Club Med Columbus Isle: San Salvador Setting, What’s Included and Getting There

On San Salvador, a stone cross on Long Bay marks the spot where Christopher Columbus is believed to have first set foot in the Americas, and a short drive north a long curve of beach sits under skies where sea conditions change from day to day and from one stretch of shore to another. Columbus Isle is an all-inclusive resort on one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Bahamas, aimed mainly at couples and adults who want a quiet stay. It is a place for people who would rather snorkel, sail and walk empty sand than shop and sightsee.

What is Club Med Columbus Isle?

Club Med Columbus Isle is a Club Med resort on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, set just north of Cockburn Town, the island’s largest settlement and the seat of local government. It is built for couples and adults looking for a romantic or serene getaway, though it also has some family-friendly options. The brand is known for packages that fold lodging, meals and activities into one stay, and that is the idea here, on an island where there is little else in the way of resort life.

The setting is the real subject. San Salvador is unlike the rest of the archipelago, with inland lakes, historic monuments, miles of secluded beaches and roughly 50 dive sites.

Its rolling hills and saltwater lakes are the exposed peak of a mountain that rises from the ocean floor, which gives the island a shape you do not find on the flat cays elsewhere. A resort here is a base on a quiet, small, slightly strange island, not a stop on a busy strip.

An island with a Columbus story

San Salvador was once called Watling’s Island, and it is famed as the probable place of Christopher Columbus’s first landing in the Americas, on October 12, 1492. On Long Bay, a stone cross marks the landfall, and offshore an underwater monument shows where the Pinta dropped anchor. You can build a half-day around these markers, reading the history while standing on the same shoreline the story describes.

The island keeps other landmarks from its past. The Dixon Hill lighthouse, built in 1887 by the Imperial Lighthouse Service, stands about 160 feet tall and is a handsome reminder of the days when ships relied on lights like it. The University of The Bahamas runs the Gerace Research Centre here, which has hosted study in archaeology, biology, geology and marine science for more than 40 years, a sign of how much there is to look at on such a small piece of land.

Who it suits

The resort suits couples and adults who want calm days, a beach and a sea to spend them in. Families are not shut out, and teenagers can join Junior Club Med in July and August. Outside those months, travelers with older children should not count on a dedicated teen program.

If you want nightlife, shopping streets or a choice of restaurants beyond the resort gates, this is the wrong island. If you want a lake full of birds, a reef wall and a beach with few footprints, it fits well.

What is included?

A stay at Club Med Columbus Isle includes 26 activities, and guests can also discover 30 on demand activities. That count covers the sports and leisure side of the package, which is the heart of the Club Med approach: you arrive, and the day is already set up with things to do on the water and on land.

The details of each activity are best read as a menu rather than a schedule. What the resort states is the number of included and on demand activities, and a few clear limits that shape the choices by season and by budget.

Seasonal and extra-cost activities

The waterskiing and wakeboarding school is available only in summer, so a winter or spring visit will not include it. Teenagers can experience Junior Club Med in July and August, which makes those two months the family window at the resort. Visitors who want a particular program should match it to the calendar before choosing dates.

Scuba diving is available at an extra cost. That matters because diving is one of the island’s great draws, and it sits outside the included package. The resort stays are about the beach and the water in general, but the dive boat is a separate line on the bill.

What the sea around the resort offers

Water temperature around San Salvador ranges from 73 to 84°F depending on location and time of year, so the sea shifts from cool in the cooler months to bathwater-warm at the end of summer. The island is ringed by protective reefs, and there are beaches, lagoons and bays where visitors can drop anchor. A boat is the key to exploring Dim Bay, Long Bay and Snow Bay.

For divers, the lee side holds more than 50 sites including reefs, ruins, shipwrecks and walls. Devil’s Claw and Vicky’s Reef are home to stingrays and sharks, and Runway 10 has a spectacular wall and an occasional hammerhead. Those are the places divers talk about when they describe the island, and they are what the extra-cost dive program opens up.

Beaches and nature beyond the gate

San Salvador’s beaches are secluded by definition, with powdery white sand and azure water. Grotto Beach at Sandy Point, Bonefish Bay Beach and Snow Beach are traveler favorites, and each gives a different feel of the coast.

Inland, Great Lake National Park protects the lake and the mangroves around it, which are critical to the endangered San Salvador Rock Iguana and several bird species. The lake stretches through most of the island and connects the major settlements. Watling’s Blue Hole, on the southwestern side, is entirely saltwater, which hints at an underground link to the ocean. These are the outings that fill the gaps between included activities.

Where is it and how do you get there?

Club Med Columbus Isle is on San Salvador Island, just north of Cockburn Town, and San Salvador Airport is 5 minutes from the resort. That closeness is the practical gift of the place: once you land, you are nearly there. The island itself is one of the smallest inhabited in the Bahamas, so the geography is simple.

From the airport to the resort

Transfers from San Salvador International Airport to the resort are not automatically included in the package. They can be arranged through private services or directly with the resort, so a traveler should treat the ride as its own piece of the plan rather than assume a shuttle is waiting.

Because the airport is so near, the transfer is brief. The first thing you see on the way is the low, green island, then the resort grounds and the water beyond them, and the contrast with a big-resort arrival is part of the charm.

Settling into a small island

Cockburn Town is the island’s largest settlement and its seat of local government, and the resort sits just to its north. That gives a stay a nearby village to wander into and a sense of where you are, rather than the closed bubble of a resort on an empty coast.

From the resort you can reach the history sites, the lakes and the beaches described above. A boat opens up the bays, and the dive sites lie along the lee side. Because the island is small, the outings are really variations on a theme of sea, reef, lake and history.

Healthcare on the island

A local clinic for regular treatments is 5 minutes from the resort. For anything more serious, the hospital is in Nassau, 1 hour’s flight from the resort. That is worth knowing for a traveler with health needs, since the island is remote and the nearest full hospital is on another island.

Good to know before you go

The U.S. State Department rates the Bahamas Level 2, “Exercise increased caution”, and says most crime occurs in Nassau on New Providence and in Freeport on Grand Bahama.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, which covers the summer months when the waterskiing school and Junior Club Med run. San Salvador has its own storm history: when Hurricane Joaquin passed in October 2015, the cargo steamer El Faro sank about 50 miles east of the island, and weeks later pieces of containers were reported on San Salvador’s beaches. Scuba diving costs extra, and airport transfers are arranged separately, so those two items belong in the budget from the start.