Sea Island

Sea Island, Georgia

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By Roger Cox, Editor

Although Sea Island opened in 1928, the resort has undergone such a complete makeover during this century as to seem new. And in many respects it is. The original Cloister, the Moorish-influenced pink palace designed by Addison Mizner, which had long been the centerpiece of the resort, has given way to a larger and more opulent Cloister, this one situated scenically on the shore of the Black Banks River. Razing the old hotel made room for a 65,000-square-foot spa and fitness center and a neighboring complex of eight Har-Tru tennis courts, one of them a sunken stadium. Add an expansive Beach Club on five miles of private beach, three championship golf courses and a state-of-the-art golf teaching facility, a second eight-court tennis center, three squash courts, a shooting school, a nature and watersports center, horseback riding on the beach, fishing charters, and highly rated children's programs and you have one of the most complete resorts in the country.

Yet for all that is new at the resort, it remains wedded to tradition. Jackets are still required for dinner at the five-star Georgian room in the Cloister and at Colt & Alison, a steakhouse, in the Lodge at the Sea Island Golf Club on neighboring St. Simons Island. Returning guests look forward to the corn bread with bacon at Southern Tide in the Beach Club (as a new managing director, Rick Riess suggested to the chef that the dish would be healthier without the bacon only to be told that if he tried to remove it, he'd have "a riot on his hands"). Huge crowds—as many as 500 people—show up for, of all things, Bingo on Thursday nights in summer, an evening that requires jackets for men and boys and dresses for women and girls. But guests also return eager to see their favorite members of the staff, more than 100 of whom have been with the resort more than 25 years, long enough to see kids grow to adulthood (veteran tennis pro Dickie Anderson among them).

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Sponsor

Cliff Drysdale Tennis and Wine Weekends Join the Cliff Drysdale Tennis team for a Tennis and Wine Weekends on the East and West Coasts at Chateau Elan Winery and Resort in Georgia or the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, CA. This unique camp will bring you the ultimate tennis experience where you can relax and unwind while playing tennis. Camp dates from May – Sept 2023. More information can be found online at Tennis and Wine Weekends.

Tennis Features

Pro Shop: 912-638-5168

The Sea Island Tennis Academy caters to all levels, from Quickstart kids to advanced adults. Social tennis, not surprisingly, reaches its zenith during the busy summer months though there are clinics and drill sessions on the schedule every day during spring and fall.

Courts & Fees. 8 Har-Tru courts—one of them a sunken stadium—at the Cloister, another 8 at Retreat.

Ratings (48 Reviewers)
Tennis Overall Tennis Staff	Game Matching Junior Tennis	Cuisine Lodging Spa & Fitness	Dollar Value Other Recreation Setting	Kids' Programs Romance

Other Recreation

Beach. Five miles of salt-and-pepper beach extend along the Atlantic Coast of Sea Island, much of it bordered by low dunes and sea oats.

Golf Courses. The resort has three 18-hole courses, each recently redesigned, and its own golf school.

Spa & Fitness Center. The Spa and Fitness center has 65,000-square-feet of space comprising 23 treatment rooms, lockers with sauna and steam, an indoor lap pool, a full range of fitness equipment, four workout rooms (yoga, Pilates, traditional fitness, and personal training), and three squash courts, the last under the direction of Steve Hall, a personable Canadian with numerous Top 10 finishes in the Canadian National Squash Championship.

And ... Among the other recreation is a shooting school, horseback riding stables, bicycle rentals, sea kayaking, a nature center, and fishing charters.

Children's Programs

Now offered year-round, Sea Island's children's programs divide kids into as many as five groups: ages 3 to 4, ages 5 to 6, ages 7 to 8, ages 9 to 12, and when appropriate teens. These organized activities go on all day and some evenings and include turtle nest patrols, manners courses, survival skills, adventure outings (kayaking, beach eco-labs, gyotaku fish printing), scavenger hunts, swim parties, and tennis and golf clinics.

Restaurants

All of the restaurants on Sea Island and those at the Lodge are exclusively for the use of guests and members. Options range from the Snack Shack and Flip Flop Bistro at the Beach Club to the elegance of the five-star Georgian Room and numerous options in between.

See Also

Among the other tennis resorts with Sea Island Resort's history and grand style are:

• The Breakers, Florida
• The Boca Raton, Florida
• The Greenbrier, West Virginia
• The Broadmoor, Colorado

Rates and Reservations

Sea Island

There are 175 rooms and suites in the new Cloister Hotel and those are supplemented by 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom suites in the beachfront Ocean Villas. All of that lodging clusters together near the Beach Club and spa. The alternative, and it is an elegant one, is to opt instead for the 40-room Lodge at Sea Island, which is not on Sea Island at all but 5½ miles away on St. Simons Island. And finally there are the Sea Island Cottages, which are privately owned and range in size from 3 to 8 bedrooms.

100 Cloister Dr.
Sea Island, GA 31561

Travel Essentials

Seasons. Year-round.

Travel Instructions. By Air: Sea Island is roughly 80 miles from either Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) in Florida to the south or Savannah International Airport (SAV) in Georgia. There's also the regional Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (BQK), 30 minutes to the west.

General Tourist Information. Visit Georgia Tourism.