"Seeing The World But Stuck In Fort Myers Beach" Top 5 Page for this destination Fort Myers Beach by AnnS

My 'signficant other' works for an American company and in May 2000 he had to attend a conference in Disney World, Orlando. As his company was paying all our travel expenses, we felt it would be a waste to go all that way, just for the four days of the conference. So we decided to add a holiday to it and I set about finding somewhere nice to stay. I spent weeks scouring the Internet and finally settled on Fort Myers Beach because it appeared to have everything we like... beautiful beaches, abundant wildlife, a laid-back atmosphere and, of course, fantastic weather.

As we'd never been to Florida before, we opted for a full service hotel but got the best of both worlds at the Diamondhead Beach Resort on Fort Myers Beach because it has appartment accommodation, as well as all the facilities of a hotel.

The Matanzas Pass Sky Bridge, Fort Myers Beach

On arrival, we were delighted by our choice. Our beachfront apartment had a fantastic view of the white sandy beach and we had pelicans flying past our balcony. The beach services provided everything we needed for glorious days in the sunshine and the relaxed lifestyle on the island suited us perfectly.

We stayed there for a week, thoroughly enjoying it, and then left to drive across to the other side of Florida for our second week. Our destination was West Palm Beach and we were looking forward to it, as it had looked very nice on the Internet.

But we hated it! Twenty-four hours was all it took for us to realise we'd made a huge mistake.

We had booked into a very nice hotel but the atmosphere was completely different. In comparison to Fort Myers Beach, the place was noisy, brash, expensive and we found the service everywhere indifferent at best.

By the end of the first day, I was in tears, feeling that I'd really messed up because I'd selected and booked everything. My partner was very kind about it and we agreed to sleep on it and see how we felt in the morning.

The morning came and our hotel had closed breakfast early because they were preparing for Mothers Day Brunch... but nobody had told us. So that was the final straw! Although we had booked for a week, they let us go after one night, without penalty, probably because they had us marked down as "the guests from hell", due to the miserable looks on our faces.

I telephoned the Diamondhead Hotel on Fort Myers Beach, told them we were miserable and desperately wanted to come back. They had a problem because they were, by this time, fully booked but they phoned us back in ten minutes and had sorted out an apartment for us.

So... back we drove... all the way across Florida. We'd lost a whole weekend of our holiday but we were SO glad to be back on the Beach.

Happy On Fort Myers Beach

Until we discovered Fort Myers Beach, we had been going to a different country for our holidays every year. We wanted to see as much of the world as possible. We still want to do that but every time now, we have the same conversation... weighing up all the options and then agreeing that the lure of Fort Myers Beach is too strong. We feel that, having found somewhere that suits us so perfectly, why take the risk of going to a place that might not match up?

Four years ago we moved our accommodation base further along the island, to Pointe Estero Resort and Gullwing Resort, at the quiet end, and find that to be the perfect location. We've made friends in the area now and in many ways, Fort Myers Beach feels like home. We know what we're going to, we know exactly what we like to do and how everything works... and we know we will always get a warm welcome.

I retired earlier this year (very early, I want people to know) and my companion will be retiring before too long so then our plan is to travel as much as we can. Until then, our main annual holiday will be spent on Fort Myers Beach.

• Pros:Beautiful beach, abundant wildlife, great accommodation, friendly people, good restaurants, perfect weather.
• Cons:None, unless you like wild partying.
• In a nutshell:No Better Place for Chilling Out