Grand Trips for Nature Lovers

Lagoon pool at Cheecha Lodge

Flora and Fauna in the Florida Keys

Junior naturalists and less adventurous grandparents will relish a learning vacation at the Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada. The Key's most elegant and toney resort, it offers crisp Ralph-Lauren style and fine kid-friendly dining. Many families pass up the more luxurious main hotel for the one- and two-bedroom apartment blocks. Units with full kitchens have screened balconies, which overlook the tennis courts or nine-hole golf course, ideal for those who would rather watch than participate. An award-winning eco-resort, Cheeca posts discreet signs in each room about saving water and reusing sheets and towels. Since Key Conch is an endangered species, there is a strict catch-and-release fishing policy suggested to all Cheeca guests.

Daytrips include snorkeling, kayak tours in the very gentle Gulf, and a fun Enviro-Tour by speed boat to uninhabited neighboring keys. Despite Cheeca's two large swimming pools, the shallow natural lagoon provided hours of low-key amusement, with kids tickling hermit crabs and chasing minnows while adults sipped pina coladas. Supervised children's activities range from the top-notch tennis pros who run kids' clinics, to a friendly golf pro who will putt with over-6s, to private babysitting. A daily-in-season Camp Cheeca (ages 6-12, $26 per day) stresses ecology on nature walks and seashell hunts, although the program is less successful in summer when it's also a daycamp for local Keys families.

Two-bedroom suites run $325-675 per night, depending on the season, with their Family Fun Package, which includes unlimited tennis and golf (they lend racquets and clubs) for everyone, milk and cookies on arrival, and a 50% discount on kids' camp. Tel: 800-327-2888; www.cheeca.com.

Next Year Panama?

I still can't tell a Ruddy Crake from a Sooty Tern, but I've learned to love those bad hair days that come with humid, birder-friendly tropical climates.

Just 30 minutes' drive from Panama City lies the Soberania National Park, a rainforest that the Nature Conservancy claims has 269 different species of plants and 96 species of birds.

The Canopy Tower, an eco-resort built within a former US Air Force radar installation, opened in 1999. Guests in six, uniquely rustic doubles (private hot showers and recycled water flow toilets) have a bird's eye view of the rainforest canopy, a nirvana wingless birders will never attain. For more information, contact the Canopy Tower directly (tel: +507-264-5720; fax: +507-263-2784; stay@canopytower.com; www.canopytower.com). The resort is not recommended for children under 13.