Club Med
Columbus Isle, Bahamas
April - May, 2015
The "logo" in front of the reception building.
Introduction
Getting there and Back
The large and luxurious San Salvador International Airport.
Our room. It was a perfect location for us, looking right out at the sailing beach.
The Village
Several days prior to our departure I had come down with some kind of cold, with a sore throat and
coughing and such. A couple of days after arrival Susan also came down with the illness, so we
were somewhat under the weather the whole visit. While not ideal, it was not so bad “recovering”
by laying on a lounge along a beautiful beach and occasionally hopping on a Hobie-Cat for a run
across the beautiful waters. Because of the congestion and such we did not do any snorkeling
and were a little less active than normal and we skipped some of the evening shows but we
definitely made the best of it.
The connecting walkways sometimes seemed like "a maze of passages, all alike". .
The Club Med village uses a central air-conditioning system that then distributes cold water
across the entire very dispersed village. On the day we arrived a key piece of the central
system apparently failed. The cold water in the system kept things slightly cool for a day
or two, but then things warmed up. Since we had grown up in Florida without AC, we were not
especially uncomfortable, but some people were. A couple of nights when the wind was blowing
the right direction we opened our sliding glass doors, closed the screen door, and let the
fresh air blow in and we were pretty comfortable. Before we left, Oliver, the Chief de
Village, announced that Club Med would give credits toward a future visit for each day that
the AC was out of order for a significant part of the cost of the land part of our trip.
We felt it was a very generous arrangement.
The pool deck had been renovated with planking that looked nice, but got a little hot to the touch.
There had been a significant amount of maintenance and minor upgrades to the village
since our last visit three years ago. All the guest room building exteriors had been
recently painted and most buildings appeard in good shape. The pool deck area had been
redone, covering the decorative concrete with a planking material. While this certainly
looked nice and was easy on the feet most of the time, it did seem to get hotter in the
midday sun than the concrete. Outside dining area had been rearranged with more outside
tables and some higher "har-height" tables also.
Some of the outdise dining area had been changed around with different tables breaking things up some. .
The food was very good, as expected at Columbus Isle, both in quality and selection/variety,
although we could not fully appreciate it with our illnesses. The dining room had been
rearranged (again) since our last visit but the basic layout was similar. The included
wines were drinkable, but not as good as in past visits to this village.
Inside the main dining room and food service area. Note the decorative ceiling.
Breakfast was about the same every day, with plenty of available fruits and breads and
the usual omlete station. Lunch had lots of prepared salads and a good selection of
hot dishes, alweays including at least one kind of fesh fish. There were the
usual nightly themes (Caribbean, Italian, Mexican, etc.) and one night the tables were set
all around the pool area.
Thankfully, it did not rain the evening they set up dinner around the pool area.
Sailing - Wind Surfing
Sailing is our primary activity and we were again disappointed to see that Club Med is
degrading the quality of the sailing equipment at villages in the Americas zone. While
we prefer the standard Hobie 16s, there were none at all. There were plenty of Hobie Waves
and a couple of the larger Hobie Getaways and one rather well used Hobie 15 (a Club Med
specific boat).
The well-worn Hobie 15 as seen from our favorite lounges, with the other boats in the background
While the Hobie 15 is almost as much fun as the 16, the Waves and Getaways
just are not in the same category for having fun. One of the sailing GOs did mention that
the standard sailboat in the European villages is the Hobie 15 and a quick review of the
Club Med "catalogue" pictures appeared to confirm this. We have seen this same problem at
Turkoise, Cancun, and now Columbus Isle. I’m not sure just why Club Med is degrading the
equipment in this zone, but it is bound to impact guest satisfaction.
The main part of the sailing beach with all sails up and boats ready.
The sailing GOs were all good and we got along with them well. Momar, the chief of
sailing, is very tall, slender, but surprisingly strong and is from Senegal. The other
sailing GOs were Sonja, Guillaume ("Jackson"), and Toma. If you happen to meet either
Guillaume or Toma, ask them about the little silver haired woman and who could do the most push-ups
Momar, from Senegal, was the chief of sailing and was friendly and ran a good sailing beach. .
Guillaume was one of the sailing GOs and was very helpful and always smiling.
Evenings
The evening shows we did get to were somewhat mixed. Most of the entertainment was very
geared toward the French GMs and occasionally left the English speakers out altogether.
The "gospel show" featured a couple of outside singers who were very good, but the GO
dance numbers did not reflect Gospel style in either the dance moves, costumes or skin color
Some other photos
A sample of some of the breads available at breakfast.
The main beach in front of the village.
Looking back down the beach toward Club Med from the other end of the long beach.
The main entrance into the reception area.
A fitting last photo--- Sunset at Columbus Isle. 
