Turtle Bay Lodge

We booked this location for 2 x nights in Oct as a group of 7. 2 x grand parents, 2 x adults, and 3 kids (Ages 8, 7 and 5). We opted for 3 seperate rooms next to each other and it could not have been a better scenario although I am aware that there is a family type room. The rooms are very adequate and although no aircons were in place, the temperature with the sea breeze was great (our kids used the blankets even). The lodge is low key and immediately relaxing. It is a small-ish resort, at the time filled mainly with couples however our kids were never bored. Between kayaks, swimming in the pool and exploring the rock pools. We did horse riding with Santo Horse Adventures one morning which is highly recommended. The highlight of the property was the incredible food.

Food not fresh, seemed leftovers warmed up again, husband sick with it. No fresh coffee for breakfast only tin coffee (but steep rates). Weetbix not fresh. Breakfast bar waitress tried to steal 3$ extra for toast when in fact included in price already. Overheard other customers complain about same issue with same woman. Grounds kept immaculate and clean. Surrounding scenery beaufiful. Noisy, unsupervised local children (looked like children of staff) cleaning runny noses in pool and heard one say to the other "stop peeing in the pool" in Bislama.

We spent 6 nights at Turtle Bay in Santo. The property has a nice pool and well maintained gardens and reasonably priced dinners, especially pizzas:) Breakfast was included, although very basic. Swimming is nearly impossible on the reef, one has to be careful when going snorkelling because you need to go a fair bit out onto the reef with some stronger currents. The internet is very slow (on the whole island) and only available in the reception area (3x3m coverage). We had a family room and there was no TV, which if you're wanting to get away from the city life is ok, Santo as a whole is extremely remote and under developed. We felt that after 3 days we'd seen it all. We had a debacle with the car that was rented to us by the hotel, luckily it was sorted by the manager, however, it was still disappointing that a car was rented to us at $100 per day with no paperwork, insurance and in such a poor state that we were worried for our safety when driving it. The staff were all very nice and friendly, the rooms clean and tidy, overall we had a great time.