We were very pleased with the property. Exactly what we needed to get away from work/school for a week. Here's a few things we noted:
- The place is really lovely, but it does show some wear from use and sea air that isn't visible in the pictures. Treat the pictures like those 'glamor shots' people used to get in the mall, and your expectations will be met :). This is the reason I gave it 4/5 for cleanliness - it's not really that it's not clean; more that it's just a little worn. But hey, it's a *rental* property *on the beach*, so it's reasonable to expect this.
- The beach is not at all crowded, and the sand is really nice. For a 'wild' beach (i.e. without anyone paid to keep it clean, like in a resort), it's really clean and pretty. Great for kids to run around on. You can walk pretty far along to the northwest, which is great for those 'long walks on the beach'. There's a very small amount of tar that *sometimes* gets on the bottom of your feet. Comes off really easy with baby oil, and it's not a big deal at all.
- There's a reason surfers come to this beach: the waves are pretty substantial. Fun if you're not too delicate and a strong swimmer (there are boogie boards included!). Probably not good for small kids to swim in, but they'll have loads of fun jumping over the small waves right up on the beach. There were several other families in neighboring houses, and they had small kids, who did fine.
- It doesn't look like it on the map, but depending on traffic, it can feel like you're pretty far from Santa Barbara and Ventura (definitely from L.A.). We were there to get away from civilization, so we just picked up groceries in Ventura and stayed home to watch the waves. Perfect for us. There's a nice row of restaurants in Ventura too - I'd recommend that.
The rental company (turnkey) did a great job communicating with us, and checkin/checkour was super easy.