What Happened At Sandals Resort in The Bahamas?

Getting Into Sandals Resort

Great Exuma's Coastline
Great Exuma’s Coastline

It was getting late now and my stomach was starting to remind me. We’d had eaten at Cocoplum Bistro next-door for dinner the night before and breakfast this morning, so I was ready to find another option.

The famous Sandals Resort was just down the road and we thought we’d try our luck. I remember seeing the luxurious commercials on TV when I was growing up and thought it’d be a beautiful place to explore.

The first roadblock was, quite literally, a roadblock. As we drove toward a woman sitting in the small booth halfway down the driveway, she opened the gate without saying a word and we cruised by.

“Okay, that was way too easy,” I said, looking in the rearview and laughing.

We parked as if we were checking into the resort and walked up to the front desk.

“Hi! How can I help you?”

“Are we able to eat dinner here if we are not guests?” I asked, apparently too revealingly.

“Are you guests here?”

“No,” I said, sheepishly, knowing what her next answer would be.

“Okay, we do sell night passes that will include all of the food, drinks and pool access if you’d like! Let me ask and see how much it is,” she said brightly, walking into the back room.

An Eerie Feeling At Sandals Resort In Emerald Bay

After a quiet discussion with another manager, the woman came back out the front.

“Actually, I’m sorry, but, because of our occupancy rate right now we can’t sell day passes, however, you should check out Big D’s! It’s right down the street and their food is amazing.”

We thanked the woman, regretting outing ourselves. With how far we’d gotten, maybe we could’ve just kept going and walked right into a restaurant for free dinner. Even so, we were here now, so why not see what we were missing?

Walking down the trail through the resort, there was an eerie feeling. I couldn’t quite figure out why. It could’ve been because dusk was just settling in, or maybe because there wasn’t a single person walking around or splashing in the pool. Either way, the resort was absolutely dead. It felt like a ghost town.

An Empty Sandals Resort
An Empty Sandals Resort

What happened at Sandals Resort in The Bahamas?

Less than a week later, I’d found out why. Three Americans were found dead and another was airlifted from that Sandals Resort. The woman who was airlifted claims she woke up, saw her husband on the floor, but was so swelled up that she could not move her body and began shouting for help.

The night before this, both couples had went to the hospital because they were not feeling well, but claimed to feel much better and ended up heading back to the resort. However, the next morning, it was too late to get more help.

Sandals Resort Ghost Town

Authorities still aren’t sure quite what happened, but foul play is not suspected. One of the main theories is that something wasn’t clean in the A/C unit because, though these two couples had never met each other, their villas were connected to the same unit.

Another theory was that they’d eaten bad food at the resort. However, they’d dined at different restaurants, leaving the deaths a current mystery. Authorities are still looking into the details and doing autopsies to find out exactly what went down. Either way, it gave me the creeps and I was glad we got denied from dining that night. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was because the resort was trying to keep the situation hushed before media found out about it. It certainly didn’t look like the resort was over its occupancy rate.

Dinner At Big D’s

Big D’s ended up being a huge blessing. We ordered salad and corn and wings and local beers. We were the only people here and the chef came out to speak with us. Apparently, he cooks so well that people hire him for private events at their villas across the island. We learned the ins and outs of the culture here and the must-do’s before we leave.

The View From Big D’s

For dessert, we decided on the guava duff and when I tell you it changed my life, it changed my life. This was the best dessert I’ve ever eaten. The only way for me to describe it would be like a warm cinnamon roll right out of the oven, except, instead of cinnamon rolled in the dough, it was fresh guava. The icing oozed off of the bread in a melty goodness. I couldn’t even wait until the dessert was gone before I started googling recipes to make it at home.

That night, I went to bed under the stars with the sound of waves crashing into the shore. I couldn’t have asked for a better impromptu day in The Bahamas. After meeting so many locals, it was already beginning to feel like a home away from home.

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