Sandy Claws NC

06/21/2024

We inform all our guests about the dangers of not airing down and the strain it can put on an engine. Add in high summer temps and running the AC… and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Air down to a minimum of 20 PSI. If your vehicle is struggling or gets stuck, air down to 10 psi, push the loose sand away from your tires, and ease out. If you’ve got floor mats in your car, they can be removed and placed under your tires, grippy side with plastic peaks turned toward the sky, for your tires to have enough traction to ease out.

Don’t brake hard when you need to stop, ease off the gas and tap brakes until you slow to a stop. Stopping hard digs your car in deep. So does spinning your tires looking for traction after you’re stuck.

Watch your engine gauges on heat — if it creeps high, turn off your AC and roll down your windows.

No one wants a trip to the beach to end this way. Pictures from Carova Beach 4x4 group, June 21 2024.

03/05/2024

Enjoy a peaceful and unique vacation experience amid the wild horses and shifting dunes of the northern Outer Banks, accessible with a 4WD vehicle.

03/05/2024

Howdy friends! Summer is right around the corner and we’ve got a deal for you. The ENTIRE summer season has been booked since January… but now:

Cancellation alert! We just had a guest cancel a two week July vacation due to upcoming surgery in June. Their loss is your gain!

Come relax with the wild horses in the Outer Banks’ northern beaches.

🚙 House is 3 miles up the 4WD beach on Corolla’s Seagull Beach (five miles closer than Carova)
🐴 see horses daily in yard
🛌 sleeps 10, 4BR w/3.5 baths
** All linens and beach towels included **
♿️ elevator to first floor, which is ADA compliant
🌅 semi oceanfront with unobstructed views of ocean on both levels
🛀 seven person hot tub
🌊 less than 100 yards from beach!

No pool, no pets.

Sandy Claws is a Friday to Friday book direct rental, managed by us, the owners.

**We offer 10% discounts military/first responders/teachers/ essential workers.**

Available Summer weeks:

July 5-12 Weekly rate $4900 + taxes
July 12-19 Weekly rate $4900 + taxes

**No hidden fees, EVERYTHING included**

Enjoy a peaceful and unique vacation experience amid the wild horses and shifting dunes of the northern Outer Banks, accessible with a 4WD vehicle.

02/05/2024

We’re upping our craft/art options for 2024 and these storage boxes with front opening access doors will work great in the kitchen pantry under the existing shelves.

This one contains nine adult coloring books (beach and ocean themed), 60 gel pens, 24 acrylic paints (for shell and ornament decorating), and two painting caddies (brush cleaner, pallet, paint storage). There are more new crafting supplies at the house already, and the two extra storage boxes will come in handy when organizing everything before the season starts.

We’re also gifting kids under 8 with coloring books and crayons in their goodie bags.

We love to do crafts on vacation, even though the kids are adults now, so our hope is guests will love what’s on site for their use too!

2024 season is almost completely booked! It’s going to be a fabulous summer.

What are your family vacation plans this year?

12/17/2023

We’re filling up fast for the 2024 season!

Holiday cards went out on Friday to all our past guests, inviting them back for a week with a 20% discount. We’re offering a 15% discount* to new guests who book direct using our website (www.SandyClawsNC.com) or Houfy.com/61951.

Ask us for an emailed quote today!

*Discount valid until Jan 31, 2024, not to be combined with other discounts offered.

05/21/2023

Our 2023 holiday ornaments for guests! These are plastic and round, but flattened and not a globe.

I hand lettered the front and back, filled sand directly from the yard, and then inserted tiny shells on top.

What do you think? Hoping guests like them! They’ll be able to fill them on their own with supplies here at the house.

05/19/2023

We’re back at the beach and are getting the house ready for the season!

It’s lightly raining today with wind. Pics below are my view: the beach while I work on reorganizing the supply closet (basically taking to-be-done projects out, and reorganizing what’s there) and unpack everything we brought.

Saw a couple of horses across the fields in neighbor’s yards, but they were too far away for pics.

More updates and pics to follow!

02/18/2023

We’re back in Corolla doing updates this winter, getting ready for the summer season!

First, our brand new king mattress from last summer didn’t last the season without getting body divets on each side, leaving a feeling you were rolling uphill when moving toward the center of the bed.

This year we’re going with a highly rated multi-layered foam mattress to hopefully avoid the same issue this season. It’s also encased in a waterproof bedbug cover and has a cotton mattress pad on top.

Next, I organized and filled all the kid goodie bags (bubbles, ocean animal sq**rt toys, candy, and a temporary beach tattoo), the starter suppy welcome package, and the adult goodie bags (sheet face mask, lotion, nail file). Still have a few items to add to the starter supply packages.

Between the bouts of rain yesterday, Pete replaced the plastic lattice privacy screening around the hot tub with wood slats (they match the surround he made for the AC units last year). The hope is the wood will cut down on the sand blown into covered the hot tub, as the lattice didn’t help much (and one sheet was torn in half from wind this winter).

