The first thing to know is that the “innkeepers” identified on the website - George and Eileen – aren’t the innkeepers any more. I would eventually figure out that the people running the place day-to-day are George’s parents. This made for some initial confusion.
Here’s what we liked. This is a quiet rural/residential spot (quiet except for the roosters across the way) and it seems more suited to couples than families. We liked the West Bay location – it was close for diving and we could walk to 3 restaurants (Osetra Bay, Calypso Grill, Morgan’s Harbour) although they’re about a 15 minute walk and you have to walk on the road (it’s not too busy). Breakfasts were lovely – fresh baking, lots of variety and with a different hot dish each morning. Room was made up every day – fresh towels if needed, bed made; beach towels also provided.
Getting around: A taxi to the heart of Seven Mile Beach ranged from $17-$22US. Bus service isn’t really available nearby.
There were two things that need work. First, I had the impression that our business wasn’t all that important. When we arrived, no one was home. In fact he had decided to go out 15 minutes before we were due to arrive and forgot his cell phone. He arrived two hours later. Luckily our taxi driver reached him after ½ hour of trying and we found the key. But then we had no one to ask as to where the restaurants were, how to get another taxi, how to use the phone.... Our host, George Snr. was clearly not empathetic to our being left standing outside in winter clothes, exhausted and hungry from travelling and wondering when we would ever be able to get inside. When I asked how to get a taxi to go for dinner, he just handed me a phone book. They did give us a gift certificate for a restaurant (although not in person with any apology) and it seems this came about because I inadvertently complained to a friend of George Snr’s son (the former innkeeper). Our bill was also under our door even though I had just walked into the room and he could have handed it to me personally. No one asked how our stay was, said thank you or ever checked in to see if we might need something.
Second, you may not get enough detailed information from them to make decisions. They recommended a driver who is cheaper than many taxi’s but they didn’t mention that he’s also a bus driver so he has other pick-ups that will be getting on and off with you and he’s always much later than he tells you so you can’t plan to be anywhere on time. Also, I had mentioned we were diving but they didn’t know dive shops often pick up at 7:30. Breakfast starts at 8:30 (that would have been good to know) so we missed 5 breakfasts and weren’t compensated (although they did pack us up some fruit to have when we returned from diving which was a nice gesture).
