Island Resort Is Safe Haven From Urban Hustle : Little-known outside Brazil, Comandatuba is aworld unto itself.

COMANDATUBA ISLAND, Brazil —  Brazilians have a simpler name for this 10-mile-long island off the coast of Bahia, 450 miles north of Rio de Janiero. They simply call it “Ilha de Fantasia”--Fantasy Island.

In recession- and inflation-plagued Brazil, five-star resorts are places most people can only fantasize about. The Hotel Transamerica’s Ilha de Comandatuba resort survives because prosperous industrialists from Sao Paulo, along with their beach-loving, jet-setting Carioca cousins from Rio, need a weekend sanctuary. Although the Cariocas and Paulistas are as different as New Yorkers and Californians, they come to Comandatuba because it’s one of Brazil’s few safe, first-class hideaways. A few Americans and Europeans find their way here, but they don’t come upon the resort accidentally.

Opened in 1989 after five years of construction, the $60-million complex offers 10 miles of private beach, the longest of any hotel in Brazil. Bikes and horses are the best means of exploring the beach, although many couples disappear along its horizon hand-in-hand. I went to Comandatuba last April after spending 10 mostly rainy days exploring Brazil’s ecological wonders. My fantasy was to dry off, let my bug bites heal and, as the song goes, meet the girl from Ipanema. A long walk on the beach with her was part of the dream.

On this large of an island, Comandatuba’s 251-room hotel is dwarfed by groves of coconut trees, which filter the dry wind, the fiery sun and a most romantic moon. The hotel’s three wings fan out from the main building, and bungalows fringe the beach. The hotel has separate pools for adults and children; the adults’ pool has a swim-up bar. The ocean is a short walk away and can be seen from most of the rooms. Small thatched stands provide shelter at the beach, but some hearty guests brave the sun, walking a mile to their own clothing-optional beach. Fishing, windsurfing, beach volleyball and poolside lambada lessons are part of this not-so-somnolent setting.

Although Comandatuba translates into “land of beans,” no beans have been grown here for centuries. The island is mostly a coconut plantation, but its isolation made it an ideal spot for a luxury resort. Rich Brazilians are much-concerned about security. Kidnapings are frequent in Brazil; not long before I arrived, Robin Hood-style desperadoes kidnaped a business executive and ransomed him for truckloads of food.

Americans come to Comandatuba for other reasons. The pace and setting are distinctly Brazilian, yet Americans can receive the type of amenities and pampering that often cost twice as much in Europe or in the States. I met several American families during my stay. They were typically headed by bankers and corporate types who had married Brazilians or had business contacts in Brazil. They were people who were in the know about South America, and who had come here to vacation after spending only a day or two in Sao Paulo or Rio. Most had been here before.

Comandatuba is reached by way of the airport in the coastal city of Ilheus, about 500 miles north of Rio. Guests are met by a private bus that takes an hour to reach the hotel’s mainland dock. A five-minute boat ride ends at the island’s dock, carved from a mangrove forest, where Bahians greet visitors with leis of fresh hibiscus. Here also, the arrivals and departures of guests and employees are monitored on closed-circuit television.

My third-floor room was among the least expensive (at about $110 a night; the rate has since gone up to $125). It had a small balcony overlooking verdant gardens, a roomy bath and was quiet day and night. The residential areas are far from the entertainment at the other end of the hotel. The room was done in soft colors accented by a dark hardwood desk and a white lamp. Coming from the jungle, I found it very important that the room was absolutely bugless and spotless.

Outdoors, the island setting is languid and sleepy, yet guests are encouraged to be active. At 10 in the morning, the hotel’s activities director rouses sunbathers to go for a fast-paced walk on the beach. A few of them follow in the blinding sun. By 11 a.m., it’s time for high-spirited volleyball matches, during which heads and feet hit the ball almost as often as hands. Soccer skills come in handy, but put Americans at a disadvantage.

I arrived on the Saturday of Easter weekend. That evening, the hotel was packed with families lined up to devour the poolside dinner buffet. My fantasy of meeting the girl from Ipanema was disappearing rapidly amid the rustle of overweight Brazilians tearing apart a chocolate Eiffel Tower.

