My family of three girls, husband & myself stayed in Casa #7 during June 07'. The first thing I'd like to say to anyone who is looking for a "resort feel" or wants to be in the middle of beach vendor central, please go elsewhere! This is a charming property at the end of the dirt road, and surrounded by other homes on a nice stretch of beach. Across the street and down a block is a little tienda that has all the necessary items for you to get through the week without driving to the overcrowded Walmart.
We bought bread & sandwich making stuff there as well as pancakes for breakfast during the week. The casa has most everything you will need to enjoy your stay. Boogie boards, pool foaties, condiments, extra towels, even a first aid kit under the sink. The beach is lovely, not too many people, very few vendors (except Alex & his silver), and appropriate for children to swim in. My kids are easy to please, this place suited all our needs as they were either in the pool, or the ocean. If you came for the AC and the TV, then you chose the wrong spot. Although there is a TV in Casa #7 we rarely turned it on. The AC units are only in the bedrooms, and they weren't blowing arctic cold.
Leonarda is a wonderful cook, and the experience was so much better having her cook, serve & and clean for us!

It's a real plus being able to communicate with the locals, although they do speak some English, you will most definitely get quality information if you attempt to converse with them in their own language! After a 10 minute converstation with Jose down the beach at Claudio's, I was able to drive to Punta de Mita and find a panga to rent for $50. We boated to the Islas Marietas and snorkeled for 2 hours, the going rate further up the beach was $75 a person!
If you don't mind walking around town you will find a number of interesting places to stop and buy little gifts, maybe have a cerveza, or just take in the real Mexico feel by chatting with the locals.
There may be a couple of things that some people find disconcerting. On the 3rd day of our stay I witnessed a Mexican family pull out their cooler & umbrella and play in the waves most the day, at the end of the day they asked to come up and wash off at the Casa Manana's outdoor shower, all 10 of them. I personally did not have a problem with that, it was incredibly hot & muggy and I totally understood the need to rinse off. I noticed other guests were less thrilled about this. They were very cordial and thanked us graciously.
Secondly, the outlaying area is not flashy or fancy, there are terrible roads, trash, and always construction going on somewhere, don't let this ruin your trip! There are many areas in Mexico that are like this, but it does not define the Casa Manana itself. The grounds are cared for meticulously and the staff are always willing to help with anything you need whether it be locating a doctor/pharmacy, or just cutting a peice of Aloe for your sunburn.
We never had a problem with the water,(drinking water is provided), the crabs come out at night...and occasionally you'll find one in the pool in the morning, my kids loved playing with the little creatures every night. The gecko's will find their way into Casa 7 b/c of its open palapa type roof structure, they're perfectly harmless, and the lizards lounge around the roof most of the days. If this bothers you, then you may want to check out a hotel in PV.
If you are looking for a place far away, but not too far from the beaten path, want to spend your time between the pool & the beach, and can handle being pampered by Leonarda & the rest staff at Casa Manana, then this is the place for you :)

Casa Manana was recommended by a friend and then we checked it out on the www. We stayed in two different suites while were there in August (mom, dad, grandma, and 2 kids). One was the big 2-bedroom suite downstairs and the second one was upstairs. The latter is nicer but the former one has better access to the street. We were surprised that the suites were not air conditioned. The bedrooms have what are essentially window units, so we spent most of our time in there, watching tv. The kitchens were big but lots of bugs (and a couple of crabs). We also had a crab in the shower.

There is a water bottle in the kitchen, so that was nice. We cooked in the bbq one night and that worked out pretty good. There was construction going on with a new set of suites by the pool, so it was basically not useable unless you wanted a bunch of construction workers staring at you. There was also construction going on just south of us, so we had lots of machinery noise all day. I am pretty hardy, but the girls were very disappointed. We are used to 4-5 star joints and this was more "roughing" it than we thought it would be based on the website. We were told not to even brush our teeth with the tap water, so we had to buy bottled water just to brush our teeth.

