The island time forgot...

Little Palm Island Resort Spa, located in the Florida Keys, has served as a secret getaway for presidents and movie stars. Tom Murray dons his best linen to find out why it’s so special

- Tom Murray

We pull off the Overseas Highway, the road that links the Florida Keys, into an unassuming car park. It is tucked away down a palm-tree-lined gravel path, with little else around it. However, as we pull up to reception, a trio of luxury 4x4s being valeted by uniformed staff gives the game away. This is Little Palm Island, America’s only private island resort, and this is just the beginning of our journey.

After being revived from our drive with a signature Gumby Slumber cocktail (created by a longtime bartender infamous for sleeping late), we are led to a wooden jetty, where a gleaming, antique motor yacht awaits. Our captain is exactly the kind of teak-brown seadog you’d want at the helm. His steady hand guides us through the crystal blue waters of the Florida Straits, past islands scarcely big enough to tie a hammock, to Little Palm.

Originally known as Little Munson Island, it served as a haven for rum-runners during the prohibition era and later became a 1940s fishing camp, which was frequented by US president Harry Truman. The island’s transformation into a luxury resort began in the 1980s, when developer Ben Woodson took over and invested $8.3m in land and construction.

It is Woodson’s motto – “Do nothing – time is too important to waste” – that defines the resort’s ethos to this day: there are still no phones or televisions in the rooms. Mobile phones are also prohibited in the resort’s public areas.