Today I took some new staged pics of the living room (removed a piece of furniture, and the last pics were on a cloudy day), and Pete is building the new twin over full bunk bed for Twin Dune bedroom. We’ll be replacing the ceiling fan in there too, to an enclosed one safe for bunk beds.

We’re also adding a twin cot to King Beach, one with a 6” thick mattress, as the fold out ottoman was reported to be not comfortable for littke kids.

More pics to follow!

Who’s planning an OBX beach trip this year? If you’re still looking, we have weeks available!

www.SandyClawsNC.com

10/27/2022

Huzzah! We’ve just opened up our calendar on Houfy.com for the 2023 season.

Originally we’d planned to have a deck addition and a pool installed over the winter, but finding available contractors has proved to be more of a challenge than we expected. We have no timeframe to offer on if or when these projects will be completed, so we opted to keep rates mostly the same for next season.

We’re offering a 10% early bird discount for trips booked six months in advance. No code needed, it’s automatically applied at checkout.

Winter improvements will include a ceiling system under the second floor deck, which will allow for use of the first floor deck during rain. Two ceiling fans will be installed on the new ceiling as well. We’re also replacing the fridge in the kitchen, as the ice maker was slow and spotty at best.

Further improvements will be posted here as we decide on them. Thanks for your continued interest in Sandy Claws NC, and we would sincerely love to host your family next year!

Check out house pics and rates at these locations:

www.Houfy.com/61951

www.SandyClawsNC.com

Where are you going next summer? Even if it’s not the Outer Banks, we wish you a fabulous time!

Oct 27, 2022 - 2568 Views. Enjoy a peaceful and unique vacation experience amid the wild horses and shifting dunes of the northern Outer Banks, accessible with a 4WD vehicle.

09/03/2022

Ms Pac-Man and Asteroids join the Sandy Claws game wall!

05/05/2022

Days 45-49 of Renovation:

I haven’t written an update in a while, mostly because we had our oldest kid with us this weekend and I wanted to spend time with him. Believe it or not, most writers can’t churn out a long social media post with lots of detail without proof reading it several times and editing it for content — which can take me a while if I write long.

To fill you all in on details from our last visit that I never accounted online:

We had Atlantic Elevator, who originally installed our device, come out to service and inspect the machine. Pete didn’t ruin anything when we has servicing it himself (YAY!!) and all it needs is new brake pads. We were thrilled when the owner, Joey, said our brand is built like a tank and it should last us FOREVER with basic maintenance. Double yay!! Seriously, our first guests of the season have a wheelchair user in their party and we had been so stressed the darn thing was in need of replacement.

Next, the issues the kids reported in March regarding the upstairs AC not working well turned out to be spot on. The six year old units were rusted out so badly that one leaked all of its coolant and wasn’t working at all. That’s when we heard that most HVAC systems last about five years on the ocean due to the harsh weather with corrosive salt air.

We’ve got the new units on order (we figured it was smart to replace both at the same time, rather than have the second one go this summer with guests on site) and they should be installed within a week.

Fast forward to this visit:

To further combat/delay the inevitable corrosion, Pete built a fence surround around the ACs, hoping it could extend the life of the new units a little longer. We’ll only know if it works over time.

While he built the fence surround and new privacy screening for the hot tub, Addison spent three days painting a huge 46” Jack Skellington face with the house name and location for the fence.

It came out fabulous! The extra time to complete was due to applying FOUR coats of glow in the dark paint over the face and lettering. Of course, after we hung it Tuesday morning, the sky clouded up and we weren’t sure if the paint was fully “charged” when we took pics in the dark later that night. Hopefully we’ll get a bright sunny day before we leave and can check it out that night.

Pete also added more boards to the garbage caddy surround, to give it a sturdier, more finished appearance. Then he added boards between the house pilings under the water pump room (it’s raised off the ground and leaves three and a half to four feet of distance between it and the sand) so I could use it as an area to organize all the beach gear left for guest use.

“Organize” seems to be the best word to describe what I’ve been doing the past five days — that and all the odds and ends no one else wants to do. LOL!

I set up the tether ball game out in the yard, and Pete dug a concrete block down in the yard to secure the charcoal grill (to ensure guests don’t break NC law and move it closer to the house). He also salvaged old 6x6s from the neighbor’s construction project (with permission) and cut them down to make posts to close off access over our septic field. He strung rope between them as well, but took into account the horses and made the rope very slack and almost touching the ground, so they could walk over it easily.

I also installed hooks and set up all the folding beach chairs, umbrellas, umbrella stands, plastic Adirondack chairs, sand toys, shell buckets, drink holders mad for the sand, and wagon under the water room for guest use. Pete set up an outside shower that hooks to the hose in the yard. It’s a pretty cool design with a thick long black PVC body that holds water which is heated by the sun.

