Published in Orlando Style magazine, By Sarah Sekula
Celebrate your post-wedding, hubby-and-wife status at a top-notch eco-friendly resort. As you sip cocktails and settle in for a moonlight massage, rest assured you’re also scoring points for Mother Earth.
Nothing Beats This Turtle — Fiji
At Turtle Island, which plays host to only 14 couples at a time, you’ll be rough and rugged by day — windsurfing, kayaking or scuba diving next to candy-colored marine life and retiring in your thatch-roofed bungalow by night only to wake up to a no-nonsense lomi-lomi massage in the morning. Take delight in fancy fare straight from the 4-acre hydroponic and organic veggie garden. Nosh on lobster omelettes for breakfast and then toodle along the beaches. (The same white strands Brooke Shields frolicked on in “Blue Lagoon.”) Good idea: Take Jessica Simpson’s word for it, she honeymooned there. Bad idea: Take her marriage advice. (www.turtlefiji.com; 800-255-4347)
Jungle Canopy — Dominica
It’s where eco-sensitivity and uber relaxation meet. At Jungle Bay Resort & Spa your sustainably-built cottage (think private bird house perched among the treetops) comes with some pretty dreamy vistas. So does breakfast where you’ll be overwhelmed by the zen-like volcanic rock pool as you munch on organically-produced local treats. Don’t be surprised if your waiter shimmies up a tree for fresh coconut. The only thing that beats the splendid eats and spectacular wallop of nature is the other green factor. Nearly everything at the resort is biodegradable, a local labor force is employed and some profits go toward local scholarships and a nearby orphanage. (www.junglebaydominica.com; 767-446-1789)
Idyllic Industrial — Japan
The 30-room Eco Lodge Shimanto is so hip and edgy with its concrete-and-glass walls and simple design it’s easy to forget it is eco-smart to boot. Arrive and take a seat in one of the resort’s cast-iron hot baths. Tread outside where ancient shipping barrels collect rainwater and recycled railroad ties set the winding pathways. And be sure to kick back by the slow-moving, super pure Shimanto River. From the photovoltaic panels to the locally harvested river shrimp and crabs, careful thought has gone into sustainability. (81-8803/31600)
Some Like it Hot — Mexico
CESiaK beach resort is part tropical wilderness, part pampered paradise. Your waterfront accommodations come with 800-count bed sheets and, of course, a view of the nearby sands and ocean spray. Better yet, the resort is powered completely by warm breezes and rays of sunshine. For a nature close-up take the ecology tour through the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a 1.3-million-acre park complete with a multitude of mangroves and Mayan ruins (look for the Crocodile God temple) or float down a river where the only fast movement is the light tropical breeze. (www.cesiak.org; (52) 984 104 0522)
Eco Boutique — Mozambique
If a resort located smack dab in the middle of Mozambique’s Bazaruto Archipelago National Park floats your boat, choose Azura. Take a dip in your own private infinity pool just outside your villa or learn to sail near deserted beaches. Jump start your leisurely day with a tamarind and aloe massage where your lucky limbs are slathered with marula oil and rubbed down with finely ground coconut shells. Eco-friendly factors include composting on site and using gray water for irrigation. What’s more, the resort even plans to purchase wind credits to help reduce its carbon emissions. (www.azura-retreats.com; + 27 11 258 0180)