Babymoon: Exuma, The Bahamas
My husband and I went on a babymoon to Exuma in the Bahamas this past June. We had a wonderful time relaxing and exploring this lovely little island for a long weekend to celebrate baby number two!
We stayed at the Grand Isle Resort, () a beautiful resort on the water with a couple restaurants on the property, which was very convenient (especially at 7 months pregnant!) and the food happens to be very good! One of the restaurants, Palapa, overlooks the water and is right by the pool for quick access to snacks and drinks when having a day at the pool or on the beach. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the menu options and service were fantastic. We especially loved the crack conch and the tropical passion salad. View the dining menu here.
The Grill House is the more upscale restaurant on the property that’s only open for dinner. We dined there one night and had a great time. However, we preferred Palapa’s menu to The Grill House, but it was nice for a change of scenery, and the ambiance and service were amazing.
The amenities of Grand Isle are very nice and the staff were incredibly attentive from the moment we arrived. I had a lovely prenatal massage at The Seastar Spa, and the resort has a daily golf cart rental for convenience of getting around the property. Complementary stand-up paddleboards and other watersport activities are available down by the beach.
The first night we arrived we ate at Big D’s which is just a short drive from Grand Isle. It’s a cool local spot on the water and food was pretty good, but we waited a while and the portions are somewhat small.
One afternoon we went shopping in Georgetown. The first stop was the straw market where you can find handmade goods, like beautiful straw bags made by some local artisan women and the pricing is extremely reasonable (around $50 for a large bag, $30 for a medium sized bag) they can also personalize the bags for a small upcharge. We got our baby girl a butterfly basket with her name embroidered on it. There are also a couple great boutiques right across from the straw market.
The Sandpiper Boutique has a variety of beautiful dresses and swimwear, local artwork, local products like honey, towels, children’s souvenirs, including locally made stuffed animals, books, jewelry and many other things. We purchased a beautiful photograph that the shop owners great grandfather took while working on boats in the Bahamas. We also purchased a couple books like a local cookbook and one gorgeous coffee table book called, Bahama Mama. I am so excited to read this book because it’s intimate portraits of Bahamian mothers.
There’s another boutique, Marilyn’s Gift Shop, which is much smaller than The Sandpiper, but we found a couple gems, like beautiful locally handmade beach towels that the shop’s owner actually makes and a cute Christmas ornament.
After we went shopping, we drove about 20 minutes to Santanna’s Bar and Grill for some lunch. This was our favorite food spot of the entire trip. Each of us got the lobster with rice and beans and the most amazing slaw. The portions are generous and the frozen drinks are massive and creamy, I had one of the best pina colada’s I’ve ever had! It’s right on the water so you can grab a drink and walk on the beach or lounge while waiting for your food. If you have a boat you can anchor right off shore and swim up to the restaurant. It’s a very cool spot and worth the drive from Georgetown.
Attached to the same building as Santanna’s is Mom’s Bakery where you can purchase delicious baked goods. You can order things to pick up for the next day or buy what’s already made that day. We got some banana bread and a couple slices of cake. The marble cake was delicious. You could place orders for coconut tarts (I really wanted one), but we couldn’t make the trip back the next day for pick up.
I would highly recommend this spot for a babymoon or a romantic and relaxing getaway! It was an easy flight from Charleston with a short connection in Charlotte, but both legs are short and easy.
A couple pro tips:
Apparently, May-November is rainy season - it rained off and on for two of the three days we were there. We still had a wonderful time but we only had one beach day.
You’ll definitely want to car when there so you can easily get around. We rented a Jeep from Airport Car Rental when we landed and an SUV was great because the roads tend to be pretty rocky.
Bring lots of bug spray because the mosquitos and flies are intense.