Sand Dollar Villa is a beach villa located on Treasure Cay, Abaco Island in the Bahamas. The owners of this holiday shack are not hams but are delighted to provide a vacation spot for radio enthusiasts.
Sand Dollar Villa (Villa 621) is equipped with two antennas and two power supplies, and an extensive tool kit. The only thing a guest needs is to bring their own radio as the shack does not offer one.
The villa has proven to be an excellent spot for people on vacation who also like to engage in casual “DX” ham radio operation.
The villas are fortunate to have their own wireless hotspot for internet access which means access to useful online resources (e.g. cluster) during your stay.
Owners strongly recommend that you bring a laptop computer that is equipped with a wireless card, and to ask the villa manager about signing on.
Sand Dollar Villa is located in a group of homes called the Beach Villas. The two-bedroom/two-bath house is complete with full kitchen, living room, dining area, screen porch and outdoor patio.
The villa sleeps up to four people comfortably.
It has all new appliances, including a refrigerator, stove, microwave and coffee maker. They also offer an outdoor charcoal grill.
All linens are provided, including plenty of beach towels. The villa also provides telephone service and cable TV for your enjoyment (most villas do not!)
The villa is air-conditioned however guests are asked to run it only while they are at home spending time in the villa.
Electricity is extremely expensive in the Bahamas, and electric rates have literally doubled in the past twelve months due to higher oil prices.
Treasure Cay boasts an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, an excellent marina with boat rentals, world-class bone fishing and sport fishing with expert guides, snorkelling, scuba diving, and much more.
Sand Dollar Villa is just steps away from the beach, pool, marina, shopping, restaurants, tennis and golf.
More Infos…
Shack Name: Sand Dollar Villa- DXCC: Bahamas (121 division)
- Island: Great Abaco
- RSGB IOTA Reference: NA-080, Little Bahama Bank group
- Station: Cushcraft R6000 vertical, Samlex SEC-1223 power supply, and a Astron RS-20 power supply as backup, MFJ-941C antenna tuner (80-10m) with coax jumpers to the radio and a built-in antenna switch.
- Rates: $160—$200 per day, $950—$1200 per week, $3000—$4000 per 4 weeks
- Contact Email: http://www.sanddollarvilla.com/contact.htm
- Website: http://www.sanddollarvilla.com/hamradio.htm
Getting There:
Sand Dollar Villa in Treasure Cay is on the island of Great Abaco, Bahamas.
Abaco is located 175 miles due east of West Palm Beach. The island is almost 130 miles long and yet less than 15 miles wide, with a total resident population of about 15,000 people.
Both commercial and charter flight service is available direct to Treasure Cay on several airlines from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando.
Treasure Cay has its own airport 7 miles from the resort, and it typically takes just 15 minutes to reach the villa.
Taxi service from Treasure Cay airport to the villa is $20 for two people and $5 per extra passenger.
Alternatively, guests can fly to nearby Marsh Harbour to open up more flight options.
A taxi ride from Marsh Harbour to Treasure Cay covers 25 miles and takes about 30 minutes. The ride from Marsh Harbour to Treasure Cay is $65 for two people.
All visitors must have a valid national passport to enter or exit the Bahamas. No other forms of identification will be accepted for entry into the Bahamas, or back into the United States.
Does this ham rental still exist? I would like to rent a shack in June.
Thanks, Daniel, EA4ATI
Nice one. Been thinking of offering the same up here in the hills on the south coast of Jamaica. We need more places like this around the Caribbean, its a viable tourist market.
73’s