We stayed in the Sunset Villas community from 5/17-5/24. We rented a two bedroom villa from one of the property management companies on the island. It's a little confusing the way the place is set up as the owners of Sunset Villas own approx 10 motel type rooms and a condo that they rent out. They also manage several privately owned condos.
There is still lots of work going on around the pool area as well as lots of construction. Lots of wires dangling, workers around, and dust kicked up from all the construction vehicles. The pool was really nasty looking when we got there and they completely drained it on our 3rd day. It wasn't refilled to use before we left. There was a plunge pool upstairs from the main pool. It was kind of hard to use if anyone else was in it. Was mainly good for cooling off. For some reason the pump wasn't going on this pool so it started getting really green within a day or two.
We stayed at Mango House which was really nice. Our biggest problem was the doors had a large gap between them and evidently the sand flies found their way in. We were eaten alive the week we were there. Even when we went to the pool, which was set on the side of a hill approx. 3-4 stories up, you could actually see these things flying around. We looked pretty silly walking around with huge red spots all over us.
The pool is really big and quite nice. Lots of loungers and floats around to use. There is a pool bar/restaurant onsite now. The food was good and fairly reasonable. We ate here a few times but the selection is fairly limited. As with other places on the island there were lots of flies around the bar and dogs walking behind the counter. We thought this odd given the owners are Americans.
When you read about this being a gated community, don't let it fool you. The 'gate' consisted of a rope strung across the road and was down most of the time. There is a guy sitting there but didn't seem to be a problem for anyone that wanted in. From what we could tell none of the guards/security people could speak English. Not a big deal other than if there was a problem.
We dove with the dive shop that's just at the bottom of the hill. They are somehow affiliated with Sunset Villas and do give a 10% discount if you're staying there. I suggest emailing ahead of time for a price quote and taking it with you. I was quoted $250 for 10 tank dive plus getting 10% discount. When we got there they claimed it was $300 because their price had gone up. I really don't think that was true as they seemed to be really hungry for business. In the end he honored what he'd quoted by email and we were quite happy with the service. Make sure you wear repellant when going to the dive shop as the sand flies are even worse there since they're closer to the water.
Overall we had an enjoyable stay but wouldn't stay here again. It's not really close to walk to the beach, especially when it's hot. Plus there wasn't much of a beach area for us to use right there. At night when the power is out the whole place is pitch black. Makes it pretty hard to get back from the main road when you can't see where you're walking. Next time we will stay over on West Bay most likely just to try it out.
