Looking for a weekend break that will get you away from it all? Well Sea Gypsy is exactly that, even mobile phone coverage is patchy!
This really is what you imagine south east asia to be like, wooden huts on the beach with palm trees, no TVs, roads, air-con, hot water or wifi. But I’m getting a head of myself as we have not even got there yet!
Getting There
We have been there a couple of times this year, once for a week long break with my parents from Europe and the other a longish weekend for my and my eldest’s birthday. Both times we took the option of paying a little more to have a private minivan that picked us up from our house. You can take the scheduled transfer that picks up from behind Somerset MRT. There are 2 pickup times 11am and 6pm but we asked ours to arrive at 10:30 as we wanted an extra stop to give the little ones a run around. The real big bonus of these cars is that they are small enough that they go through as private cars and you don’t have to get out at the check point. You get dropped off at the ferry terminal and it’s a quick boat ride to the resort.
Accommodation
Just like a movie your boat pulls up at the beach and you jump off into the water and walk up into the resort. It really is fab and all the stress just rolls off you as you have your welcome drink. We have always gone for the family chalets so we have our own room and also they overlook the play ground/area. One point to note is that the bunks in the kids room are very high. Even though they are well away from the restaurant and bar we found our baby monitor reached easily as there’s no concrete walls to interrupt the signal. Yes the rooms are basic with a ceiling fan for cooling and only cold running water in the shower rooms but they are clean and if you have young kids you can order hot water for their baths. The only down side is that as the walls are just wood there is no sound proofing and you will hear the earliest family to be up and about.
What to do?
There is diving but we don’t dive so I can’t comment on that, couple of years ago we did go for snorkelling trips and saw some wonderful fish. But the main thing is just to play on the beach and in the gardens. So depending on the age of your kids it’s either break out the kindle and catch up on some reading or lots of digging and swimming with the kids. As there are no roads on the island it’s safe for the kids to run around so even when they are relatively young you can let them run wild. Also there is a kids club where most of the activities cost a little extra doing things like t-shirt painting or sandcastle competitions. There are some excursions as well but we didn’t try those with a toddler!
So it’s remote and on it’s own so what about eating and drinking?
The price is inclusive of 3 meals a day with afternoon tea and drinks extra. We took along things like muesli bars for the kids to have extra snacks but what ever you take needs to be sealed or the ants will get them.
The food is plentiful and yummy, depending on the number of guests it’s either big bowls in the centre of your table or buffet style and some evenings they do a BBQ. Also one of the great things is that the kids get to eat at 6 and then are taken off for activities and the only opportunity to watch TV whilst the adults have their dinner at 8. Kids aren’t allowed in the bar after something like 7 so that adults have their own space to chill out in the evening whilst the kids are supervised in the kids lounge. For us it worked great as they kids go down at about 7ish and we could have an adult dinner.
OK so there’s a beach and separate dinner for kids, that it?
Nope they are very accommodating and setup for most needs, so cots, bed-rails, baby monitors for example are all available. If you have special dietary needs then again they are accommodating for example our friends asked for pasta for their kids meals and that was no problem. There is also a little library and sets of board games for the kids (and also adults).
Here’s a link to a friend’s blog who was also there for my birthday so you can get another view.
Finally probably the best thing about the place is that the staff are really nice.
Web – http://siburesort.com/Index.html
Yes, that was a great weekend! Loved letting the kids pootle about. We’ll have to go a bit further afield with some excursions next time.
Once my back is better we want to try Shady Shack in Bintan which looks more basic and perhaps without all the helpful kids stuff.
You haven’t by any chance been planning to do the trip to Bintan any time soon, have you? I’d be quite interested in the review 🙂
Nope we are going to Sea Gypsy again soon though 🙂
Some friends did go to Sandy Shack who loved it but found it a bit expensive for the food on offer. It’s very rustic and not same for little ones as the stairs are more ladder like for example.