Palm Bay

We stayed 3 nights at the cottage on the beach and loved it. The unit itself is modest and somewhat Spartan in style but the beach, the gorgeous water and the kindest and warmest people of Exuma and Palm Bay will win you forever. Loved to sleep with window open and listening to the waves on the beach. 2 minutes walk to the left takes you to Jolly Hall beach where you will do your best swimming during your stay. Its not that you can’t swim in front of the hotel its just little shallow, so you need to walk a bit to get into deeper water, but its beautiful! They have great water toys, kayaks no charge and hobby cat for a very reasonable fee. The restaurant Splash if very charming, very simple – don’t expect anything fancy. Some dishes were fine like tuna sandwich, breakfast sandwich. But also, lots of fried stuff which is not my cup of tea, but they will add more healthy things to its menu for figure conscious soon as well. I hope for my next return visit.
We went of Fish Fry (its an old Naval base where local folks have their food shacks, local flavor, music and drinks and right on the turquoise water!) We loved Charlie’s – he is a real talent and he makes the best drinks. Chat and Chill on Stalking Island was lovely but very pricey. And the short walk across the island takes you to Atlantic Ocean side with the water you can’t forget. I made me cry it’s so beautiful.
The Palm Bay is a great place to be, its not in George Town, but its 20 minutes walk and they have free shuttles every hour. I would not want to stay in George town (its not that pretty and there is no beaches) but do go and visit, people are amazing everywhere you go.

If you are coming to Exuma for lots of nightlife you will be disappointed. But if you want a clean resort, friendly service and a great location at a reasonable price, Palm Bay is a super choice. The owners are very accommodating and will do most anything to help you to enjoy your stay. Right around the corner from the resort is Jolly Beach. I thought that the beaches in St. John would be hard to top but these beaches on Exuma were even more amazing. I would definitely recommend getting a villa on the water.

Our friends arrived the night before we did and one of them had a bad case of gout. The owners took him to receive quick medical attention so that he was not in pain throughout the trip. The medicine he received was much less expensive than in the US.
We spent most of the time on the water. We rented a Boston Whaler from Mimms for a couple days. It was a HUGE advantage to stay at Palm Bay because you can keep the boat overnight and head out early the next day. This is one of the few resorts on the island that will allow this. What a pain it would have been to return the boat at the end of the day and pick it up again in the morning. The owners at Palm Bay do not charge you any extra for this convenience. We also rented Palm Bay's large Hobbie Cat for a day of sailing and the owner gave us a nice discount. We loved this island because we are big water people and the island is best viewed from the water. Prior to coming here, we did not bother to reserve a boat as I had read that you had to stay within the confines of the harbor. Well the harbor is HUGE with lots of little islands that are not accessible by car. We found tons of starfish, sand dollars, conch shells, etc....

The unit that we stayed in is perfect for 4 people. Everything was clean and fairly new. I was so glad that we stayed near Georgetown as we could walk into town for anything that we needed or take the free shuttle. Most of the other resorts that we saw were a very long ways from town. Also Palm Bay has a great bar and they serve one of the better burgers. Most of the time we ended up eating in our cottage. We also enjoyed the free XBox bowling in the bar and ping pong out by the pool.

If you are looking for 5 star luxury, this place may not be for you. But if you want a clean, comfortable, and charming place with one of the better island locations, Palm Bay is a great find.

The first thing you have to realize is that you are on an out island of the Bahamas. Once you understand that, and the culture and pace of Exuma, you will enjoy staying at Palm Bay Beach Club. We were here for the night before and night after we went on a five day kayak adventure. Beverly and the crew here took great care of us. We had three guys to a villa, and they came in and separated the king beds into two singles so we would be more comfortable. The villas were clean, equipped, and comfortable. If you want to spend a few weeks, everything you need to eat in is included in the kitchen units. Splash is a nice open air restaurant and has ice cold Kalik bucket specials, cracked conch and a huge fish sandwich. Service is typical "soon come mon", so enjoy the scenery, and have another Kalik! Palm Bay went above and beyond by letting us store our luggage while we were gone, as well as keep our valuables in their safe. Like others have said, the Palm Bay shuttle goes into George Town around 9AM, and every two hours when needed. there are a few shops, and a small straw market. there is also a decent grocery store with fresh fruit on a regular basis, but don't buy more than a few days worth at a time, as it will spoil quickly.

We liked the place so much we are talking about coming back as a couples group next year.

Thank you Palm Bay Beach Club!

We stayed in unit 27 for two weeks in Dec/Jan. A one bedroom (king), 1 & 1/2 bath with kitchen, breakfast and living (one large room), ground floor "cottage" right on the sandy beach. The beach is immediately in front of the front porch, but there's a hedge in between, so you'll need to walk about 50 feet to get around the hedge. Still you can easily see and hear the water and it is a beautiful view.
The cottage was very clean and serviced daily, we cooked every evening and left a bit extra for the cleaning folks to please wash our dishes..they were very accommodating. Our unit had two televisions with cable service, many channels, all English, all pretty much US news, movies, music, etc. No telephone.
The grocery store is in town, George Town, and can be accessed by walking (~25 mins) or using the Palm Bay provided shuttle. We actually rented a boat from MInns Watersports, mooring it to a bouy in front of our cottage, and used it to travel around, grocery store has a dock.
The restaurant was, I guess, Bahamian pub-grub, nothing at all wrong with that, just a place to grab some fish or a burger...nothing fancy, just good food, drinks and friendly folks.
Wireless internet service was pretty random, don't count on it, may have been fixed, one should inquire if this is important...there is however a jack in the lobby or computers for ones use open from 0900 to ~2100.
Since we had a boat, we went fishing and actually caught some fish, Vincent, who works there was more than helpful by cleaning and filleting the catch of the day for us...really nice guy.
Beverly and the staff were very, very, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and accomodating...you couldn't ask for nicer people.
No doubt we'll return soon, we had a fabulous time.