Guest Report

[J. Balderson]

We found the Turtle Beach Hotel to be well run and comfortable - we even met the Manager and Assistant Manager and were able to give our views. The food was good and served quickly - the waiters and waitresses were very attentive and filled our glasses with water, gave us extra rolls on request etc. Our room was quite well furnished with a lovely big bed, air conditioning and a balcony overlooking the garden and beach. It was rather dark at night as there were no ceiling lights in our room - just bedside lights. On the positive side you could make all the coffee and tea you wanted as we had a coffee maker in our room. Ask for one if it is not there and they will get you one. The reception staff were good and always responded well to our requests.
We saw a Leatherback turtle laying its eggs one night (they phoned us as we requested at !p.m.) and then we saw baby turtles hatching out and going down to the sea another night. We also went on a most fantastic bird tour to the rainforest with Peter Cox who is a wonderful and serious bird guide - no waffle from him but real concern for the birds. Although we are retired nobodies he took great care that we saw every possible bird and spent time calling them for us if they didn't appear. Just wish we could go with him again on an island tour. He was exceptional.
The only things we found to say on the downside were that the pool although very large is also very shallow and really only suitable for children. Also the sea is quite rough and you really need to swim with an inflatable ring or something if you are a nervous swimmer.
This is quite a big hotel so there are a lot of people there but luckily most are out on tours during the day so it doesn't feel crowded. The beach sellers never gave us much trouble - we just said "No thanks" and they left us alone.
We saw the local fisherman catching fish in Seine nets in the mornings just to the right of the hotel and we went down the road to Grafton Bird Sanctuary (free) and saw Mot Mot and Cocrico birds being fed at 4 p.m.

[Richard B]

The sea off this hotel is only rough in about one place off shore. Once past that point it's nice and sandy and pretty safe. Getting in you just run in and jump over the waves. Getting out is a little more tricky but just time it with a wave and then high step over the strong rip current.

It's fine if you are confident in the water.