| ellie |
Dec 15th, 1999 03:07 AM |
My husband, our then 13 year old son and I spent two weeks on Palm Island 4 years ago. I'm not surprised to learn that the Caldwells have sold the place as their family seemed to be suffering some internal problems at that time. Mr. & Mrs. Caldwell were living in separate quarters and we observed some obvious friction between them as well as with their grown son who was trying to run the place. The Caldwells were very charming to their guests, but, frankly, the resort was in need of a facelift. <BR>A few observations based upon our stay: <BR>We spent two weeks in July which was at least one week too long. I have NEVER been so hot in my life - far too hot to lie on the beach and absolutely nothing to do otherwise. We got quite chummy with various waiters and bartenders who told us that it's always at least that hot - even more so in the winter (not sure that makes any sense at all, but we were told animals lie down and die in the street from the heat in January - perhaps an exaggeration for the tourists, but the image really stuck in my mind!) If you take a look at a map you'll see how close this part of the Caribbean is to the equator. <BR>Our worst complaint has to do with bugs. We spent an enormous amount to time and effort trying to evade mosquitoes and biting fleas - we were told this is only a problem in the summer, but we've travelled elsewhere in the Caribbean during the same period with nothing like this problem - Palm Island was originally named Mosquito Island.....I remember finally giving up and letting the fleas take over - looking down at my leg black with them was like something from National Geographic! <BR>Despite all this - we had a very memorable stay. The location is amazingly remote and exotic in a weird desert sort of way. It's very dry down there - iguanas hang from the trees and peek in the windows of the cottages. The set up of the place was quite nice, albeit run down. The cottages, at that time, each housed two rooms and had views over towards Union Island - we watched small aircraft take off and land over there all day. <BR>It was too hot to do much exploring, but we discovered several very luxurious homes being built nearby which probably means the island is being dolled up a bit. Check whether cruise ships are currently allowed to dock at the resort. When we were there they had put a stop to that and we heard tales from other guests who had been there in the past that when the ships pulled in the place was totally overrun with passengers going wild on the beach and using guests bathrooms without asking (no locks on any doors when we were there). The beach is very nice and the water lovely for swimming - or just bobbing about - but the thought of some horrible cruise ship sitting there all day is not a pretty picture. The snorkeling was not as good as say St. Lucia. <BR>My family still chides me for "discovering" Palm Island and dragging them there - when we left we looked and felt like we were escaping from being shipwrecked on a deserted island. However, we look back fondly at the experience. Guess we're just plain weird!
|