There was supposed to be wireless internet there but it only worked intermittently. We also lost water for a couple of days. Not fun when you can't shower off the sweat/sand from being on the beach.

The best part was having access to essentially a private beach. There are really no private beaches in PVR, and a couple of times, we had some locals join us on the beach. But, for the most part, we were pretty much on our own. We had a great time in the water. We had our own Casa Manana boogie boards, and that was GREAT. The waves that time of year are pretty tame but every 5 minutes or so, we got a big one that was pretty exciting.

Sadly, the living conditions were such that we just didn't enjoy the trip as much as we expected. We loved PVR and are going back next year, but we will be staying at Los Flamingos, just a little south of Casa Manana.

A couple of tips: We were told not to rent a car but to take taxis and the bus. You are crazy to take the bus, I think, and a cab was pretty expensive (and small). I ended up taking a cab back to the airport and renting a car. What freedom! Having the car allowed us to be able to go visit PVR a couple of times and travel to and from our excursions. The best part, though, was to be able to go to WalMart so we could stock up. The local grocery stores just didn't work for us... Sorry if this sounds snobby. The car was the best buy of the trip.

Also, if you have kids and a little dough, I recommend doing the dolphins trainer for a day program just south of Casa M. My girls thought it was the highlight of the trip. DO NOT do the night time dinner/show program (I forget what it is called but you will see the ads when you get there). The show is really lame and the food is just okay. You take a boat to get there and the place is interesting, but it is dark, so you can't see much. There are no lights there - it is lit only by torches. We went back a couple of days later for a scuba trip (highly recommended) and THAT was much better. We discovered the flea market in Bucerias on the last day (could have used some directions but the employees were not around much). The flea market was pretty fun. Got some good/fun buys.

This place if great if you don't mind roughing it a little and you want to just hang out on the beach all day (some folks like that, I know). But, you really are in the middle of no where on a dirt road. We never felt comfortable there - it certainly did not have that "resort" feel.

Our family of four had the pleasure of staying in Casa Manana villa #7. Arriving by taxi -- hot and withered, the entrance is very inviting as you walk by the blue, sparkling pool; surrounded by loungers, and tropical plants. Norma, the staff person in charge,and Teresa (our service maid) greeted us with smiling faces at the door of our casa. WOW!! -- is all we could say as we gazed at the beautiful home that was to be ours for one week! Norma showed us all the essentials -- including a safe big enough to hold our laptop!
We loved the sliding glass doors that opened onto the private veranda.
The beds were comfy with pillowtop mattresses. We had ALL the comforts of home with a fully decked out kitchen. Vivienne stopped by to welcome us and answer any questions about town etc. Mike saved us a trip to Walmart by directing us to the 'good' local markets to pick up groceries -- he even let us use his ATV to make a beer run to the local superbeto! The pool was perfect; the beach awesome -- with a private spiral stair up and down (security gate/lock included).
We hired Leonarda to cook one dinner for us -- superb! ... you just select a meal ... she does all the shopping, prepares, serves and cleans up ... and you have leftovers for the next day or two!!!
Mike and Vivienne have developed a beautiful estate and it is truly one of a kind -- hope we can enjoy it again.

We just spent one wonderful week in Casa I. There were eight of us and we found it quite spacious. It is located right on the beach in Bucerias between the Royal Decameron and the town square.
On one side of our Casa we had the beach and on the other side we had the pool. Casa I is the original house and is decorated very old Mexican. Two nights we had the Leonarda cook for us, she spent hours preparing food and it was well worth it. The estate was quiet, but yet we enjoyed meeting the other guests that stayed there. Mike and Vivienne made us feel very welcome from the time that we arrived until we left.
There are so many great restaurants in Bucerias, Sandrinas, Mark's, Meson Bay, just to name a few. We were looking for a change from the all inclusive scene and were very satisfied with our choice. Casa Manana is paradise!