Day Three: Paradise Found

This is the third installment of my captivating and surprise-filled 40th birthday trip. Warning: Contents may cause eyes to turn green. To alleviate, please laugh and be entertained by the retelling of my hijinks! You also may want to start reading here.


I don't know if I'm obsessed with my iPad or with Catching Fire. I think it's the book. I couldn't put it down. Sunday morning we got to sleep late. CLH wanted to go on his routine morning walk (not with me, by the way. He walks too fast for me and all I do is complain the whole time. Sorry but my legs just won't go that fast.) He'd be gone for at least 45 minutes so what an opportune time to see what was happening with Katniss, Peeta and Gale. Wow, I started to notice that I was really blowing through this book. It was 10:30 a.m. and CLH wasn't back yet. Good thing we weren't still in Key West because then I might think someone had lured my man off the street. I better take a quick shower and get everything packed up for check out. Knock, knock, knock. I opened the door to a sweaty, out of breath CLH. He had walked on a path that he thought circled the island only to come to a dead end -- so he had to walk all the way back around. Poor guy. Luckily I had us all ready to go.

We had been stuffing our faces all weekend so we skipped breakfast and decided to eat lunch on the fly before our next destination. Bye, bye Hawks Cay. We hope to see you again. After checkout, we hopped in the Stang and headed out. I was so excited! This was the part that I had been waiting for -- Little Palm Island! I had read all about how the food was pretty pricey (turns out lunch wasn't) and it wasn't something to write home about (it was delicious.) We weren't going for the food anyway. Stop! One dollar mimosas! Boondocks was a cool-looking, side-of-the-road, outside bar. We had just sat our heinies down at the empty bar when I hear someone pulling out the stool next to me -- and then I smell it. My blood pressure went up 100 degrees. The nerve of this leather-skinned woman with the cigarette dangling from her permanently puckered mouth! She has her pick of barstools but she decides to sit next to me. Letting her get settled so I can be very obvious, I grabbed my mimosa, my napkin and my silverware, sling my purse over my shoulder and head down to the end of the bar. That was useless because all she noticed was her equally wrinkly man entering the bar. Maybe she was wondering why he didn't bring in her oxygen tank. Both of them proceeded to light one cigarette after the other. Instead of a double wedding, they have a double funeral planned for next month.

Wow, that was harsh. Just calling it like I see it. After all that, we did enjoy eating in this lovely outside venue. The breeze would blow through and we could see out to the crystal blue water. We paid the tab and hopped back in the car to make our way to our final destination five minutes away. Little Palm Island is only accessible by boat or seaplane so we stopped into the welcome station to check in and catch the motor yacht to the island. Filling us full of their specialty rum drink and gushing over my birthday, we were sent off on the old Italian motor yacht, The Truman. Holy smokes (pun unintended!) This is what we were approaching:

A man in white (MIW) was waiting for us as we stepped onto the dock. (Can docks be spectacular? Because this one was.) Once again, I was gushed over and wished happy birthday a thousand times as the MIW took us on a tour of the island. The short tour ended inside our villa as the MIW left us after showing us the outdoor shower and our very own personalized stationary. (Dang, I left the stationary and the complimentary resort book and my iPhone/iPad charger!) 

Something I spied earlier on the coffee table . . . CLH surprised me with a welcome pitcher of perfectly mixed margaritas and scrumptious, freshly made chips and salsa. (So sweet -- he knew not to get the champagne and strawberries.) Tired of relaxing in the suite while sipping the sweet and salty concoction, I pulled on my swimsuit, refilled my glass and headed out to one of the secluded chaise lounges to catch up with what was happening in Seam and the Capitol -- I can't put this book down. While I was there, CLH played cabana boy and refilled my drink.

I slurped up the rest of my drink and decided to take a nap here:

CLH decided to join me and we moved over to here:

We were certainly well rested. Now it was time for dinner. After showering outdoors and donning our dressy casual duds, we made our way to the verandah for drinks before dinner. As we sat in the cushy couches overlooking the beautiful blue water, the wind started to pick up and dark clouds loomed. There goes our dinner on the beach. The wait staff scrambled to get the table settings up before a steady sprinkle descended. It was still a glorious view and the dinner was fabulous. The rain came and went and although no sunset could be seen through the scattered clouds, the sky turned a beautiful pink and orange. Here is what could have been and what was (and still fantastic:)

After dinner, we wandered the island (using our provided flashlights since there were only small lights illuminating our villa numbers) in search of the infamous key deer. Every night a family of 10 key deer swim three miles from Pine Key to visit Little Palm Island. Sounds so impressive for a little tiny deer to swim that far (and it is!) but they do island-hop through the small, uninhabited keys along the way. I've read all about how they will come right up to your dinner table on the beach and try to lick the butter from your butter dish. The MIW had given us some tips on how to lure them to us with some of their favorite island plants. (He had also pointed out a plant to keep away from, Bella Donna - a hallucinogenic. Maybe he shouldn't have told me that. I'm a curious cat!) Anyway, no such luck on our search. The storm had kept them away. Maybe the next night! Here's a photo of deer at the resort:

                 

Through the silver moonlight and the soft glow of our flashlights, we made it back to our cozy villa for the night. The only other details of the night I'll give you is about the bed. Isn't it romantic (and high! Good thing they provide a stepstool!) 

See you back soon for the scoop on my last night in paradise!