My favorite beach in the world is Kauna'oa Beach in Hawaii, but Winding Bay Beach is a very close second. The sand is absolutely perfect - a bright white almost talcum-powder soft sand with some pink color in several spots. The water is clear with long stretches of sand bars allowing you to walk yards and yards into the water while barely getting wet. The real difference is the surf - in Hawaii, going into the water is a major experience with waves towering overhead. Here at Abaco, the "waves" are at most knee-high. Walking the entire stretch of the beach, back and forth, takes about 45 minutes, and provides an excellent opportunity for collecting shells. Being here in January, we found the weather perfect (partly cloudy, high 60s and low 70s with a good breeze at all times).
Our kids loved the beach and the surf, so we ended up spending much of our time here at the Beach. We rented a car from SeaStar rental for $250 for the week and used that to go back and forth to get groceries as needed. We ate at the Club twice, once for breakfast and once for dinner. The meals weren't particularly imaginative or interesting, but they were perfectly reasonable if a bit on the expensive side. The rest of the time, we cooked for ourselves.
The personnel were friendly and responsive. The tennis courts and golf course were mostly empty and well maintained. At one point, the tennis pro approached us as we were playing using some of the spare lesson balls that were in a nearby basket. He dropped off two new cans of balls for us to use without our even asking.
Another time, we said that we were looking for rosemary to use in roasting a chicken. There seemed to be none available locally but one of the concierges asked a friend who grew some in her garden to bring some out. It was dropped off for us in time for dinner preparation.
Marsh Harbour is the closest town, and it's about 30 minutes away by car. There's an enormous grocery store there, Maxwells, that stocked fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, etc. Prices were a little higher than one might find in NYC for some items, but were generally quite reasonable.
We found this to be a wonderful destination and we're puzzled by some of the negative reviews here. Indeed there are several houses going up, but we heard no noise at all where we were at any time of day. You may wish to ensure beforehand that your location will be similarly quiet. One person I see had a negative review about the beach - well yes, if you want to surf, this is not the beach for you. If you want to kayak or feel comfortable having your 3 year old run around in the ocean, or if waves aren't your thing, this is perfect.
We had a TV in the room - never turned it on. AT&T cell phones worked, but we turned them off. What could be better than a vacation where noone could contact us?
- Ritz Carlton Marsh Harbour
- Abaco Hotel Marsh Harbour
- Abaco Club
- Abaco Club Winding Bay
