A private island experience? Hmmm...

Something seemed gimmicky when I heard about this place called Eagle Island and I thought, their marketing person sure knows how to get your attention. I looked online for images and found a few, and a website, of course, but still wasn't convinced. So I decided to go see for myself. I was invited to experience a private island getaway and figured, oh yeah - this will be fun. I was positive I'd get there and be disappointed with all the marketing around this so-called private island, island time, five moon getaway - no, not making those up, thats what the marketing brochure says, and so does their site, and so did the email invite I got initially. So accepted the invitation and set out on a 5-ish hour drive on a Monday morning to Darien GA, which is where you'd have to get to in order to be able to get on Captain Andy Hill's boat so he can personally deposit you on the island. Yup, there is no roadway headed there and they do not belong to royalty so no helipads or private jets catering to your needs either. I was partying with a group of female guests - two writers, a painter and and their PR gal so we met up over at Skipper's Fish Camp for lunch and meeting the owner of the Eagle Island lodge, captain Andy himself. If you drive in then this is where you park your car for the rest of your stay. Then its a 10 minute boat ride and you get to the dock of Eagle Island. You will see shrimping boats aplenty and a few private boats as well. If you are a birding or flora/fauna fanatic then let him know beforehand and he will show you a few sights. We sighted an eagle and its nest thanks to Captain's knowledge of the area. The man has been doing this for more than 10 years - enough time to perfect his art of entertaining and seeing to every guests' every need. I will say that I was already impressed as we got off at the dock - I saw some colorful kayaks ready for use, crab traps catching the nights dinner and a cozy wooden swing set and dinner table right there on the deck at the dock! The views of the expanses from there are unbelievable. There is something about the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere yet just 10 minutes away from somewhere that's refreshing and exhilarating. A walk down the pier and a well-decorated pathway of shells accompanied on both sides by recycled and reclaimed natural wood decor (I am talking turned over tree pots here!) opens up to your first glimpse of the lodge itself and you have to take a minute here to realize that this really is a private island experience. Unless you know how to get a boat going you ain't going nowhere and there really is nowhere else to go on the island itself except for a walking path around the house and that's that. This should be fun, is what I thought to myself then and there!