Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
Palm Island, Florida
Palm Island: Florida's Last True Island
Norman2004-08-11 17:10:07
Displayed times (last time: )
Florida's Nirvana
Is this heaven or what?! The allure of vacationing on an authentic barrier island with palm trees swaying gently in the soft breeze off the Gulf of Mexico as osprey, bald eagles, sandpipers, blue herons, tree frogs, anoles, and leatherback turtles are free to roam without fear of being run over by an automobile.
Who would not crave for days that distance you from cars, crowds and the other stresses of civilization? Where romantic memories will linger, forever recalling the many hours of painting, photography, hiking along two miles of a private unspoiled and shell-laden beach, fishing, tennis, swimming, biking, canoeing, star gazing and watching spectacular sunrises and sunsets, or just lounging lazily in a comfy lawn chair and reading a favorite novel.
A place so exotically remote, that in order to reach it, you will have to take a 5-6 minute car ferry ride, and once you arrive at your destination, you are obliged to leave your car in the resort's parking area. In fact, once you park, the only means of transportation within the island will be your feet, bikes or golf carts.
Now you are probably muttering give me a break, this sounds too good to be true! My wife Lily and I were pleasantly surprised when we discovered probably Florida's last true out island resort - Palm Island and the Palm Island Resort, located along the intra-coastal waterway on Florida's southwest gulf coast, west of Charlotte Harbor, and forty-five miles south of Sarasota.
The island was not always known as Palm Island, and in fact it used to be called Knight Island, a name still used on nautical maps. In 1979, brothers Gar and Dean Beckstead purchased the land where the Palm Island Resort is now located and renamed it Palm Island. Built in stages, today the resort comprises 160 privately owned luxurious vacation villas with one, two, or three bedrooms, as well as 21 one individual homes.
...
See photographs from:
United States Gallery
