As a Destination Wedding travel planner and CEO of Elite Travel, I have been to some of the hottest resorts in the world. But, if I had to choose, my pick for the sexiest vacation spot would be the Royal Plantation at Fowl Cay. It is a private, fifty-acre island just two hundred miles from Miami where guests are treated like they own the place.
Only thirty people at a time can stay at this six villa resort. There is no check-in: you are expected and greeted on arrival with champagne. Villas are the ultimate luxury experience: they have full-sized, fully stocked kitchens, butlers to fetch cold drinks and towels, and an island chef to make gourmet breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Guests have free access to small boats which they can take out by themselves after proving sufficient competency. Picture this: your butler meets you at the arrival dock with a silver tray of drinks, loads your snorkel gear into the boat for a tour of the islands, and disappears at exactly the right times.
Having a butler might take some getting used to, but have no fear: the butlers at Fowl Cay are not at all stuffy. They are there to make sure that guests have what they need at all times, from making sure the refrigerator is stocked to providing dry towels and clean laundry. Each morning your butler will arrive with warm, freshly baked muffins, the newspaper, and advice for what to do that day if you ask for it. Butlers will also serve dinner each evening and turn down beds with rose petals each night. The Butlers are very knowledgeable, so feel free to share your plans for the day. Also, let your butler know when you plan to spend the day out on your boat and the chef will supply you with a gourmet picnic lunch to bring along. Or, tell someone which beach you plan to go to, and find a picnic lunch waiting there, complete with chairs, blanket, towels, picnic basket and cooler for drinks. After a morning of swimming and kayaking, you can feed your lover grapes on a secluded beach. It doesn’t get hotter than that.
The island’s chef prepares your lunches and five-course dinners, usually served at the Harbour Club restaurant, a cozy dining room and bar perched on the highest point on the island. Warm freshly baked bread, homemade soup, veal chops, blackened cod, lobster tails with steak, rack of lamb and tuna are the usual fare. Make sure to try the traditional Bahamian dinner on at least one night during your stay. The chef will even come to your villa to prepare dinner on-site, to be served on the candle-lit dining table by your butler for an intimate and very romantic supper. Guests aren’t the only ones to be fed well – if you walk out onto the dock behind the Birdcage between seven and eight in the morning, you’ll see nurse sharks, stingrays and a hefty grouper waiting for their breakfast of scraps from the kitchen.
The Birdcage is one of the most popular villas, starting at $15,500 for seven nights. This is one of the larger villas for four to six guests. The three-bedroom, two-level home is surrounded by water and has incredible views out of every window. The master bedroom is upstairs with the main living area, and the other bedrooms are downstairs, so any guests or children who come with you will have privacy, and so will you. The décor of all of the villas is elegant, but not so precious that guests are afraid to touch anything. Villas feel like real homes, made to help you relax in comfort. Even the smallest homes on the island, starting at $11,000 per seven night stay, are nicer than most comparably priced resorts.
The island is idyllic and there are many places to sit, read, and relax. But for active couples, there is so much to do. The 365 Exuma islands were havens for pirates like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan. You and your honey can be pirates of the Caribbean in your own sailboat or kayak and pursue adventure together on the nearby islands. Swim with nurse sharks at Compass Cay and Staniel Cay, or hop across to neighboring Big Major Spot to feed the native pigs. Call them from your boat in the shallows and they will swim out for treats. They eat scraps, bread or fruit – but don’t try feeding them by hand, throw it to them instead or you might get more adventure than you bargained for.
Thunderball Grotto (a film location for the 1965 James Bond movie) is terrific for snorkeling; it teems with numerous species of fish feeding on the coral. The fish are so docile that they swarm swimmers bearing food. Alternately, go out to Guana Cay, a small island inhabited by an endangered species of iguana. The iguana are unafraid of people so don’t be surprised if they come charging up to you with their mouths wide open. They are not man-eaters, they are just looking for snacks.
Rest assured that the staff keeps an eye out for your safety, even while encouraging you to enjoy the freedom of going off on your own. Access to a boat provides independence and flexibility that you won’t find at many other places. However, if you are uncomfortable reading charts and piloting your own motorboat, the staff will make arrangements for you to be taken anywhere you would like to go. 
To get to Fowl Cay, fly into Nassau International Airport, then take a forty-minute flight to Staniel Cay airstrip in the Exuma islands. The Royal Plantation boat will pick you up when you land and take you to the island. Hey, if it was easy to get there, it wouldn’t be a private island, would it? There is a 4-day, 3-night minimum stay for $2175 per person, which is a very good price since a comparable experience in Tahiti would cost $1800 per night – and doesn’t include food.
Here are some fun and sexy ideas for what to do on your private island getaway:
Have a romantic candlelight dinner on the beach. Curl your toes in the sand as your butler brings lobster and caviar to your table with a chilled bottle of champagne. Burn off your romantic dinner with an even more romantic stroll along your private beach.
Take a bubble bath together – you could do that anywhere, right? Well, this bubble bath requires a bit of a hike. At the northern-most tip of the small beach at the northwest end of Compass Cay is a swimming hole known as Rachel’s Bubble Bath. When the tide is high, the waves crash over the rocks into the pool making for some fizzy fun.
Create a sexy scavenger hunt – go wild. Where did your bikini top go anyway? Make it number one on the list of things to find…or number five.
Take a boat out on the open water to enjoy an unobstructed view of the Caribbean sunset. Bring some champagne and strawberries – but please drive responsibly and don’t crash into any islands.
Tammy Levent
CEO, Elite Travel
Tammy@elitetravelgroup.net
www.elitetravelgroup.net