He also set up and filled the sand box. We put a tie down with hooks across the top and secured them under the base to keep the lid on and critters out of the clean sand. No families with kids under 3 this season yet, so the sand box might not get used this summer.

I set up new all-weather 2’x4’ corn hole boards under the house, in the shade, figuring guests could move it to the sunny area over the leach field if they wanted. Then I asked other OBX home owners if I needed to worry about all this expensive stuff left in the yard — meaning guests or a random drive by who decides to steal your amenities left for guests to use.

Most said to lock up anything you value, or is expensive to replace, while others suggested chaining hard to replace items in place. I hadn’t though I’d need to do that for yard games, but apparently if we want the heavy Polywood chairs and corn hole game to stay in the yard, yes, we do need to chain them somehow. I shopped for cable and locks yesterday to rig something up. I don’t want to have to secure items down, but I also want all the guests to be able to enjoy the listed amenities all season long.

It really is a struggle to determine if you’ve over-improved your home too much or if it’s just enough and guests will be thrilled. EVERYONE has prepared us for stuff to go missing. Small things I don’t care about, as they are a fact of renting. Broken dishes, missing glasses or silverware, broken small appliance, stained towels or sheets, scuffs on walls, doors dinged up, that’s what I consider normal wear and tear.

But to listen to owners who’ve done vacation rentals here for many years, well, it’s disheartening to say the least. My attitude has always been, if we provide nice things for the guests, they will appreciate it and treat the nice things like they would at their own home.

The reality is it’s a crap shoot. Some owners provide a lot of amenities for guests and don’t have issues, others provide the bare minimum their property managers require and still have issues with stealing and excessive damage.

Enough of my worries and let’s get back to the work done!

I’ve done so many small things over the last few days, along with two large and time consuming shopping trips. Seriously, the first one was 7 hours (last Friday), and the second one was yesterday, which was over 6 hours. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “planning ahead.” No one wants to drive over an hour back to your house only to find you forgot a few small things. It’s seriously maddening.

We’ve become incredibly grateful of the nearby Ace Hardware store. If it’s not a highly specialized piece, they probably have what you need and are super friendly nice people to work with. They’ve saved me hours of time driving to get to the nearest HD or Lowes store. I’ve had to run into town to visit Ace twice so far, and I can make it there and back in under an hour.

I’ve worked on labeling the pantry with items in numbered locations, for the cleaner to inventory easier, hanging more hooks/drying racks for guests, labeling and organizing outdoor toys, installing the flag pole & mount (the flag looks awesome!!), built a wagon, hung curtains — only to then realize I must take them down and iron them and the other eight sets I have to hang (tomorrow’s joys).

In between projects I was calling contractors (elevator, HVAC, house cleaner) or stores (HD, Lowes, Ace) to get things scheduled or ordered. Oh, and called the local mattress store, because yup, this king bed has got to go. It’s not supportive at all.

It’s been a lot to juggle. Every time I think we’re coming down here fully prepared. Then the job and house tell us differently. And since I left a few sheets of laminated numbered labels at my house, I will be using my label maker and white card stock to finish labels throughout the house. Not the polished vibe I was going for, but it’ll do in a pinch.

So many, many guests responded to my inquiries on what was needed and what was too much, regarding organization in a beach rental. Hands down, they all wanted labels and organization. And the overall consensus regarding guests who might not like labels: I heard from commenters that those guests who don’t like them can ignore them.

Living in the house for a while, I can agree. Once I get to know where things go in the kitchen, I don’t have to read the labels, and therefore I don’t “see” them anymore, you know?

But for the light switches? Damn, I’ll still walk into the kitchen with its large and intimidating five-switch face plate and pause. That’s when I need the labels—so someone else will, too. Also, we’ve discovered three switches on the first floor with no apparent function/attachment. Hence, no labels on those buggers. I still don’t know what they do.

Which reminds me, there’s outlets and switches under the house that I don’t know well at all, so those will need labels for guests. Like I said — still so many small things to do!

The highlight of the last five days has been seeing the horses. Almost daily at the house. Twice when I drove into town, once for Ace, and yesterday for HD, I saw four horse harems (families) on the beach. One special grouping was a mare, her stallion, and their newborn foal. I did not stop to take a picture, but I did drive slowly by from far away, marveling at seeing the foal nuzzle under his mother’s midsection to nurse.

Big and small, I saw twenty different horses yesterday, that’s 1/5 of the whole herd, and each of them were simply breathtaking.

For all of you visiting the 4x4 area of Corolla NC anytime soon: when the winds come from the sound side of the island and brings the biting flies (even the small ones bite), the horses escape to the ocean side to avoid the flies. It’s a great time for driving slowly past from at least a fifty foot distance to see the relaxing horses. One even laid down while I was taking pics, just enjoying the wet sand.

I’m sure I missed stuff. Hopefully the pics cover everything worth seeing. I’ll share more pics as the week wears on and update on projects when I can.