Five Off-The-Grid Getaways
Here are a few places recommended by Fodors.com editor Chelsea Mauldin for people who really want to get away from it all.
Jules Undersea Lodge: Located on a coral reef, you have to scuba 30 feet underwater to reach this former science station in Key Largo, Florida. Even your luggage and dinner must make the dive, although a staffer takes care of that. Speaking of meals, you can dine on lobster while tropical fish swim past the portholes.
Nightly Rates Per Person: US$175 (group rate) to US$325
Address: 51 Shore Land Drive, Key Largo, FL 33037.
Phone: Rooms come equipped with phones, but they can be turned off from the office; cell phones and beepers do not work in these underwater rooms. Office number: 305-451-2353.
Fax 305-451-4789.
Chesuncook Lake House: Nearly 20 miles from the nearest dirt road, this Victorian inn in Maine's Allagash wilderness is best reached by canoe. There are no phone lines. Ramble along the lakeshore and be sure to befriend the Chesuncook townfolk – all ten of them in high season.
Nightly Rates Per Person: US$50 to US$90
Address: Route 76, Box 656, Greenville, ME 04441.
Phone: There are no phones in rooms. Office number: 207-745-5330 (radiophone).
Waterfall Resort: Remote, but boasting the ultimate creature comforts, this Alaskan lodge is on Prince of Wales Island near Ketchikan. You can eat bountiful meals of salmon and halibut steak with all the trimmings at this former commercial salmon cannery. Under the tutelage of a personal guide, you can fish from your own private cabin cruiser. The accommodation choice is between the lodge or Cape Cod-style cottages formerly used by cannery workers. They never had it so good.
Nightly Rates Per Person: US$170 to US$270.
Address: Box 6440, Prince of Wales Island, AK 99901.
Phone: There are no phones in rooms. Office number: 800-544-5125 or 907-225-9461.
Fax: 907-225-8530.
Petit St. Vincent Resort: The southernmost of the Grenadines in the Caribbean is a private luxury-resort island ringed with white-sand beaches and covered with lush tropical foliage. Spend your vacation in one of the resort's widely spaced stone houses, where you can loll isolated from every other human being. At each private house, a charming system of flags signal your whims to the staff, who outnumber guests two to one. Hoist your red, and no one dreams of approaching; hoist the yellow, and lunch or dinner, tea or drinks, a ride to the jetty, or a prepared picnic for a day on the "West End" arrive promptly.
Nightly Rates Per Person: US$490 to US$770.
Address: Care of Box 12506, Cincinnati, OH 45212.
Phone: There are no phones in rooms. Also, the management tells us that only the cellular phones sold on the premises will work there. Office number: 800-654-9326 or 513-242-1333 (Cincinnati); or 809-458-8801 (Petit St. Vincent).
Fax: 809-458-8428.
Two Bunch Palms Resort and Spa: This is a California destination not so much unreachable as private, and chi-chi. This gate-guarded resort north of Palm Springs, the most exclusive and romantic in the desert, has become the spa of choice for celebrities who savor the 148-degree mineral waters, the laid-back atmosphere, and the seclusion. Massages are offered in several varieties, including Swedish, Japanese, and Native American. Also within the landscaped grounds: two rock-grotto mineral pools surrounded by ancient palms, secluded picnic areas, meditation benches, and outdoor mud baths.
Nightly Rates Per Person: (two night minimum) $175 to $510.
Address: 67-425 Two Bunch Palms Trail, Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240.
Phone: Rooms come with phones. Office number: 760-329-8791 or 800-472-4334.
Fax: 760-329-1874.
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