Smuggler’s Cove Interval Beach Resort

I know, how could you possibly rate a place on heaven 4 stars. Well, we got there and there were multiple lights burnt out that we had to call maintenance on. #Edinaproblems. You have to walk across a busy street to get to the beach, but once you get in the ocean, it is HEAVEN!
I do like the grills in the back, we used them often to grill seafood and I had my new favorite healthy dinner. Big Salad with lime juice dressing. The whole big thing is like 300 calories with the seafood. Makes up for the multiple beers you drink in the amazing Gulf of Mexico calm and warm waters. We stayed in there about three hours a day, because it was about 80 degrees. It felt like a bathtub.
The people at the staff were nice enough, I would recommend the trolley ride that she narrates, a cool little tour of the island,
There is a grocery store about a mile drive away and a cool dive bar about 3 blocks away called Mary Ann’s Castaway’s.
You have to try the Cuban place across the bridge, I forget the name, but look on Cuban in Unilocal and I think they are 4 or 5 stars, it is awesome.
The location is awesome, walking across the highway sucks, but life is good if these are complaints.

Having grown up in «timeshares» (my parents bought the first one in the early 80’s), I’m familiar with the variables within the RCI trading pool.
Smuggler’s Cove is one of three properties on the same parcel — weird, I know. Two of the buildings are «stilts» with two stories of units above parking. Smuggler’s Cove is a converted 1950’s style two-​story motel. They have taken one hotel room, and added either the front or back half of the next one over for the bedroom while making the living space/​kitchen out of the full room. Then the bath is ‘behind’ the bedroom. Quaint, cute, but definately not up to par with the RESORT style properties built in the late 90’s and 2000’s.
They do have a heated pool and jaccuzzi, and if you are brave enough to cross the 2-​lane road our front, then you have access to the ‘beach’ on the gulf-​side of the property. They also have BBQ’s behind the last building and on the ‘bay’ side.
If you just had a checklist of what a timeshare is supposed to have, you’d find that everything is the unit. But after being in places like The Resort on Cocoa Beach (which I own) or Tahoe Beach and Ski Club (my parents own) or HGVC on The Strip in Vegas — you feel like you stepped back in time when the idea of timeshares was first hatching.
And since we are using this as a hotel to be close to Gmom who is in Palm Harbor, it’s not like we need all the bells and whistles. We just wanted to (1) use up expiring points and (2) get a break from the Quality Inn that we tend to over-​use when staying in the area.