Palm Bay Resort — Hotel in Long Island

It wasn't a great place, it wasn't a bad place - it was fine.

It's hard to recommend for the price point.

The good stuff: the customer facing service staff were incredibly lovely. There were great walks on Long Island, and we managed to paddle out into the Narrows to see a sea turtle, which was pretty cool. Laying in the sun was nice, but that can be done pretty much anywhere in the region. Going for walks on Long Island was nice, but that can be done without staying at the resort.

Everything else: okay, or confusingly bad. The 'bay' of Palm Bay was created at some stage by blasting with gelignite to clear a channel to the beach, meaning if you're looking forward to some snorkeling, it'll be a bit of a let down. Because of the explosive use, there's a lot of silt on every tide, making the water murky and visibility very poor. It's a coral mangrove island, which is great to explore - and natural - but the photos give the impression of a white crescent sand beach. It's rock and mud flats with a very thin band of sand at high tide.

It's difficult to know where Palm Bay is trying to fit itself in the market - on the one hand, the marketing is of a luxe resort. The resort describes itself as boutique, and the prices tend towards that kind of experience. That's just not the reality of what you're getting. Facilities wise, it's... okay? Again, not great, not bad. Stuck in the 90's and most everything could use a coat of paint or a refurb, and design-wise there are just some really easy wins to make it look more modern and less struggling-Whitsundays-resort, which would be nice. The restaurant is closed over the weekend, buying and cooking your own food on their (very good) kitchen facilities is the norm, and the facilities that aren't the (also very good) accommodation look like a motel. When the restaurant is open, the quality is like a pretty good motor inn or country pub. The menu is pretty limited, which is normally a good thing if they are awesome dishes. They're just okay, but they are very reasonably priced.

Something unpleasant was that, every day we were there, a charter boat called Zig Zag dropped a bunch of tourists to wander the resort for an hour, which kinda took away from the 'secluded island' feel that was advertised.

Biggest annoyance was definitely the blokes on the golf carts/quad bike. There were three guys working there who just wouldn't get off these things. The vehicles were ostensibly used to transport luggage to-and-from rooms, but given the rooms were about ten meters from the landing point, it felt like they just wanted to use them. If this seems like a weird thing to mention, I'm only bringing it up because it was so oddly persistent - whenever there wasn't a vehicle blocking the view on the beach (whether that be a golf cart, quad bike or day-cruising ferry that was moored smack bang in the middle of the artificial bay), we'd quickly grab a camera to take a photo.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when Happy Bay (the larger, recently purchased abandoned resort to the north of Palm Bay) re-opens. Some competition might be really healthy. At the moment, though, I guess it'd be a good price point and experience if you can't travel internationally, don't want to AirBnB, and don't want to spend resort-resort money.

As it stands, though, if you're a couple looking for a getaway, I'd recommend saving up for a baller couple of nights at Elysian Retreat, on the same island but stunningly beautiful and with great facilities. You can also camp on Long Island as most of it is national park, which - given we were cooking our own food anyway - we'd definitely be keen on doing if we go back.

Palm Bay kinda falls smack bang in the middle between 'resort escape' and 'camping'. With some effort and investment it could be awesome, but I wish we had have known the less-than-good parts contained in this review before we booked. The chat we heard a fair few times about the reopend Daydream Island kinda applies to Palm Bay too - 'prices that just don't match the...

Palm Bay Resort, Long Island, Whitsundays

One of the criteria for a tropical island holiday is that you want to feel like you are a million miles away.

Palm Bay Resort ticks that box even though it is only a 20-minute boat trip from Shute Harbour on the Whitsunday Coast.

It’s a great little resort, best for couples who want a quiet getaway in the beautiful Whitsundays. And while much of Australia suffered winter chills, our days ranged between 21and 26 degrees Celsius.

At the time of our visit, we understood that the resort had not long had new owners, and as part of that, the resort changed from self-catering to full a restaurant menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner - with a snack menu in between.

Palm Bay resort is situated on Long Island, and its location is such that it has a sandy beach bay on the eastern side, a 100-metre walk to a pebble beach on the western side facing Dent Island, which in turn faces Hamilton Island.

It's a small resort, and that's one of its attractions, especially if you want to escape the busy lifestyle of the larger resorts.

There is no wi-fi and no television. But we could get a good Telstra 4G signal at all times, which did for Internet access. You would need to check other service providers.

