Name: Chalkley's Sandy Bay Cottage Resort
Address: 37 Sandy Bay Rd, Nipissing Township, Nipissing Township, Nipissing Township, P0H1H0, Canada
Rating: 9

Heating

General

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Barbecue grill(s)

Hiking

Fishing

Ping-Pong

Recreation

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Private beach

Next to the beach

Pool and beach

Children's playground

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the resort

Jack Garland Airport

Chalkley's Sandy Bay Cottage Resort

Nipissing Township

My family (5 kids, 2 parents, 2 grandparents) stayed at the Sandy Bay cottages for a week.  The first half of the week we had an EXCELLENT time.  The cottage was comfortable, clean, and big enough to house all of us comfortably without feeling crowded.  There were tonnes of things for the kids to do, badminton, soccer, playground, the beach was perfect for young kids and their were tones of toys. There were lots of other children around for my kids to socialize with and we were all enjoying ourselves.

Some things were not perfect, some of the soccer area was flooded and muddy, also nothing was in mint condition.  All of this made no difference to us as we loved it.  Every year the group of us spends a week together at a cottage in Northern ON and we were thinking we would like to come back there again next year and possibly for many years to come.

A few days into the trip we were called to the center of the common outdoor area and told by management that there had been numerous complaints by multiple families about our children.  They “broke a swing”, “picked up ducks” and “were intruding on the private family time of other guests”.  This was all news to us because we had been keeping an eye on them the entire time and I had checked with other families they were chumming around with to make sure they were okay with it and all said they were.  

It turns out my kids were at the playground unattended for 15 minutes that night after supper and before desert while the adults were trying to clean up/finish eating etc.  

My children are all raised in a rural country setting and used to being independent, none of them are toddlers and they follow the rule about staying away from the water unless an adult is with them.  Going to the playground by themselves is something they do regularly.  We also have chickens which like to be carried around.  I could not imagine a mother duck would have allowed her babies to be picked up (this only happens because they have become so tame from feeding), so I did not imagine there would be any problem with the kids at the playground for 10-15 minutes.  It was likely just this one 15 minute time frame where someone complained, but it was presented to us that MANY families complained MULTIPLE times.  

From that point forward I felt very on edge about the children.  It seemed to me like my family was intruding on the vacation of all the other families and management and I needed to be with them 100% of the time or else we would receive more complaints.  That other families vacation and enjoyment was valued while ours was not.  

What ended up happening was that if I was in the water swimming with the kids and one kid took off to go and play on the playground I would need to round up all the other kids in the water and go get the kid on the playground; meaning that no-one was able to do what they wanted and everyone was mad at me.  It was no longer very much fun.  

I do credit management that one picnic table board got broke and I offered to pay for it but they said there was no need, these things happen.  That was understanding of them.

Though we would have liked to vacation again at Sandy Bay cottages we did not feel welcome and would feel unwelcome going back.  It is too bad.  

If you are typical family (2 adults + 2 kids with no behavior/emotional/physical challenges etc) this is likely a wonderful place for you.  The view is great, the location is great, I love the beach there!  If you are an atypical family in any way (more kids than adults, non-helicopter parenting style, a kid with behaviours, autism, adhd etc "excessive screaming" is specifically not allowed in the rules) then you may not fit in here.

Mixed review

Just returned from a week vacation.   We have been coming to this resort for many many years.  Couldn't ask for a better beach and the weather this trip was spectacular.   Thanks Jeff and Kim for a memorable trip.  Cannot wait to come back next year!

Highly recommend Sandy Bay!!

Rick and Virginia

Excellent Vacation!

Awesome place to stay.  I have stayed at Sandy Bay a number of times in the past for ice fishing and have recommended Jeff and Kim's place to other friends.  The service was amazing and if there were any problems, Jeff was on it instantly.  We've stayed at other outfitters for ice fishing and none compare to the service at Sandy Bay.

Excellent Place to Stay

Let me start by saying I will never go back to this resort again!!!

It started with a phone call on our way there to get clear directions from Kim and being advised to not bother showing up till 11:30 or there are going to make us wait in our cars.

So we get there at 11:30, get checked in and ready for a ride out on to the ice in there bombardier snow machine that was overheating. We voiced our concerns and were assured all is good. Well it wasn't, the bombardier snow machine overheated again and started to fill the inside with smoke from the antifreeze burning; we advise him it was getting hard to breathe due to the smoke and he wouldn't stop. The smoke was so bad we couldn't see the people sitting next to us. We finally get there and fished for the day. Pick up was at 6:30pm and he shows up with the bombardier snow machine smoking like crazy and wanted us to get in, we refused!!! and told him to get us in another way. He left us out there till 9:30pm before coming to pick us up with a Ski-Doo and a sleigh.

Checkout time came and the owners had the exits blocked, they demanded we pay for smoking in our cabins. We had 2 cabins one with a group of smoker and the other with non-smokers. The owners did not advise us at time of check in that you could not smoke in the cabins, they did not provide us with any terms and conditions to read or sign. We end up having to call the OPP to deal with the situation, 2 hours later we were glad to be on our way home. 

This was a fishing trip from hell...

Horrible weekend

We greatly enjoyed our stay at Chalkley's Sandy Bay Cottages during late Spring of 2013. Jeff, Kim and family provided friendly service, that went above and beyond. Our cottage (cottage #1) was very comfortable and homey. Our favorite. Fishing was outstanding. Lake Nipissing is truly beautiful, especially the sunsets. Our two week stay went by far too quickly. We look forward to returning someday and highly recommend Chalkley's to anyone looking for a truly memorable vacation.

Chalkley's Sandy Bay Cottage Resort

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