In the Media
Over the past 20+ years, we’ve proudly been featured in the world’s most recognizable international travel and lifestyle publications, news outlets and magazines! Here’s what some of the most prestigious critics in the world have said about us.
We were mentioned TWICE in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards 2019, which recognize the world’s best destinations, food, lodging, and more. Nominees are selected by USA Today and 10Best.com editors, and winners are determined by popular vote. Read more.
- 2019 Best Caribbean Beach – #3: Stocking Island Beach
- 2019 Best Caribbean Beach Bar – #7: Chat ‘N’ Chill
Featured as one of the “Ultimate Beach Bars” in February 2009: “Combine an Exuma-born Bahamian with a University of Chicago MBA, and what do you get? One successful-from-the-start beach bar that still manages not to feel contrived. Ken “KB” Bowe chose an ideal spot on Stocking Island – a beach-encrusted jewel just off Great Exuma – and built a bar/restaurant that excels at all the essentials. You can only get there by boat (which only helps the away-from-it-all ambience). The kitchen nails its fish burgers and peas ‘n’ rice; the beer is icy; and the beach and water are warm.”
“No shoes, no problem. Grab a seat on a seaplane, boat or ferry for the short jump over Elizabeth Harbour to Stocking Island where you can catch a lime at Chat ‘n’ Chill®. Sunday nights feature local music and a pig roast.”
“Snorkels and swim trunks are perfectly acceptable at Chat ‘n’ Chill®, a beach party/restaurant on Exuma’s Stocking Island. People float in by motorboat, kayak, and sailboat to settle into pastel-colored lounge chairs scattered across the sand. The grill turns out nicely charred chicken sandwiches and conch burgers, and on Sunday there’s a rowdy pig roast complete with live music and dancing.”
“On Sunday afternoons they arrive by the boatload, locals and yachters and a handful of guests from the tony Four Seasons. Kalik beers in hand, they nibble on conch salad — ‘Bahamian Viagra,’ says Pedro the conch man — while waiting for the ribs and chicken to finish barbecuing on the massive grill. Guests cool their feet in a sea so blue you think somebody spilled the Tidy Bowl and indulge in the directive demanded by this breezy bar’s name: Chat & Chill®.”
Five People to Know in The Bahamas – “Kenneth “KB” Bowe. “Kenneth’s Chat ‘n’ Chill® is Stocking Island’s main attraction. The open-air beachfront restaurant has picnic tables, volleyball courts, and a popular Sunday pig roast. People come on kayaks, inflatable dinghies, and Sunfishes for Kenneth’s rum punches.”
“Located a stone’s throw from one of the prettiest harbors on earth, the low key but very hip establishment serves fresh fish, hamburgers and conch burgers cooked over an open charcoal grill.”
“Grab your dinghies and go ashore: Stocking Island‘s Chat & Chill is a thirsty boater’s best friend.”
“Sundays, boaters and tourists alike line-up for the pig roast at Stocking Island’s Chat ‘n’ Chill® just across from Exuma’s main harbor. With its open-air bar, outdoor grill, volleyball beach and waterside conch-salad shack, the Place feels destined to become a Jimmy Buffett song.”
“A final boating trip took me aboard an elegantly appointed 63-foot catamaran to tiny Stocking Island, home to Chat ’n’ Chill®, a casual dining spot popular with the international set of ‘yachties.’ Owner Ken Bowe serves up outrageous conch burgers, roast pig and an intoxicating, rum-infused Goombay Smash. Above the chatter of swapping sea stories, the infectious beat of rake-n-scrape music resonated.”
”To enjoy the setting sun from Stocking Island, head for the Chat & Chill, a lively open-air restaurant and bar right on the point.”
“On the left is world famous financier and pig roaster K.B. Bowe, who puts on a great feast on Sundays at Volleyball Beach on Stocking Island.”
“The place is famous for its Sunday pig roasts, which draw hundreds…. when not chatting and chilling with fellow vacationers, I read some of the messages scrawled on T-shirts hanging from the ceiling that previous patrons had left behind. The bar itself is also covered in graffiti – perhaps a few drinks in this easy-going spot brings out the writer in all of us.”
“At the Chat ‘n Chill® beach bar just across the bay from George Town, K.B. Bowe — local guy turned Chicago banker turned beach bar owner — explains that his bathrooms are always clean because ‘it’s women who make the decisions’ — and dirty bathrooms translate into a quick exit. The Chat ‘n Chill® is the daytime fave of everybody from the megabucks yachters who come in winter to Sunday morning worshipers who pray under the trees and the Sunday afternoon beer-and-pig crowd. On a hot afternoon, the shallow water is filled with families, couples, and anglers hoisting a brew. And though you’ve just arrived, everybody knows your name.”
“Visitors from around the globe come to relax over a cold drink, tuck into an award-winning conch burger or play a game of volleyball in the sand.”
“Head down to the water’s edge and watch the Conch Man create the island’s freshest conch salad, right before your eyes.”
“From the signature Goombay Smash cocktails to the fresh conch appetizers and Sunday fun-day BBQ parties, the Chat ‘n’ Chill® is somewhere that you simply can’t-miss during an Exumas vacation.”
“Many beachfront restaurants are satisfied with simply delivering a view. But Chat ‘N’ Chill®, on Stocking Island in the Exumas, delivers a complete beach experience.”
“Accessible by boat from Elizabeth Harbour, Stocking Island is ringed by white sand beaches, and just offshore lie blue holes, coral gardens and undersea caves perfect for snorkeling and diving.”
“Besides its beach, Stocking Island is best known by boaters for its Chat ‘N’ Chill® bar and grill – the epitome of the colorful, ramshackle beach and yachter bars you find throughout the Bahamas.”
“I did, however, learn more from this man named K.B. (a.k.a. Kenneth Bowe). He owns the Chat & Chill, a nearby eatery that serves hot and spicy local food. Kenneth went on to give me detailed recipes that use goat and bird peppers, and suggested I eat at his restaurant upon my return.“Will you be there next Saturday?” I asked. “Sir, I am the Chat & Chill.” He strutted away with a proud smile on his face.”
“With your toes in the sand, you’ll tuck into grilled fish, peas’n’rice (not to be confused with Jamaican rice’n’peas, which has more rice and fewer peas) and KB’s legendary garlic cabbage slaw. Just don’t be in a hurry to receive your food. It’s all cooked fresh, and service runs on Caribbean time.”
We always have a great time at Chat N Chill, its just fun hanging out there and is a great spot for photographs. We rented a boat from Minns to get there but the water taxis are an easy and fairly inexpensive way to get there too.