A quiet and relaxing change of pace. Golf carts are the mode of transportation as you leisurely wind down the roads through the forest and along the Atlantic- East beach comes to a point where waves roll in from the west, east and south. The restaurants are a bit slow but where else do I have to be?
This is a great spot to bring families who want to be connected to each other-golf, tennis, kayaking, fishing, paddle boarding- all things to do here!
No putt putt, pancake houses or overpriced lures for the kids- no noisy arcades and skating rinks. It's a welcome relief from all the buzzzzzzzzzz.

"my daughter just got married this weekend (may 15, 2010) on bald head island.

i warn you now...DO NOT GET MARRIED THERE.

we hosted the reception at the shoals club. please be warned that the service and food was HORRIFYING. we visited the island 3 times to help plan my daughter's wedding. we taste tested the food well in advance. we ordered prime rib and crab cakes because they were excellent at the taste test. sadly, at the reception, the shoals club did NOT deliver what we taste tested. the prime rib had to have been shaved on a deli meat slicer. it was not prime rib. it was a junky piece of thin-shaved roast beef like you could buy in a store. and the crab cake was small and stale. worse, the service was terrible.

we rented 5 homes and had alot of family in for the wedding. we hosted some of the family and friends to our home for brunch. they fraudulently charged $1,000 to our credit card for having a party in a house. that's just INSANE.

we had the bridal party reception at the bald head club and they didn't even serve the menu we ordered. they served terrible sandwiches on stale bread.

the bald head island representative that was supposed to help us coordinate the wedding reception did NOT show up until 2 hours before the wedding to assist in overseeing the set up. everyone was way too stressed out because of her lack of caring and promptness.

i am so angry, words cannot fairly sum up my feelings. we invested alot of money in my daughter having an amazing wedding. sadly the shoals club and bald head island folks ROBBED my daughter of the day she deserved and the experience we paid ALOT of money for.

bald head island is a beautiful place. but they have you as a captive audience...and after you sign tne contract...they have NO KNOWLEDGE OF CUSTOMER CARE OR ETHICS. I WARN YOU...DO NOT GET MARRIED THERE."

My family had heard about Bald Head Island from friends and we wanted to try it out. We rented a home called "Water Color" and we found it to be more than we could have asked for. Teh house was immaculate and offered private access to the beach, a large jaccuzzi and a large kitchen that was easily able to seat eight to ten people. The living room featurd three sliding doors that provided views of the ocean from almost every chair in the house.

We were looking for a change from the hassle of other vacation spots and Bald Head offered that to us. This is not the spot to go if you want an active night life as there are no nghtclubs. When we didn't cook our meals at the house we had meals at the Bald Head Island club and the Scholes Club. Both locations offered good food and the service was friendly. We played several rounds of golf and found ourselves enjoying the scenary as much as the course.

We took away many great memories and plan to go back to "Water Color" next year

I visited BHI with two friends for our annual girls' weekend. I have to say they both enjoyed the area more than I did, and would probably give it five stars. Me, I like a little more action and variety (maybe because I already live in the country while they're from a much bigger metro area). Our house, Just Coastin, was absolutely beautiful, and a bargain, we all thought.

I found very little information about BHI online, so I wanted to share my thoughts here for others who are visiting for the first time. It is a beautiful, peaceful island, and we had a great experience with both the ferry and the rental company. Our entrance and exit to the island was easy and smooth.

Since this was our weekend away, none of us was interested in cooking. We forced ourselves to make breakfast, but we ate out all other meals during our 3-night stay. We quickly ran out of options, and what limited options they were.

We bought a temporary membership to the Shoals Club, as it was the only club to provide beach access, chairs, and umbrellas to members. Unfortunately, our second day (during the spring value season, not Memorial Day), they ran out of chairs. All 25 chairs were being used. The attendant told us more chairs were being ordered, but I was shocked that they didn't have more chairs on hand for such a large beach club! We were finally able to snag the chairs from another group as they left. Another small complaint about the Shoals club, the Sandbar Grille (this is an outdoor poolside stop) was very slow. We stopped for a quick sandwich before heading out to the sand and our stop took well over an hour. For cold sandwiches, that's way too long.

One other warning -- our meal at the River Pilot Cafe was very underwhelming. In fact, four of our plates were left untouched as we couldn't bring ourselves to eat them. The she-crab soup tasted like canned crab, the gazpacho tasted like stewed tomatoes, and the calamari was paired with a very unsuitable peach chutney -- ugh! I can't comment on the entrees as we didn't try those. I will say though, that this restaurant had the best beer selection by far. Our recommendation -- stop here for drinks before eating next door at Eb and Flo's.

The only other sore spot was the nature trails. We're all big hikers and were anxious to try the extensive nature trails on the island. Our agent from the rental company warned us against them, however, as they were full of ticks and insects. We thought we would use some insect repellent and give it a try anyway, but we should have listened to her. We're used to fully forged trails maintained by the Park Service, where as these trails were almost hard to distinguish, and seemed to have been made by woodland critters rather than adult humans. Further, there were spider webs just everywhere as a result of the trail being virtually non-existent. After having ticks, locusts, spiders, and more fall on us, we finally gave up and walked on the island roads instead. Take the local advice, and stay on the roads. You can have a beautiful nature walk without ever going on the trails.

I wanted to type out our issues to warn others to beware of these things when they go here on vacation, not to discourage anyone from visiting. I want to emphasize that it truly is a wonderful place to visit and a beautiful island!