About forty miles south of Sea Island lies the oceanfront Amelia Island Plantation and a spa that fully utilizes its natural setting. This resort spa on Florida’s northern coastline near Jacksonville, handily delivers a cozy spa designed in old Florida style with tin, pitched, roofs and long, shuttered windows on grounds full of moss-dripping trees, hyacinths, and oleander.
The reception area is welcoming with its high ceilings supported by Washington-State Douglas Fir beams and earth-tone floor tiles, some embedded with fossils.
The waiting area features local artist Jim Draper’s colorful palm trees on one wall and ceiling-to-floor windows on the other, so that patrons begin to unwind amidst all this nature.
Amelia Island embraces the age-old association of healing with water, from the resort’s oceanside setting to the new spa’s separate island Watsu facility reached by a wooden bridge. This is the only spa in the Southeastern U.S. offering combined Watsu/Ionotherapy, which we sampled.
The therapist works in a pool heated to 94-98 degrees that contains Dead Sea salt as well as negative ions; the combination supposedly slows the aging process and replenishes the body. Guests typically feel so buoyant in the water that they don’t need the aid of the weighted belt.
During our visit, Jomi had her hands full as the only therapist able to deliver this three-and-a-half hour treatment (with post-pool, thirty-minute Walk in the Clouds Cocoon Hydra-Aroma Wrap), but plans are to certify all the spa’s therapists in Watsu.
Another unusual offering is the soothing RS2 Rosacea Facial that incorporates green tea and licorice extract. One patron reported the highlight was when the hardened mask was removed, and she felt like she was staring at a very personal shell of her face.
Pre- or post-treatment, you’ll want to explore the resort’s popular Nature Center which offers shell-and-shark-tooth hunts on the beach, bird-watching tours, wild edible tours, owl prowls, stargazing, and a six-mile, Hike Bike, and Marsh Walk that lasts about ninety minutes. There are also day trips to Cumberland Island (where JFK Jr. was married) and to Okefenokee Swamp.
Much too soon, it’s time to repack and head north on the coastal highway. A phrase we overheard at the Pinehurst spa comes to mind: “I wish it didn’t have to end.”
address book
Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa, North Carolina, (800) 438-5800 or visit www.groveparkinn.com
Resort at Pinehurst, North Carolina, (800) 487-4653 or visit www.pinehurst.com
Charleston Place, North Carolina, (800) 860-4095 or visit www.charlestonplacehotel.com
Charleston’s 1807 Phoebe Pember House, North Carolina, (843) 722-4186 or visit www.phoebepemberhouse.com
Chateau Elan Resort, Georgia, (800) 233-WINE or visit www.chateauelan.com
Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia, (800) 732-4752 or visit www.seaisland.com
Amelia Island Plantation, Florida, (877) 843-7722 or visit www.aipfl.com
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September/October 2003
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