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Multisport Resorts

AGUILA DE OSA INN, COSTA RICA
At Drake Bay, on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, I could have passed my days pleasantly enough at the

Âguila de Osa Inn listening to birdcalls, or lounging in my airy, high-ceilinged room while looking out across the bay, or watching lines of ants advance on the remains of the fruit drink I might have spilled on the polished hardwood tables in the lodge’s open-air dining room. Instead, I busted my gut from sunup to sundown.

A typical day began with a morning horseback ride along the beach and up into the rainforest. Then, leaving the horses to whatever they do in their spare time, I took up the company of a blue morpho butterfly and trekked a jungle trail that led to a waterfall. Before lunch, there was time for a brief long-shore sea kayak adventure — the adventure coming when I tried to
land on a beach where the surf was breaking with greater force than I had judged. And in the afternoon I went scuba diving in the waters off Ca±o Island, where the apparent mating dance of a group of moray eels commanded my attention in the way that only sharp-toothed creatures in the throes of passion — and in my immediate vicinity — could. By sunset, about all
I had energy left for was watching the ants advance on my spilled fruit drink. In the high season (November 1-April 30), doubles cost $110 per person based on double occupancy, including all meals; call 011-506-232-7722. — Bob Payne

GRACE BAY CLUB, PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS
It’s the beach you hope to see when you set down your suitcase: powdery, porcelain-white, nearly empty, and running for 14 miles. Grace Bay is that beach, on Providenciales’s northeast shore in the Turks and Caicos. Complementing the perfect beach is the Grace Bay Club, a Spanish-village-style retreat set above the dunes, its golden stucco buildings blending with sun and sand.
There are fountained courtyards and stone balustrades, columns and arched entries, and passages tiled in decorative clay. All 21 suites have a kitchen; they’re done in Philippine rattan and wicker and laid out with Turkish rugs and art from Haiti, Brazil, and Guatemala.

At the watersports hut you can choose an ocean kayak or windsurfer, sunfish or Hobie Cat, and cruise across warm and slurpy Grace Bay, sometimes called “The Caribbean’s Biggest Bathtub.” The resort can hook you up with dive boats that make daily runs to underwater walls that go from 35 to 6,000 feet and are prowled by eagle rays and nurse sharks. Smaller motor boats are the
best way to see the nearby uninhabited islands — like Iguana Cay, where iguanas pour across the shore as you pull up, and Big Water Cay, with water the color of Midori.

From October to December 20, junior suites are $355-$375, one-bedroom suites are $395-$565, and two-bedroom suites run $675-$895; from December 20 through April 13, junior suites cost $495-$535, one-bedrooms are $555-$815, and two-bedrooms run $895-$1,255. Rates include airport transfers, continental breakfast, snorkel excursions, and use of bicycles and watersports equipment.
Closed September. Call 800-946-5757. — Stacy Ritz

RENAISSANCE WAILEA RESORT, MAUI
Tucked between ocean sunsets and the sheltering lee of 10,000-foot Haleakala, the Renaissance feels like old Maui amid the string of resorts and condos that make up master-planned Wailea. Large lanais and French-shuttered sliding doors overlook 15 acres of tropical gardens and a crescent of beach, the view framed by fronds of coconut palms. It’s a big place that somehow seems
intimate — even a third-floor room feels like an open-air, beachfront cottage.

Tumble out of that room and you encounter, in order, a fitness center, a clover-shaped pool, a 1.5-mile beachfront walk/jog path, and the best watersports center in Wailea, which rents boogie and surfboards, sailboats and windsurfers, and ocean kayaks. Surf and sailboard lessons are held on-site, as are scuba classes. Or just don snorkel and mask and swim with the fish along
Mokapu Reef in front of the hotel — it’s as colorfully abundant as any of the sites that require a half-day boat tour. Double rooms range from $290 to $515; call 800-992-4532. — Bob Howells

RANCHO DE LOS CABALLEROS, ARIZONA
This is the desert? An hour from the furnace of Phoenix, you awaken in your Ralph Laurenesque casita to the perfume of orange blossoms outside the window and a chorus of birdcalls reminiscent of the rainforest in Belize. Then comes the muted rumble of hooves, 360 of them, as the wranglers bring in the horses for that dude-ranch staple, the morning ride. But you have selected
another steed for today’s jaunt through 20,000 acres of rolling hills, mesquite, and giant saguaro cactus: a mountain bike.

On the dirt roads you cruise, admiring nearby Vulture Peak, a 1,000-foot tower that bears a startling resemblance to Snoopy on his doghouse. On the single-track routes — horse trails, actually — you grunt and dig and curse the soft sand that occasionally sucks at your tires. Nearing home again, you catch a glimpse of an old fat guy riding an electric cart and trying
to hit a small white ball into a hole. Then you dismount from your bike — and your high horse — and plunge into the swimming pool with the squealing kids.

Jacketed and bolo-tied, you head for dinner. The halibut with corn salsa is superb. As you walk back to your casita to turn in early, suddenly there is a whoosh and a whir on the walkway behind you. A young, extremely fit blond woman in Day-Glo spandex speeds by on Rollerblades. You think to yourself that dude ranches ain’t what they used to be, and that this is a good
thing.

Rates are $170-$299 per person per night, double occupancy (three-night minimum), and include all meals and horseback riding; add 20 percent for tax and service charge. The ranch is open October to mid-May; call 520-684-5484. — David Noland

SHERATON KAUAI RESORT, HAWAII
Back in September, 1992, when Hurricane Iniki leveled large parts of Kauai, residents feared that the island would never recover. The comeback has been gradual, but worth the wait. Gone (thankfully) are the excesses of the late 1980s — faux luxury resorts sporting grandiose pillars, endless fountains, and ostentatious decor.

Sheraton Kauai Resort, reopening December 1, 1997, used its five-year layoff to completely rebuild its devastated areas and to refurbish its lobby and public areas using tropical colors and local materials. The result is essentially a brand-new hotel, elegant but not stuffy, that exudes the feeling of “old Hawaii” — a welcoming place that recalls the days when visitors
arrived by ocean liner with steamer trunks packed for a month-long stay.

The resort occupies 20 acres on Poipu Beach on the island’s sunny southern flank, encompassing a fitness center, two swimming pools, and three tennis courts amid lavish gardens of plumeria, hibiscus, and birds-of-paradise. Swim and snorkel in the cove off Poipu Beach, or let the hotel help arrange activities nearby: surfing, hiking, kayaking, sailing, and golf. From December
1-April 30, double rooms run $200-$290; suites are $325-$760. From May 1-December 19, 1998, doubles are $250-$390; suites are $425-$1,010. Call 800-782-9488. — N.Z.

ALL INCLUSIVES: WHO SHOULD GO WHERE
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All-inclusive resorts, where a single rate covers everything from rooms to meals to activities, are an indisputably great deal. But their ambience can vary dramatically, and a wrong choice can mean a down-the-drain vacation. You need to make sure you don’t end up honeymooning at a resort full of kinetic kids, or subjecting your own kids to a high-energy singles’ scene. Here’s some
help: