateless=true
6 • "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" - 1st floor - "On the Water" - https://www.Vrbo.com/1920035?dateless=true
6 • Cortez Beach Retreat "Views" - 2nd floor- https://www.Vrbo.com/1920266?dateless=true
6 • Cortez Beach Retreat "Poolside" - 1st floor - https://www.Vrbo.com/3774464?dateless=true
6 • Bridge Street Pier Beach Home - https://www.Vrbo.com/3795636?dateless=true
6 • Bridgeport #202 - Beach View Retreat - https://www.Vrbo.com/977187?dateless=true
6 • Bridgeport #203 - Sunset View Retreat - https://www.Vrbo.com/3772892?dateless=true
6 • Bridgeport #207 - Beach + Gulf View Retreat - https://www.Vrbo.com/3772900?dateless=true
8 • Gulf View Retreat - 150 5-stars - 2nd floor - https://www.Vrbo.com/557191?dateless=true
8 • Pool Side Retreat - 150 5-stars - 1st floor - https://www.Vrbo.com/614098?dateless=true
3 • Ohana Beach Retreat - Unit A - https://www.Vrbo.com/3774458?dateless=true
5 • Ohana Beach Retreat - Unit B - https://www.Vrbo.com/3774456?dateless=true
5 • Ohana Beach Retreat - Unit C - https://www.Vrbo.com/3774461?dateless=true
8 • Dolphin Pool & Beach Home - https://www.Vrbo.com/3772893?dateless=true - Nokomis Beach at Casey Key
8 • Sea Turtle Pool & Beach Home - https://www.Vrbo.com/3772896?dateless=true - Nokomis Beach at Casey Key
Colorado Rocky Mountain High Lodges near Golden and Boulder!
12 • Quartz Mountain Ranch - Best Views in Colorado Front Range behind Boulder Flatirons and historic Golden
- https://www.Vrbo.com/1014860?dateless=true
8 • Love Mountain Ranch - City Lights + Continental Divide Views near Red Rocks Ampitheater
- https://www.Vrbo.com/2244657?dateless=true
Tennessee Lake Houses + Country Homes between Knoxville + Chattanooga!
10 • Perfect Tennessee Lake House on Watts Barr Lake - Private Boat Ramp, Floating + Fixed Docks, Firepit, unbelievable Views and incredible Fishing!
- https://www.vrbo.com/3036629?dateless=true
7 • Awesome Tennessee River House on Lake Chickamauga - Private Covered Boat Dock and fabulous Fishing!
- https://www.vrbo.com/3774454?dateless=true
12 • Chattanooga Pool + Farmhouse - Large pool + home in quiet countryside near Chattanooga + Cleveland + Southern Adventist University
- https://www.Vrbo.com/3772901?dateless=true
Rex & Michele Geissler
Golden, Colorado