After having a mediocre 2005 stay at the Westin resort, we decided to do more research on the Hilton Head area and give the "over hyped" beach town another try. To my surprise, I discovered the newly built Marriott Surf Watch resort on marriott.com and read the favorable "advisor" reviews.

First of all, the property is still under construction with about 75% of it near completion. The street to the resort does not have a visible intersection and shares the entry to a very busy local park. So, be sure to watch out for the pedestrian and vehicle traffic. In addition, the entry to the resort is gated and monitored by a guard so get a gate pass from the front desk and keep it on your driver's side dash board. Unfortunately, we arrived before noon at Surf Watch, 1100 hrs on a Saturday, and we were not allowed to check in because of a somewhat firm check in policy of 1600 hours (4 p.m.). After a five hour drive, my family was tired and hungry. Therefore, we got restaurant directions from the front desk and had a delicious lunch at Red Fish Restaurant. Currently, there is not a restaurant on the Surf Watch property.

After lunch, we explored the property and found the beach walk near the pool side bar. There is covered parking available, a short walking distance, near the beach. We spent about 30 minutes at the beach observing the beach patrol and admiring the beach front houses, condos, town homes, etc.
Finally, we were allowed entry into our room around 1400 hrs. (2 p.m.).

The "hard working" folks at Surf Watch gave us a Villa apartment style room that was nothing short of fantastic!! The villa has two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a dining room, a spacious living room and fully furnished kitchen. The guest bedroom has two queen beds, television, closet and an average looking but very clean large bathroom. However, the master bedroom has a king size bed, television, closet, sliding glass doors to the patio, a separate enclosed area for the toliet, double sinks in the bathroom and a huge shower specially designed for two people with a tile covered sitting area in the shower. The design of the shower reminded of the concept that luxury automobiles use to allow different temperatures and settings for thermostat control for passengers and drivers. In addition, use of shower with the various nozzles, shower space, sitting area and temperature controls can allow "romantic" opportunites for affectionate and creative couples.

The kitchen has a bar style sitting area, double sinks(?), full size refrigerator, large counter tops and digital flat top stove/oven. Also, there are pots, pans and utensils for preparing meals. Right by the kitchen is the dining area with a large six person dining table.

The living room has a three person sofa, large chair with ottoman and a flat screen television with a DVD player. Also, the living room led to another set of sliding glass doors to the patio with a 4 person table and chairs over looking the pool.

I would not hesitate to stay at the property again but we need to review Marriott Surf Watch at least three years after full completion of the property. It is too soon to properly evaluate this resort and if possible, avoid the time share sales staff.

We exchanged our Orlando timeshare for a week here in August. This has to be the best timeshare on Hilton Head!
Accommodation: We had a 3 bed immaculate unit - everything was brand new and spotless.Bedrooms
were all huge with private bathrooms and the master bedroom has an enormous walk in shower - again, spotlessly clean.
Kitchen has everything you need in perfect condition and unit has washer and dryer.
Service: Very friendly staff. No room service as this was a timeshare - although you could pay for room service. Very handy trash disposal nearby and unit was very easy to keep clean so room service not needed.
Pools: Excellent pools, one near units with water spray area and inflatables for kids and another pool accross boardwalk near beach. The boardwalk is not that long - 2 mins max! and golf carts available to give rides if needed.
Ocean: Very close and lovely uncrowded beach. I did get stung by jellyfish as did lots of other people on one particular day but didnt hear of any jellyfish on other days so not really a problem.
Ameneties: Nice pool bar near beach but due to loggerhead turtles all lights are out by 8pm so resort could do with bar inside and also restaurant would be good - we were told that this is planned for the future.
Overall: This is one place we would definately return to - we are from England and nothing else has ever compared with this. The resort is very spacious and safe and was never crowded. we were happy to let our children wander from pool to unit etc without any worry.
We also spent a week at the Grande Ocean but this was not
up to the same standard as Surfwatch and was crowded.

I was one of five adults that stayed in a two bedroom two bath ocean view villa. What a place!! The resort was very well maintained and the staff was so helpful and super friendly.

The villa we stayed in was beautiful - very tastefully decorated and in excellent condition. There was plenty of room for all of us. The master bedroom had a king size bed and the master bathroom had an enormous walk-in shower. The other bedroom had two queen size beds and had access to the other bathroom. There was a fully equipped kitchen, a dining room, and a living room. Ther was also a washer and dryer in the unit.

We spent alot of time on our balcony which overlooked a protected wildlife area, the pool, and of course the ocean. You couldn't beat sitting out there in the morning having coffee and watching the sun rise or hanging out there at night listening to the ocean and looking at the moon and stars.

The beach was private and never crowded. You can rent umbrellas and chairs from the life guard. We also enjoyed relaxing at the pool and pool bar. I only wish there had been umbrellas for some shade at the pool (you had to rent a cabana if you wanted shade) and that the pool bar stayed open in the evening. It closed at 7:00 pm - it would have been nice to sit there and have a drink in the evening.

All in all it was an awesome place to stay.

We purchased SurfWatch site unseen from our Marriott's sales rep in Florida. We own a timeshare at Orlando's Grande Vista so we trust the Marriott name. We decided to rent two nights after the purchase to see the property before our first use in 2006. The property is great! Only one building was currently completed with two more due to open in early 2006. They have two outdoor pools and a hot tub, with future construction of an indoor pool. Since this was our first trip to Hilton Head, we were anxious to learn all we could about things to do as well as spending time on the beach. The SurfWatch beach is right at the end of the boardwalk from the buildings and it is a bit far, maybe a 5 minute walk. But they do offer golf cart rides on a regular basis. The oceanfront pool and bar with cabanas are also at the end of the boardwalk. We spent a day on the beach and were very impressed. Beach chairs and umbrellas are available from a beach service which drives up and down the beach and will take credit cards as well as cash. We walked down the beach and viewed the Marriott's Barony Club which is right next to the Westin Hotel. Both properties appeared nice but the beach was very crowded compared to the SurfWatch beach.

The staff at SurfWatch was great. Everyone was friendly and willing to answer all questions. They have an activity director who offers trips to various island activities. My wife did a half day kayak trip and was driven to the other side of the island by the SurfWatch staff who also arranged the trip and took all the payments. She was the only guest who signed up for this trip but the resort gladly drove her over and back in a large passenger van. They also will arrange tours of Savanna and Charleston through outside groups.

Because the hotel had just opened a few months before, everyone appeared to be trying their best and seemed to enjoy being a part of a new resort. Shortly after our arrival, we were visited by a staff member who presented us with maps, small gifts and discount coupons for island shops and restaurants. She had actually called us at home several days before we arrived to tell us what services she would be offering after we checked in.

The condos are the best we've seen yet. They have the newest amenities including wide screen digital TV's and a huge body shower unit in the master bedroom. The second bedroom has two queen size beds, it's own bathroom and another television. The unit layout is very similiar to Marriott's Cypress Harbour in Orlando with many new updates. Indoor parking is available on the first floor of each building.

The grounds were fantastic. There was no indication this was a brand new resort other than the construction going on in the other two buildings. They have a very nice landscaped garden with mature trees and plants and seemed to have left the original trees and plantings in place. There are many new palm trees near the pools that will provide a nice amount of shade when they mature a little bit.

We highly recommend SurfWatch to anyone who would like to own or visit a new resort with beach access that won't grow into a huge resort. The approved plan in our ownership papers is to have no more than 195 units so it will remain a smaller resort after everything is built. Although there are activities for smaller children, we feel this is a great resort for adults or families with older children which is what we are looking for. We look forward to our return visit this November.