The southern retreat of Sea Island Georgia is one of my favorite places. The Mediterranean style resort oozes with southern hospitality with top notch service. Sea Island’s unique location in the Golden Isles offers 5 miles of private beach along the Atlantic Ocean or cross the street to explore the Black Banks River at The Cloisters. There also is a Shooting School, Tennis Courts, a 65,000 sf spa and fitness center and a Yacht club. The Sea Island Golf Club is located a few miles away in St. Simonds. It is not to be missed.
My favorite foursome played a round on the Seaside course. Sea Island Golf Resort offers three courses to play along with a Golf Performance Center. Davis Love III hosts the RSM Classic, a PGA Tour stop, at Sea Island each November. The Driftwood putting course offers an 18 hole putting green. We played a round while we watched the sunset , sipped a cocktail and listened to the bagpiper before our dinner at Colt and Alison.
The only Forbes 5 star restaurant in Georgia is located at The Georgian Room in the Cloisters. The River Bar, Tavola and Southern Tide offer a more casual menu. If you are craving shrimp and grits, steak and potato, scallops and caviar or pizza, you can find it on property at Sea Island. We did wander off property to Southern Soul Barbeque. It’s located in an old gas station with picnic tables set up outside. We could smell the slow cooked brisket, pork and ribs on the outdoor fire pits as we waited for our order to be called. All of the restaurants offered fabulous desserts but my kids wanted to check out the “Candy Store”. Wonderland is a modern day version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. I’m not sure if I was more impressed with the selection of candy or the original Andy Warhol in the store!
Another reason why this is one of my all time favorite places is the shopping opportunities. There are 15 gift shops tucked all over the properties at the Beach Club, The Spa, The Cloisters, The Boat shop, The shooting school and of course the golf clubhouse. These stores rival some high end department and home stores. I’m pretty sure I could have outfitted my entire family with everything we needed from swimsuits to sports coats at the Sea Islands stores. I actually did quite a bit of Christmas shopping when we visited in December.
We kept ourselves busy during the day fishing, kayaking, horseback riding and working out in the 65,000 sf spa and fitness center. In the evening we gathered on the veranda and played cards, connect four and Sea Island Bingo. “Ringo Bingo” was the host and made quite an event out of Bingo. The night we played there were four winners spanning the ages of 9 years to 75 years (unfortunately, not us!). Sea Island Bingo was a fun family affair!
Need another reason to visit? It is the only resort in the world to have received four Forbes Five-Star awards for ten consecutive years. If you haven’t had the pleasure to visit Sea Island, Add it to your bucket list!
