Initially the worst thing was the large number of large dead fish on the beach and in the water with the terrible accompanying smell.
The cottage is beside large commercial fishing plants and directly in front of a water treatment plant.
I was in complete shock when the neighbour came running at us as apparently my 4yr old and I had stepped over the property line to get to the beach. Later, our small Hobie Wave was pushed by strong waves back on to the beach. This time, she was screaming and verbally abusive, bullying us and scaring our son.
We were not loud, or being disturbing. Just my husband, 4yr old and I.
Catherine messaged us quite rudely telling us that we were violating the rules by "trespassing" on the neighbours property.
We were already super defensive and complained strongly. She got angry with us and decided to punish us by having us leave immediately and resorted to threats and ignored all our calls.
Our 4yr old had not eaten yet, we fed and parked him in front of the TV and packed as fast as we could.
By 10:00 pm we were finally loaded up and got home around 3:00 am, continuing to get threatening messages from the owner until we left.
The level of verbal abuse, repeated threats of calling the police - as if we were doing something criminal?
Perhaps the color of our skin made them think that they can treat us the way they did.
We made a complaint with VRBO who said that they would monitor the owner for other reports of a similar nature.