how do you list directories in unix (bash) see details?

I'm using ls -d but it only gives me
[whatever]$
.
which is the current directory. thats all it gives me but there ARE other directories listed in the wd

sounds like the current directory contains no others
ls-l will give you full listing of contents to check this,the permissions will show what is a directory

as unix is case sensitive you can name all directories starting with a Capital letter, then simple ls will put them at the top of the list, as capitals sort before lower case.
hope this helps