Esthetician Ruth Haper applies a mask to the author's face during a 50-minute facial at Cheeca Spa. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys TDC.

Esthetician Ruth Haper applies a mask to the author's face during a 50-minute facial at Cheeca Spa. Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys TDC.



ISLAMORADA, Fla. Keys — I spent my second Keys morning bonefishing the seductive Islamorada flats, gazing for surface ripples and waving fish tails. The early May sun was strong, tropical. It soaks into your skin and returns a burning blush.

At noon, I returned to my room at the Cheeca Lodge, feeling salty and sun-tinged, ready for my 2 p.m. facial at the resort's new Avanyu Spa.

This is how to plan a fishing trip.

My male fishing buddies were equally thrilled at the chance to experience such luxuries as the Sportsman's Massage, a 50-minute rub-down targeting muscles used for fishing, golf or tennis or the Men's Avanyu Facial, a neck and shoulder massage and warm, bubbling seaweed mask.

The Avanyu Spa, which opened literally as I arrived this spring, is a standard among Cheeca's sister lodges — a group of four- and five-star resorts under the company flag of Rockresorts. Avanyu is a Pueblo Indian word for "plumed water serpent: One who lives in the water below the earth... one who carries us through the waters of change."

I knew it was too much to ask for a "change" in facial lines and wrinkles. But a little change in texture and tension?... Perhaps.

Besides facials, the 5,000-square-foot spa offers services from mud wraps and rock massages to anti-stress treatments, a lap pool and top-notch workout equipment. It features four massage-therapy rooms, two facial rooms and one wet treatment room for wraps and body masks.

It's enough to make you want to stay indoors.

"We're working on putting together unique treatments for Avanyu," said spa director John Catchen-Dunne, who came to Cheeca from the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. "Our specialty here is treating sun-exposed skin."

Costs for services range from $60 for 25-minute procedures to $135 for the 80-minute facial.

My spa experience began with a tour through the sparkling facility. Fresh, cut pink flowers brightened the crisp massage table linens and yellow orchids climbed from clear vases. Walls wore a soothing sand color and subtle light peeked through broad, wooden blinds.

My host led me to the women's locker room where I slipped into a white robe and slippers. She offered me some water from an ice-cold pitcher with fresh orange slices and a chance to sit in the relaxation area, a darkened anteroom with lounge chairs and reading material.

Within minutes, Ruth Haper — my esthetician — joined me. She led me to a quiet room, turned on some soothing music and asked me to change into a towel wrap. When she returned I was prone on a padded table under cool, fresh sheets. She explained the 50-minute Soothing Facial I was about to receive.

"The Soothing Facial is for sun-damaged skin. We get lots of guests who
are sunburned," Haper said. "The Phytomer product we use calms the redness by regenerating damaged tissue cells and repairs damaged tissues and blood vessels."

Exfoliation also helps remove the peeling skin after a sunburn, she said.

"The Vegetal Exfoliate digests those dead skin cells," she said. "Serums and masks rehydrate dry skin by restoring the moisture that has evaporated from wind and sun.

"Also, sunburned skin shuts down your immune system since the lymph cannot
flow and filter toxins from the swollen tissues."

Haper began the procedure by wrapping my face in a soft cloth and cleaning my skin with Gentle Cleansing Milk. The spa uses Phytomer products, high-end skin and body creams and lotions made in France. It felt like a feather sweeping my face in small circles.

The cleaner removes all makeup, oil and debris and exfoliates dead skin cells from the face, ear lobes, neck and upper chest.

"The cleansing routine gently stimulates the lymph network of the skin, resulting in improved tissue cleansing internally," Haper said.

Next, she applied a toner called Rose Visage, which was quite aptly named. Its delicate rose smell was aromatherapeutic, uncommon for toner.

The toner rebalances the pH of the skin of the face, ear lobes, neck and upper chest and "decongests" the hair follicles and pores.

I was relaxed until the next phase of the treatment: the dreaded microscope test. Haper pulled a magnifying lens over my face and peered and picked at my skin.

Her analysis of me: "Your skin is dehydrated from the sun, wind, and air-conditioning. Lots of freckles (hyperpigmentation) from enjoying life under the sun.

Oh boy.

Haper reached over and flipped on a steam machine. Clouds seeped out through a vent and over my face. It felt like light, warm rainfall.

"Steam activates the circulation of the subcutaneous vessels, relaxes and dilates the pores and follicles," she later explained. "Slight perspiration... prepares the skin for more thorough exfoliation."

Exfoliation sounds harsh. I've used products before that felt like sandpaper. But the Vegetal Exfoliate felt like a lotion. It's actually an enzymatic extract of papaya that removes dead cells from the surface of the skin leaving a fresh, clear appearance. It also improves the quality and tone of the complexion and helps with detoxifying.

With clean skin, I was prepped for the facial massage. Haper's delicate fingers rubbed my temples and forehead, my cheeks, cheekbones and chin.

"Facial massage soothes and stimulates the nerves, relieves body tension by inducing relaxation, increases circulation of the blood and lymph systems, causes muscle contraction when the massage movement is firm and rapid and stimulates glandular activity of the skin by loosening congestion in follicles and pores," she explained.

And it feels really good, too.

The final steps of the facial included applying and removing a mask and dousing me with a moisturizing serum.

Depending on the skin's condition, several masks may be used. For me, Haper used a Delicate Defense Mask, an anti-irritant, anti-inflammatory product that stimulates the immune system and regenerates damaged tissue cells. She used a Hydrating Seaweed Mask around my eyes.

She left the mask in place for several minutes while I concentrated on relaxing all my facial muscles. After cleaning off the mask, she applied the moisturizing serum. Serums contain as much as 70 percent active ingredients compared with 3-5 percent active ingredients in a cream-type product, she said.

She put lift contour on my eye lids, around my eyes and on my lips, which moisturizes, regenerates and smoothes fine lines. She topped all that off with an Intensive Hydrating Skin Cream over my entire face.

"Moisturizers are applied at the end of the facial to protect the skin against pollution, sunlight and grime," Haper said. "They also help seal in the moisture of the skin, and help prevent dryness and dehydration caused by evaporation."

I felt as though I had been asleep or in a fog or somehow spiritually suspended for an hour. My face was smooth, and I swear I looked younger for the rest of the day. At least until my tarpon trip and high-speed boat ride that evening.

There's something about a 40-mph wind-and-rain assault that ruins a facial.

For more information about Cheeca's Avanyu Spa, check out www.cheeca.com.