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The Annual Retreat to the South Seas Resort, a Family Tradition

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches 

It all started 35 years ago when my parents made a sailing stop on Captiva Island, Florida for the night, thereupon setting into motion an annual multi-generational week at South Seas Resort. It is a property I know extremely well, over many decades, and am pleased to recommend to ActiveTravels members. An easy drive from the Ft. Myers airport (RSW), South Seas features regular hotel rooms and condos with kitchens to stock with groceries. The fun pools, miles of white sand beaches, and activities like beach yoga, which I described in yesterday’s blog, lead to activity filled days, gorgeous sunsets, and starry nights. Off property, we venture to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge to see the alligators and egrets, visit a farmers’ markets, buy lots of fresh seafood, and head to Captiva Cantina or Bubble Room restaurants for dinner. In December, 14 members of my family (aged 19 – 89) gathered for a week at South Seas. We experienced great weather and are already planning for next winter. Please contact ActiveTravels if Captiva, or nearby Sanibel Island appeals to you. We’d be pleased to make arrangements. 
 

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Bermuda’s Pink Sale Offer’s 50% Off Room Rates

Need to get away? If you live in the Midwest or East Coast and just endured temps in the single digits, I would say you’re due. You might want to know about Bermuda’s Pink Sale, where 15 hotels on island are offering a 50% discount. Book from today through January 28 for hotels stays until April 30, 2015. Bermuda has a reputation of being cold in the winter months, but average highs in Jan and Feb are 68 degrees, with temps moving up to 70 and 73 in March and April, respectively. Flights are direct and only 2 hours from New York, Boston, and DC. If you need suggestions on what to do while you’re there, check out my Boston Globe story. 

 
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Urban Adventures: Dive Casa Cove, San Diego

Of the thousands of people who take the quarter-mile walk from the cliffs of La Jolla Cove to Casa Cove, few take the plunge. Twenty feet below the surface, you’ll be hanging with harbor seals and 3-foot horn sharks (harmless) inspecting clumps of bright yellow sulphur sponges that cling to the wall. La Jolla Dive will lead you away from the masses.  
 
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Stowe’s Topnotch Resort Teams Up With Local Guides

I’ll be discussing my favorite fall foliage activities next month. But this just came across my desk, so you might want to lock in your lodging before it sells out. Topnotch’s new Experience Center has joined forces with some of the best guides in Vermont to offer unparalleled adventure during foliage season. Mansfield Cycle Bike Tours will take you on a guided loop on backcountry roads or serious singletrack–the mileage based on your experience. Sunrise Mountain Guides is offering guided hikes, runs, rock climbing, and bouldering. This is in addition to the Tennis Center and its four indoor and six outdoor courts, which gave Topntoch its reputation as one of the finest tennis resorts in America. Toast your accomplishment with the Topnotch Guided Brewery Tour, which visits a handful of microbrews like The Crop Brewery, The Rock Art Brewery, The Lost Nation and the von Trapp Brewery. 

 
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A Visit to Bardstown, the Heart of Kentucky Bourbon Country

Drive south of Louisville and within 45 minutes, you’ll pass the Jim Beam distillery, a signal that you made it to Kentucky Bourbon Country. More than 1 million visitors stopped at Kentucky bourbon distilleries in 2017, a number that has risen exponentially in the past 2 to 3 years thanks to the surging popularity of bourbon around the world. And perhaps no place is more emblematic of the current love of bourbon than my first stop, the Bardstown Bourbon Company. Friends in Louisville had recommended the recently opened restaurant, Bottle & Bond Kitchen and Bar, and they were right, the sweet potato gnocchi, shrimp and grits, and brisket sandwich were all mouth-watering delicious. But one lunch with David Mandell, CEO of Bardstown Bourbon Company, and I realized this facility is a whole lot more than a restaurant. Mandell had made his money in vodka before having a vision in 2013 to create one of the largest bourbon distilleries in the state. Opened in September 2016, he now collaborates with 22 renowned brands to craft custom bourbon and whiskey in his production facility, already filled to capacity over the next 5 years. Mandell didn’t stop there. He created a Culinary Institute of America-like environment where student from around the world can return home and become ambassadors of bourbon. Then he debuted Bottle & Bond Kitchen, the first restaurant at a distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, featuring more than 400 vintage American whiskeys at their Whiskey Library (curated by acclaimed whiskey writer Fred Minnick). Mandell’s still not finished. He’s hoping to build a first-class hotel, a luxury property needed to attract international visitors to this sleepy town. It’s wonderful to witness a dream come to fruition on such a mega-scale. 

 
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Bike the 50-Mile Tour de Picayune

Located in southwestern Florida, Picayune Strand State Forest is best known as the place in the 60s where gullible northerners bought 5 acres of choice Florida real estate only to find out it was mostly swampland. Roads were built and subdivisions created, but few people came. Lately, the paved roads have been removed in a massive restoration project to enhance the proper flow of water in the Everglades. So far, it’s been working with indigenous plants and birdlife returning to this vast acreage. This desolate stretch of the Everglades is where my brother and I went mountain biking in early December with our guide, Wes Wilkins, owner of Everglades Edge. We saw no other humans driving or biking as we headed out on dirt roads, surrounded by swamp waters. In their place were snapping turtles, tall wood storks, and alligators sunning on the banks of the streams. An avid biker, Wilkins also chairs the 50-mile Tour de Picayune, which takes place this year on February 4th. Even if you have no desire to race and win the cherished Durrwalker Cup, you can still sign up at Tour de Picayune to bike 50 miles of dirt roads lost in time, while spotting a wide selection of birdlife. 

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A Favoite Fall Foliage Drive–Keuka Lake, New York

Autumn in the Finger Lakes of western New York State is the time of year when leaves on the maples turn a tad crimson and the grapes on the vines are ready to be harvested for their award-winning Rieslings. Start on the northern tip of Keuka Lake in the town of Penn Yan. Head south on Route 54A and just outside of town, you’ll see signs for Apple Barrel Orchards, a third-generation U-pick apple orchard that makes homemade cider on the premises. Continue south along the shores of the 20-mile long lake to reach Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars. Founded in 1962 and now run by Dr. Frank’s grandson, Fred, Dr. Frank put the Finger Lakes on the wine lovers’ map with his award-winning dry and semi-dry Rieslings. Have lunch on an outdoor deck overlooking the narrow northern part of the lake at Heron Hill Winery. The Blue Heron café takes full advantage of its locale nestled amidst the farmland to offer local seasonal fruit over field greens and a caprese salad with large fresh tomatoes. A perfect place to stay in Hammondsport is the octagonal-shaped Black Sheep Inn, where the owner, a former caterer in Cleveland, creates innovative and tasty breakfasts. 
 

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