We live in Uganda and needed a seriously relaxing vacation away from work! From the initial contact via internet until we said goodbye on our last day, the staff were wonderfully friendly and accommodating! We stayed 4 nights and 5 days in the Tewa Cottage (3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms). We were not expecting fancy, but quiet, beautiful and relaxing and that is exactly what we got. We hired Juma to cook for us and everything tasted amazing! We bought safari.com mobile internet connection at the airport and had no problem accessing the internet when we needed to. The beach is beautiful and there are no beach boys harassing you. The provided tide charts are accurate and you are able to plan your days around when the sand island is exposed and when the waves are a bit higher. Our 3 kids had a great time snorkeling, going on an amazing starfish tour and snorkeling/swimming off the reef. The head staff is family and have been in Kenya for years. There is even a book you can buy highlighting the amazing East African adventures of the family over the past 100 years!
Our roof leaked on during a rain storm on our last night and the repair crew was already on site to fix it before we loaded everything in the car. Anthea emailed to say that by the next day it was repaired! The plumbing in the Tewa should have a bit of attention given to updating, but nothing we couldn't live with. Also, between about 10 pm. and midnight any breeze completely stills and it is STIFLING hot. I highly suggest you spend the small amount required to rent a fan or two!!!

We stayed at Sand Island Beach Cottages for seven nights in january 2012. We have chosen it, because we wanted some quiet days at the beach after exploring the country.

Service/Staff

The staff was very friendly and helpful. There were gardeners who kept the area clean and after four days the cottage was cleaned and the linen was changed. A gardener climbed up in the palm trees to get coconuts for us. Also the manager Anthea was very nice and helpful and had many good advices for us.

Price

For our spacious cottage with a nice view over the beach and the ocean, we paid 6.000 Ksh per night. From our point of view, that was a really fair rate for what we've got.

Cottage

The cottage had a spacious bedroom, with nice wooden interiors, a small bathroom and a small kitchen. The cottage was aged, but clean. Just one hint: the kitchen equipment should get a renewal soon!

Location

Tiwi Beach is located next to the greater Diani Beach. It is really quiet and perfect to relax for a few days. Sand Island has its own part of the beach, what means that there are only a few people there and you don't get bothered by annoying Beach Boys. But to be honest, after some days you really need another good book, because there is no other distraction.

Conclusion

We really enjoyed our stay and got more than we expected. Anthea the new manager of the Cottages was really nice and helpful and solved any upcoming problems very fast.

I can't share the bad experiences, users like "kl_le" made at Sand Island. Of course the cottage was a little bit old, but it wasn't dirty or in a bad condition.

So, I really recommend that place for people who are looking for a quite place to relax and enjoy the nice reefs, the good fish and the lonesome bay.

This was a couple of years ago but...

After driving up from SA we came along the coast via Bagamoyo and Tanga. Very late at night we were pulling into Mombasa and looking for a place to stay - we saw the sign and followed the sandy track.

Having woken Sheila, she very graciously found us a chalet and left us to it. Arriving in the dark we did not expect the glorious scene that presented itself when we stepped out of our cottage the next morning.

Having lived in Africa for many years we didn't expect European/American levels of plastic antiseptic hygiene but found and welcomed a basic, clean, cottage that was meters from the beach!

Fresh fish and lobsters were brought to us and cooked for us by a local guy we engaged for our stay. The beach was quiet, beautiful and there were no touts...in all a wonderfull experience.

I chose Sand Island because it was cheap (£45) and because I wanted to be on Tiwi Beach. I didn't have high expectations because the raving reviews on TA were from reviewers who only ever had one review posted. But I ended up being disappointed anyway.
Pluses : Location is great, the bungalow are right on the beach, (ours was actually so close to the sea the sound would prevent us from sleeping at night), so you can just hang out on the porch enjoying the sea view or walk few steps to the sea. Clear water, only problem lots of sea urchins and be aware you cannot snorkel off the shore because the reef is where the water breaks and it's too wavy there. We had to take a snorkelling trip (we got it at a discounted price) please note it is not worth $130, only do it if you can get a discounted rate. The owner was also pushing for us to book the trip through her so she can get her cut and was annoyed at us for booking it somewhere else that was half price. Another Plus is the lady which comes round everyday with delicious samosas and donuts (just ok) and you can get fish and prawns just caught omg just caught fresh fish is nothing like you've ever tasted like the stuff is in the supermarket just remember to barter the price !! was amazing. There is also a restaurant next door if you don't fancy cooking only 6 quid a head for a main. Internet next door is like 1 quid for 20 min.
Minuses : DIRT is everywhere. Bathroom : the tiles are not cleaned bleached, there is yellow on the grout and gunk on the shower curtain, I would always wear my flip flops in the shower and avoid touching the shower curtain. Rest of the bungalow : the windows were covered with dust / dirt I cleaned what I could whenever your hands would touch them you'd end up with sticky fingers ew. Also the curtains were stained and felt greasy to the touch like they had never been washed for years. The mosquito net which unfortunately needed handling morning and night was also very greasy and I hated having to touch it. I also seen FOUR cockroaches in our 9 night stay there (trust me one if enough) one of them on the bed !!!! and it was lucky I always put all the food away at all time even bread in the fridge so that ants or cockroaches would not get to it. The bed sheets were stained but thank god clean (like freshly washed but some stains do not go away even after washing).
conclusion if you want a week end away on the cheap and can put up with the general state of dirt then go ahead. If you want to stay for longer than few days I would not recommend. Next door cottages are about £80 a night but were much nicer although the beach there is lousy (but can always walk back to sand island beach) so if I had to do it again I'd pay more, stay next day but stay less nights as there is no snorkelling there there is not much to do so 6 nights would have been way enough. Also don't worry about Shimba Hills you can't see a lot because you can't go off road and there are so many trees you don't see many animals.