Ocean Bay is one of the better Hotels you can get in The Gambia.

If you can accept that you will be in Africa and things rarely work as they should you can have a nice holiday. If you want value and great service for your money, forget about it.

Location: Excellent. Beautiful and clean beach without too much hassle.
If you did not make arrangements for your transfer, it will cost you 700 Dalasi in a taxi that probably doesn't even look like a taxi. Just take the first one you are offered for this price and get the hell out of the airport, it's a nightmare as you will be surrounded by people asking for money.
For the return journey we paid 500 Dalasi in a yellow taxi.
You can change money at the airport and if I remember well the exchange was better than anywhere in Cape point.
Ocean Bay is about 15 minutes taxi ride from the busier resort of Kololi. If you barter right, the price is about 125 Dalasi in a yellow taxi.

Room: We stayed in a Delux room (Block with room numbers 300+), double bed was not an option. Bed, bedclothes clean.
The cleanliness of the shower cubicle and bathroom floor was not impressive. Amateur fixing of tiles and leaks are clearly visible. Toilet seat was yellow...
If you like to stay on the beach as long as possible be prepared for lack of hot water between 6pm-10pm. The balcony door didn't close. The safe wouldn't open one day so we had to call the fix man who had a good look at each item in the safe (his excuse was that the items were too close to the safe door).
The air conditioning unit is new and works very well. We only used it once though.
Be prepared that your key card takes couple of attempts to work. Pulling the door helps. It's a wide spread problem as we forever heard guest cursing in various languages about this.
Once at the reception desk, we overheard a complaint about this and the receptionist acted like it has never happened before.
One day my partner returned from the beach to get a bottle of water and found 2 employees chatting in the middle of our room. They said they were bar control. It took them another 10 minutes chat amongst themselves to establish that 1 beer was missing.
WI-FI connection is unreliable and very slow.
2 pin European sockets.

Breakfast: Plentiful but poor quality. Coffee was the worst ever. My advice is to take your own and ask for hot water. If you want an omelette or fried egg, those are freshly made and quite nice.
If you don't like to get up early, after 8:30 it's a challenge to find a table and even if you do you might end up setting the table yourself. If you need salt, sugar milk, napkins etc you are better off asking the table beside you, otherwise you could be waiting until lunch. The guests are well adapted to sharing.
The waiters are OK but we saw them working very long hours and therefore can be cranky unless you slide some notes towards them.

Massage: about 20-25 euro. I had a session of massage and 1 reflexology. It was nice but in my opinion not very skilled.

Lunch: we had lunch once on the beach from the beach bar. Food (steak sandwich and prawn pasta) was safe to eat but nothing to write home about.

Diner: We had diner once at the Ocean Clipper. Nice and quality food.

The Italian Connection: 300m to the left of the hotel. We had 2 pizzas. Not much better quality than your local pizza fast food chain.

Bella's Hungarian restaurant: Simple, good, reasonably priced dishes. Good atmosphere. Great place to catch up on the local gossip.

The Jewel of India (Kololi): The chef comes and greats you and it's very reassuring that he is a very clean and kind person. We had skewered butter fish tikka and grilled prawns with spices and lemon. The dipping sauce and + the garlic and chilli naan bread are just divine, well you just can't stop eating it. I am not great fan of European styled Indian food. I tried this on my air hostess friend's recommendation and wow. I would give it 5* yet we paid around 20 euros for 3 mains, sides and drinks.

Ngala Lodge: is the place to go of you fancy a nice romantic meal with great service.
Food is delicious. 3 drinks each (1 cocktail each) garlic breads and 2 mains from the black board (lamb and barracuda) came to about 50 euros.

Exchange: 1 Euro = 40-44 Dalasi
1 Pound = 50-52.50 Dalasi
1 Dollar = 30-33 Dalasi

You get the lowest exchange in the hotel and in general in Cape Point.
Kololi=best exchange

Only few places accept credit cards. In the hotel you can pay with credit card. They take 5% c commission and it takes a ten minutes phone call to Kenya to authorize it.

Visa is more accepted than Mastercard. I used my visa debit card on several occasions just around the corner from the hotel. My bank charged me 3 euros for each withdrawal but I got better exchange than any of the currency change places offered.

BUMSTERS: They are the locals specialized in fleecing the tourists. Soon as you leave the hotel they are around you like flies. Some are more persistent than others. Some would follow you for 2kms. We did our best to refuse them politely but 2x we had really nasty response.
I would advise you to have the number for the tourist police on speed dial. They are scared of the tourist police as they can get into serious trouble if tourists complain.
If you want to walk free, saying "I'm meeting a friend" they kind of leave you alone thinking that you are referring to a Gambian friend.
Your other option is to hire a "friend", one of the tour guides opposite the hotel. They are the official bumsters but they are cool and you are left alone by the others.

We bought water and cigarettes in a small local shop. Turn left from the hotel, it's a little green door on the right after the Indian restaurant.
1 bottle of cold water = 25 dalasi while cigis are 40 dalasi.
If you want to buy beer, the minimarket is your best option. (From the hotel take a right then left, pass the UN building and it’s on the corner)

Be prepared for serious competition for the sunbeds.

Ladies! Spare your nice clothes and heels. Pumice stone is a must. The place is dusty like the Wild West and soap is just not enough to regain the original colour of your feet.

You can buy a nice chunk of pure cocoa butter in the Bakau market for about 50 Dalasi. It's magic after sun bathing, protects your skin and preserves your tan.

We were on a mission to buy some authentic masks. We got some real gems. Be prepared for a hard barter. If you drive a hard bargain you can get things for just over half the asking price. If you can do better let me know :)

We are a young at heart couple of 36/40 yet we were some of the youngest at the hotel. We didn't make any fuss about the inconveniences mentioned above. Not worth the hassle. Enjoy the sunshine :)

First time in Gambia so bit hesitant! However we were pleasantly surprised by the standard of the hotel. Rooms very spacious and clean. Staff were very attentive and would do anything for you. Very smiley people and courteous. Grounds very well kept and tidy.Breakfast plentyful. We were B and B only but ate one night in the restaurant ok but not the best. Dont be frightened of the "bumsters" they seem intimidating but do assist you well especially if you want to wander about the town, we made friends with Adam from Mr Bass he was very helpful and controlled the children when they got wind that we had bought sweets. Fish market a bit of a gut churner absolutley full of flies and smelly. Crocodile park is ok with lots of crocs you can stroke them usually aftr feeding time
Restaurants are limited in the area but our favourite was the hungarian which served a wicked fish and chips!
Entertainment in the hotel in the eveningwas a bit of a dissapointment but during the day it was just enough, do as much or as little as you want. Bobby Brown you are the man! Very entertaining and not over the top. Bingo and quizzes just lightened the afternoon and he enjoys it when people participate. I was invited to call bingo english style and what a laugh
Overall a really enjoyable time we are looking at returning next year, you better be ther Bobby Brown!