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Hi everybody! New here and I've been reading through reviews on various websites about Sapphire Beach. My wife and I booked a condo at the Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina for 8 days in October. I read all the reviews on VRBO.com and they were all outstanding reviews. After reading other reviews on other sites, I'm now a little concerned about the area. I've read about buildings boarded up, the pool is out of service, bar being closed and not reopening, a dive shop closed, trash on the beach, etc. One reviewer summed it up with one sentence. "It's a dump." There was also some reviews about the owner of that area running the place down, which I didn't understand. We haven't been there before so we don't know what to think now. I'm a little worried now and wanted to get some thoughts about this area from some travelers and locals that have been there recently. Cheers!!
LB
I watched Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina being built and visited the beach for several years before the resort was built.
Prior to the current buildings there was an old hotel that was almost in the water. It was just behind where the seagrape trees are located. There was a shell of an old boat yard near where the current marina is located.
After years of planing and permitting construction began around 1986. The developers had to tear down the old hotel and enlarge the beach. The beach was never any larger than it is now with the possible minor shrinking from erosion along the shore. There were never two separate pools, the pools at the point have always been the only pools.
The lobby building is pretty much unchanged for many more years than anyone can remember. It was never blocked of for bands. The bands did play in the bar area near the beach and the Sunday beach party was legendary. I will agree that certain bands brought an undesirable element but they were soon dispatched.
The resort did have a very well used kids club and was the top resort on the island. The resort escaped relatively undamaged from hurricane Hugo and Marilyn and the resort was used to house the many FEMA workers that came to repair the rest of the island.
The economy changed and the original developers sold to a group that ran into financial problems. Things went down hill for a number of years but the incredible beauty of the beach has attracted new investment. The condo building are all to be refurbished and several have been done. There are plans to restore the developers property but legal disputes continue to delay the projects
So the same beautiful beach is still there and the condo buildings will soon look like new.
