Healthy vacations - tennis resorts, fishing clubs, favorite camping locations

Black Enterprise, July, 1992 by Dari Giles

You can arrive on your own boat or charter one from Florida, hire local record-holding guides or charter a local boat with a mate and captain-guide. Charters range from $400 to $600 a day and $200 to $300 for a half day, for two to six guests. For more information and reservations for sport fishing in the Bahamas, contact the Bahamas Sports and Aviation Department, 800-327-7678.

Sport Fishing In The British Isles

The fishing resorts in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) sit on the Atlantic in the aquamarine waters above the dropoff called "the trench," a deep hole six-miles under the sea. Here blue marlin run in May and June; white marlin, tarpon and bonefish in the spring; while wahoo swim from the fall to the spring; and sailfish and blackfin tuna barrel through from May to July. Anglers can take up residence at the Anegada Reef Hotel (Anegada, BVI; 809-495-8002), a 12-room fishing camp on this coral island of only 200 people. The camp includes a tackle shop and a restaurant, which will prepare your day's catch. Room rates are $205 per night (per person, double occupancy) including meals. The resort's specialty is bonefishing, and rates are $30 per hour with a three-hour minimum. Spend the day deep-sea fishing for $850 or $500 for a half day, or $900 for a full-day of marlin fishing. The resort can be reached by flying Gorda Air from Tortola for $27 each way on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

CAMPING

When you really want to get away from it all, head for the great outdoors. Hiking, white-water rafting, even beach-combing--it's all part of camping in one of America's 50 national parks.

There are 29,000 sites around the country for camping out in tents, cabins, lodges and recreational vehicles as well as back country wilderness campsites.

Cinnamon Bay Campground, St. John, United States Virgin Islands (P.O. Box 720, Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI 00830; 800-223-7637). This beachfront campground on St. John is a short ferry ride or seaplane shuttle flight away from the hustle and bustle of Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. Open all year, the campground at Cinnamon Bay features a nature-walk trail and natural coral reef, ranger programs, a water sports center with sailing, scuba and snorkeling tours and windsurfing gear rentals and a palm-laced beach.

Accommodations include 60, 10-x-14 foot canvas tents, which come with a gas lantern, charcoal grill, use of a picnic table, tent, cot and mattress pad, gas stove, ice chest and cooking and eating utensils. There are also 40 one-room, screened cottages that are equipped with electricity, each with four twin beds. Linen is changed weekly. There are four bathouses with working toilets and cold showers and a camp commissary. For those who want to "rough it," there are a dozen bare-bones campsites where campers must provide all their own gear.

From now through Dec. 15, tent sites cost$40 per night, per couple; cottages rent for $53 per night, per couple; and bare-bones sites are available for $13 per night; rates do not include a 7.5% tax. Reservations, for Cinnamon Bay Campground, which can be made up to 12 months in advance, are a must. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia (Route 4, Box 348, Luray, VA 22835; 703-999-2229). A bit closer to home is the Shenandoah National Park, which extends along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and encompasses 60 mountain peaks ranging in elevation from 2,000 to 4,000 feet.