First, I want to thank the person from New England, whose detailed review was most helpful & accurate enough. My husband & I went to this house in Sept. & had a wonderful time. You have to be reasonably fit & active & the place is not luxurious. However, we thought it very fairly priced, especially these days. If you are at all capable of making yourself comfortable (which I didn't find too difficult; the beds were fine, there are plenty of sheets & towels, the kitchen is cheerful & well equipped, though being off the grid, there are no appliances except stove & refigerator) & if you appreciate peace, beauty & nature, you will have a great time. The house is surrounded by a garden full of flowering shrubs & the house is filled with colorful art. It was very hot when we were there, so hot water was not an issue. We showered outside quite happily after our daily snorkels -- which were great. There are no more sea urchins -- perhaps fewer -- than can be expected. The beach club staff were helpful & the proximity of their bar, restaurant, beach, & yet more wonderful snorkeling (rays, turtles) was a bonus. Having dinner in the evening on the veranda of the house, with fabulous sunsets, the Caribbean laid out before you & more or less the whole island to yourself, cannot be beat. Though I can see that, in the winter, with boat-loads partying down on the water, this could be a very different experience.

We stayed in a small rented house on Cooper Island owned by the Evans, who have two properties there. The island is lovely with a small hotel/restaurant and a few private homes. The vegetation was much lusher than I expected with many flowers and plants.

The house was set very privately, and as advertised, had its own private beach. What was not private is that the visiting yachts anchor offshore in front of your beach, not very far out. If you are looking for total privacy at the water, this isn't it.

There are no roads on the island, only a few paths. The "stroll" to the restaurant mentioned in the owner's website is not long but at one point involves going over rocks alongside a drop off to more rocks and the water below. Don't have a lot of rum punches at the bar and try to get home in the dark. The path to the upper house of the two properties is a little steep and made of stones set into the soil. For a short person like me, going down took longer than going up and was a bit tricky. The owners do not provide a warning that neither place is suitable for anyone with mobility issues.

The swimming at the home's beach was very nice, but beware: shortly after the dropoff there are sea urchins and you do not want to step on one if you are tall enough to touch bottom. You can rent snorkel equipment at the beach club and snorkel right from your own spot or go on an organized trip.

The house itself is well-stocked but for the price (over $200 a night), isn't super comfortable, mainly because of the hot water problems and choice of furniture. The hot water is solar generated but rarely worked beyond getting enough for a not-quite-cold shower. The kitchen is very well equipped but cooking isn't a pleasure if you have to heat water on the stove to do the washing up. The residents prior to us most likely just washed with cold water because the utensils and glasses seemed kind of sticky.

The living room is furnished with three single beds made up with daybed covers. These are too deep to be comfortable as sofas. The other seating is two large wicker chair, also not very comfortable. The dining table has picnic benches for seating so I brought in chairs from the porch.

All the electricity is generated from solar power and batteries so you have to be careful in your usage. There's a light in the kitchen, dining area, bedroom, and bathroom. There is no overhead light at all in the living room If you want to read after dark, there's a tiny reading lamp next to the wicker chairs. There's no a/c, definitely not an issue while we were there with wonderful breezes. The bedroom and living room have ceiling fans. We never turned the one in the living room on; the one in the bedroom isn't very effective and is quite noisy.

The house is screened and there were virtually no bugs - probably less the result of screening as of the resident lizards - one for each room. They can be startling when they dart from place to place (and they do poop in the house), but if you're not phobic about reptiles they aren't a problem.

The Beach Club serves lunch and dinner and has a bar. You need to make reservations for dinner which means you can't decide at the last minute to eat out (you bring all your food over with you when you come). The restaurant there is very busy. Two steak dinners, two drinks, two desserts, and two coffees came to about $70. While we were there fifteen to twenty five boats came every day. One night people partied on their boat until the wee hours and could be heard all over the place. For a place in the middle of nowhere, there were actually a lot of interesting people visiting.

While I've written quite a lot of criticizm, we had a very good time. The place is beautiful. Sitting on the porch having breakfast and watching all the colorful birds and the boats sail by can't be beat. The water was lovely, the weather wonderful (hot climate people thought it was a bit cool, but to us 75 degrees is perfect.) My point in all this detail is that you need to be prepared for the kind of experience you're going to get - closer to camping out than a luxury rental, and you need to know ahead of time about the difficulties you may encounter in order to make a decision about whether this is the right place. Some friends had considered coming with us and thank goodness didn't do it, since one of them would have freaked at the lizards in the house and could never have gotten by the rocks on the path to the hotel.

If none of this bothers you, this could be a terrific place to unwind.

We stayed in a cottage overseen by the cooper island resort. The island is charming - though no regular electricity - only solar - if you are the kind of person who likes being on a little beautiful island, with a sweet little resort and a laid back pace, this is for you. It was a wonderful time and we would stay in the cottage or the resort again.

Just came back from our first visit to Cooper Island. It was simply wonderful. Very tranquil and peaceful. Staff is expertedly trained and very friendly. Cottages are very clean and the food was outstanding. We will be going back!