As many of you remember my annoying posts with lots of questions regarding my visit to Union Island and then onto Grenada. Well having spent 4 nights on Union and 9 on Grenada , I am slowing trying to write up a long, and a bit boring report. Our arrival on Union ended at about 5pm. Having been up since 1am, taking 3 planes and developing a film of sweat and grime we arrived, but no one was there to meet us as promised. There was not even a cab driver in sight. Usually, you have to turn them away, as they show up like flies on doo-doo. Then out a nowhere a man approaches us and asks us if we are staying at Big Sand. He informs us that the owner will be along shortly, that there was some issue with their van. Freddie, the owner, arrives after awhile, apologizes and loads our luggage in his vehicle. He explains that the hotel transportation took a spill down a hillside while some partying people were driving it. No names mentioned, but from the sight of it, made me glad not to have been in it at that moment. Anyhow, this I would imagine, would pose a problem for Big Sand as they provide their guests with complimentary airport pickup/drop-off. They also advertise that you can use that transportation as a cab costing $6 one way. No biggie, as we didn’t end us using the $6 one way transportation as planned. As we were approaching the Big Sand my boyfriend says “here we go again”, meaning another stay at a place not quite up to his standards and possibly mine. Could it possibly be another place that looks good on a web site, but not quite the same in real life? We are shown to our room, and offered our complimentary drink, which we decide to get later. The room was hot as hell, having been closed up. It had a large living/kitchen area with plump leather furniture, a decent size bath with standup shower and a small bedroom with a bunk bed and a double bed with just about enough space in between them to get your both of your legs in. There was a patio with table and chairs, door opening out onto the patio. No ceiling fan, or any other fan and a/c in the bedroom area only which I was aware of. After Freddie left, my boyfriend laughed and shook his head, my daughter said she wasn’t staying there for 4 nights and told me she hated me. He went to get his complimentary drink and more, deciding just to drink immediately to forget about it all. I finally approached Freddie and asked if they had a better room available that could accommodate the 3 of us and would pay extra. At this point, I was seriously considering looking elsewhere, but not much choice on Union Island as I knew. I had stayed at Kingsville Apartments on Bequia two years ago and loved it. It was the same apartment style, but with nice décor, nice furnishings and ceiling fans as well as a/c bedroom. I was very pleased with Kingsville and from the web site and recommendations from others thought Big Sand was going to be along the same lines. He showed me two other rooms and we chose one, still no ceiling fan, but the furnishings were nicer and instead of a bunk bed, it had a twin (which my daughter referred to as the "jailhouse bed"). I asked him about the ceiling fan situation and he said they tried them, but most people do not spend time in the living area? I am almost certain electricity had something to do w/ it. He did find a tabletop oscelating fan for us to use in the living area, which helped a bit. The breeze coming in from the doors was nice at night, but not worth the amount of flies. I have never seen so many flies. And they were smart, you couldn't even kill them. Mosquitos were not a problem at all until our last night after an overnight of heavy rain.
