Tidewater Motel

It truly pains me to give such a low star rating as our hosts were wonderful and quite funny, but I can’t in good conscience recommend the Tidewater very highly for many reasons…
Let’s start with being charged twice for the rooms in a mix-​up that arose from the manager not communicating with the employee who checked us out. Then, let’s move on to the rooms (14 – 16) which are underneath a (not-​at-​all-​padded) stairwell. So when the adventure-​club-​yeah-​dudes gathered for breakfast at the top of said stairs at 5AM — their heavy steps, high fives and «Yeah, bro’s!» had me awake for the better part of the morning. It is LOUD everywhere — walls/​floors are paper-​like. Next stop: the Internet bus was broken down and in flames on the side of the superhighway, people. It worked for 3 hours (ONLY) out of 4 entire days. So yeah, notsomuch… The furniture is in similar disrepair, though being a charming New England shantytown, they can get away with the «decrepit-​shabby-​chic-​by-​way-​of-​the-​fleamarket-​down-​the-​street» aesthetic as far as I’m concerned — as long as it stays clean (and it was.)
The plus column: right near the (only) store and restaurants. Beautiful views (see my pix). Bagels and coffee. A hilariously grumpy innkeeper, bikes and kayaks to rent, a fair number of TV channels, (tho you have to watch it on an 11″ screen from the 80’s…) but dude, you’re in one of the most majestic landscapes on this EARTH, so why the hell are you watching TV?! GO FOR A WALK or at least read a book… Come on, y’all.
In summary, the endearing lack of skills at maintaining a motel is exactly why you go to a place like Vinalhaven — I don’t want a friggin W Hotel here, EVER. That said, for $ 200 a night, off season, I at least expect quiet and working Internet — is that so much to ask??? Please stay grumpy and irreverent — it works, just get the charm to work for you instead of against. You can rent houses here for probably a lot cheaper, I would do that if you can… I’m just sayin.

We enjoyed our stay. Close to everything. Clean. We could hear and see the water and the owner was great. Highly recommend.