Marty, thanks for the excellent update and pictures. We will be checking in to Grande Ocean on Friday and your posts have me really looking forward to our stay.
Glad to do it. I think you'll find that everything is good, nothing really inconvenient.
When the beach calls you, you really don't think a whole lot about much else.
The sunrises and sunsets are still spectacular, and the constant waves and ocean breezes still mesmerize.
We felt normal.... far different from the "new normal" we were convinced about.....more like the old normal.
But then, it's Grande Ocean, and it can do that to you!
Spent a lot of time on the beach, and loved seeing the pools open and plenty of chairs available.......
many spaced as advertised, but there was no lack of chairs. Very nice to have free run of the pools.
We even grilled out several times, and learned they were cleaning the grills regularly.
Bike rental activity was normal, with many coming and going.
Only thing I noticed was that you were asked to enter the lobby thru the right-side door (South side lobby entrance)
and exit thru the left-side door (North door). I caught onto that quickly, lol.
The indoor pool's sliding glass middle door was open all the time during the day,
so that was convenient going in or out from the beach side of the building.
As mentioned in an earlier post, throw pillows were not present in the villas, but we never missed them.
If you typically like to use them, be sure to take a couple of yours from home!
The palm trees across the front part of the resort were trimmed a
lot (in front of the OF bldgs)! You may not even notice it,
but I'd say at least 5-6 limbs were removed from each tree, leaving only the very top limbs...very pretty and nicely done.
You will definitely notice that the underbrush along the frontage within the defined dune areas has been extensively cleared out,
especially down near the South-side swings.
The scrubby trees on both sides of the S. boardwalk had all the low-level limbs totally removed, up to 4 or 5 feet.
You can now see the ocean from there.
It helps with the ventilation coming into the resort too....a nice breeze was always present.
The underbrush in front of the swings was always ugly, and prevented a view to the beach, but no more. It looks much cleaner.
Before they hauled off the various piles of trimmings, it looked like a war zone, but after, neat as a pin.
Hope all goes well and that the weather allows everybody a wonderful vacation. We all desperately need it.
Trimming had just begun....
photo below taken last Tuesday June 2:
this seemed to be the busiest day at pools and beach with weather pristine,
but still below the old normal.