We spent one night in the Barn Loft. It was perfect for a small family. Comfortable bedroom separated from the living room with a pull-out bed for the children. The antiques scattered around the furnishings made it seem more like a little home.

The owners warned us to pick up groceries in Eastsound as Bayside Cottages are about 20 minutes out of town. The kitchen was well stocked with equipment and we had our own barbeque and sitting area outside. There is nothing, other than a very small cafe/art gallery between Bayside and Eastsound. So you either need to drive 20 miles each way for a restaurant, or prepare it yourself.

We enjoyed the fireplace, the quiet, and the beautiful location. The grounds were well taken care of with paths going down to the beach. If you are looking for a place to skip rocks on the beach, enjoy a quiet evening sitting outside watching the stars, snuggle up under a down comforter in front of a fire, ..., this would be a great place.

We spent 4 nights in the Mt. Baker Suite in August with a 4 and 6 year old. The suite was spacious, light, clean and perfect for our needs. The views of the water and Mt. Baker were breathtaking. The Olga Cafe was nearby for a great dinner and we grilled on the gas BBQ the rest of the time. Good access to the water, several marvelous state parks for hiking and playing in the tide pools and just a lovely place all around. Owners are helpful and around, but not overly so or intrusive. I strongly recomend the cottages and the suite in particular.

The positives about this place are the beautiful scenary and the nice amenities. We stayed in the Barn Loft (no ocean view) and it was comfortable. It had a full kitchen.

However the downside is that it is far from the town of Eastsound which is where most of the restaurants and shops are. There is only 1 restaurant in Olga (really a cross in the road, not a town in its own right) and it closed at 6pm so we had to drive all the way back to Eastsound to eat dinner.

The owners seem like nice, decent people. However we got the feeling that there are definitely issues with the neighbors. Perhaps people on this island get picky about paying so much for high-priced real estate then being cooped up together on a rather small island. We were told the boundaries of the beach that we had to stay within because the beaches are considered private property. Also we were encouraged not to drive to the end of the road as there is no turn around and no outlet.

The beach was beautiful! Great views, very rocky. Lots of large jelly fish had washed up. We could see sea otters playing in the water in the distance.

The room - you weren't supposed to wear your shoes inside the loft because of the noise it might make for the people staying in the room below.

I really like taking a nice hot bath at the end of the day. But it turns out that fresh, potable water is scarce on the island and people are encouraged to not waste water. So I skipped my bath. But the owners didn't express this to us so I certainly felt like I could have taken a bath if I really wanted to. But it just didn't seem right.

This island is *very* environmentally conscious. The locals are somewhat aloof and very into natural living. It seems everyone is either an artist, organic farmer, or wealthy person who just wanted to get away from it all.

One reason that we stayed here is that they allowed us to stay for just one night - a lot of places on the island have a 2 night minimum stay. So we appreciated the owners letting us stay there for just 1 night. Also we booked at the last minute, so again we appreciated them accomodating us. As the lady-owner told us, "We're not a B&B, we're just a B" which I thought was funny and also accurate.

We stayed in the Baker suite at Bayside Cottages for a week and highly recommend it for the location, views and overall property quality.

As there are 6 of us we expected to be very cramped but found the suite to be perfectly large enough for us and our 4 children of 15, 13, 11 and 8. This is not for people who need their peace and privacy but for a real shared family vacation this was fine for us.

The views over the San Juan Islands to Mt. Baker are stunning. Wildlife in the garden. beach and sea were a constant joy with sea otters, eagles and deer being regular visitors.

Orcas Island itself is wonderful for hiking, small cafes and the outdoor life, including great fishing, horseriding and water sports. We even saw a bald eagle catch a fish in the nearby lake. We visited San Juan Island for shore based whale watching and were amazed by the experience .. not to be missed and probably better than boat-based whale watching (and its free....).

Olga Cafe is excellent for lunch and there are several Cafes in Eastsound that are worth visiting.

My introduction to the island was to nearly run down the sherif on a 4-way stop but thankfully he was fairly forgiving since I was clearly a foreign tourist.