The Palm Bay Resort website points out that the resort does not cater for children. Basically, there is not much to do on the island other than relax, eat and have a few drinks. You can go for a few walks along the national park walking trails.

The resort can also connect you with some of the Whitsunday boat tours to places like Whitehaven Beach.

Palm Bay Resort’s accommodation facilities are nestled in the natural landscape along the sandy beach with a restaurant and pool in the centre of the resort. You can stay in various stand-alone bungalows suited to mainly couples, some right on the beach and some setback a little. There are a couple of bigger houses up on the hill.

The resort would suit those looking for a quiet getaway, and you don’t need to be entertained. Best to try somewhere else if you want a packed program or extensive facilities.

For us, it was the perfect place to relax, read a book, lie in the sun, go for a swim in beautiful blue water, and paddle a kayak.

Make sure you read all details on the Palm Bay Resort website for what they do and don’t offer. The range of activities and facilities is not as big as some larger resorts.

The restaurant had what I would describe as a good quality pub menu. The menu and service were not fine dining or high class, but the food was always creative, tasty, and reasonably priced for an island.

It appeared to be ‘early days’ for the restaurant’s full-time operation, so expect menu variations or adjustments. I believe a pizza oven is one of the innovations on the way.

While we were there, I noticed an inconsistency in the quality of the service; perhaps this could be rectified by a senior staff member. It wasn’t obvious who was in charge when we were there. Similarly, the wait for meals can be long when everyone arrives at the two-hour service.

The bar attached to the restaurant is open most of the day, and there is also a sunset bar on the beach which opens from 5pm to 7pm and on some days from lunchtime.

There are many ways to get to Hamilton Island or Proserpine. You must do your homework on the options to transfer to Palm Bay Resort. Some options can be expensive, and you want to avoid having to stay overnight in Airlie Beach to meet the connection boat transfer.

In summary: A good value tropical island holiday in a comfortable, relaxing, reasonably well-appointed island resort that is on an upward trajectory. It’s a small resort, so make sure that suits you and you understand the available facilities. To ensure you save time and money, invest some time in examining the options and details of the various travel and transfer plan options. Palm Bay Resort is not suited for children and does not...

Palm Bay Resort is beautiful. We visited November 2020, the weather was perfect (as expected for that time of year). The resort is absolute beachfront, with fantastic views over the water to Conway National Park. There are wallabies and cockatoos in abundance, plus thousands of butterflies and the occasional sea turtle. The pool is a good size for the number of guests at the resort. There are signposted walking trails North and South from the resort, some more challenging than others. The self catering facilities are pretty good, although I'm surprised they don't supply oil (there is cling wrap, paper towel, salt and pepper, but no oil?). We had a bungalow with toaster and microwave in the room which was easy for breakfast. The rest of the room was lovely - well decorated, nice furnishings and good lighting. Very comfortable and nice enough to feel special. The screen door was missing the lock which meant there was a lock sized hole to let bugs in, but we just kept the glass door closed and used aircon instead of the sea breeze (I am a favourite target for mozzies!) All of the staff are very friendly and helpful, I guess they have a high turnover of staff due to employing backpackers (although this is only based on assumption) but the people working during our stay have been totally lovely. The free to use kayaks are a fantastic idea, it makes exploring the local coastline very easy. Within easy walking distance around the beach you will come across a lot of washed up coral, very interesting to explore the different types you can find. We were not been lucky with snorkeling - the water clarity was not good (due to currents) and the main reef is apparently quite far off shore. We did see rays and turtles from the beach though, plus a turtle was out whilst we were kayaking. The bar is quite pricey, even when considering that you're on an island. Having stayed on islands much further off shore, I can confidently say that the bar prices here are much too high. There aren't many day tour options available - the only one we were offered was a zig zag tour which again is quite expensive for a day trip (nearly $200 per adult). You would probably be better off stopping for a night or two in Airlie Beach or on Hamilton Island and taking some of the trips from there. In essence, Palm Bay Resort offers a fantastic location for an Australian holiday - bush walks, wildlife, beach and sunshine! Don't come here expecting great snorkeling or diving, instead expect a beautiful relaxing holiday.

Edit: there is coral and plenty of fish to see when snorkeling, you just have to wait for low low low tide and hope for good water clarity. Tip: stand on the beach looking at the mainland, you should be able to see a lot of exposed rocks on the left of your field of view which are normally covered by high tide. When you start snorkeling, keep this area close to your left as you head out towards the open water and about halfway out to the buoys you will start to see coral. There is also some on the right side of the bay, but not as good...