But all was not lost: There were mounds of seafood salad and marinated chicken, a Brazilian jazz band was playing beneath a full moon and, as it happened, I managed to strike up a conversation with a woman named Ani and her sister. They were born in Korea and had lived in Brazil for 20 years. Ani explained that her boutique in Sao Paulo’s chic Iguatemi shopping center was having problems because of new government restrictions on personal spending. She and her sister thought a three-day weekend at Comandatuba would be a chance to escape the world of markdowns, but she found herself unhappy with the guests, who seemed to her--by Sao Paulo standards--unsophisticated. She and her sister were leaving for home the following morning at 8 a.m. They bid me good night and invited me to come by the store the next time I was in their city.

With romantic fantasies out of the way, I was free by Sunday to concentrate on rest and relaxation. I found the beach deserted except for three fishermen, whom I watched load their equipment on a Kon Tiki-type balsa raft and plunge into the surf. Another raft moldering on the beach attested to their daring. After walking for a while and bodysurfing in the greenish-silty surf, I foolishly challenged the hotel’s recreation director to a tennis match. In the heavy humidity, I felt like a man wearing ankle weights trying to move through quicksand. After taking a 6-1 thrashing, I retreated to my balcony, where a fresh pineapple juice and peach-colored sunset soothed my frayed ego and exhausted body.

Less strenuous activities beckoned. Exploring Ilheus is worth a day’s excursion. The city is the heart of a major cacao bean (chocolate) growing region, in addition to being the backdrop for Jorge Amado’s novels, “Gabriella” and “Cinnamon and Cloves.” Both became films starring Sonia Braga, whose photo hangs on a white wall of the Vesuvio restaurant and bar where Amado set many of his scenes. The Vesuvio remains a meeting place for tourists as well as local families. Other photos on the walls are of Ilheus, taken in the days before bridges connected its many islands.

Until the 1970s, when the city airport was on an island, air travelers took a boat to catch their plane. Attempts have since been made to accommodate international tourism, but the city has remained largely undiscovered, despite having some of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches in nearby Olivenca.

Few of the city’s churches were open on the Monday I visited, but my guide was aggressive enough to get us into the Museum of Cacao, which was closed that day for cleaning. The museum chronicles the grand European lifestyles that the cacao barons led in the late 1800s. Amado juxtaposed their excesses with the difficulties of the landless poor. On Rua Lemos near the museum, the street is paved with large imported stones from France. A cacao baron didn’t want his daughter to walk in the mud, so he paved the street, enabling her to promenade on the French imports.

The two-lane road between Ilheus and Comandatuba displays the region’s ecological problems. The Bahian coast was the first to be colonized in the 16th Century by the Portuguese, and ever since the forests have been repeatedly hacked and burned. The scorched earth and runoff ditches often shock Comandatuba guests, who have been known to ask the bus driver to stop so they can take photos.

The Brazilian government recently enacted laws to protect the environment, which led to the shutdown of the local sawmill. Some furious ranchers cut trees and dumped them onto the highway. With the road blocked, it looked as if a busload of guests from Comandatuba, traveling back to the airport, would be stranded en route. But the hotel quickly ordered a second bus from Ilheus to meet the guests at the protest barrier and the trip into Ilheus was completed. Sometimes fast thinking and practical steps are necessary to return from one’s Fantasy Island.

GUIDEBOOK

Comandatuba Island, Brazil

How to get there: Brazilian airlines Varig and VASP, along with American, offer direct service from LAX to Rio de Janeiro. Through June 20, with 14-day advance purchase, all three airlines are offering a round-trip fare of $1,350. Varig has a daily flight from Rio to Ilheus for about $210 round trip. A bus meets hotel guests at the airport in Ilheus for the one-hour ride to the hotel. The bus fare is $20 round trip.

Where to stay: The Comandatuba Hotel is a destination resort with 251 rooms and bungalows. There are two restaurants on the grounds, one in the main lobby and a second next to the dock that serves Brazilian specialties such as moqueca , a rich fish stew. The least expensive room costs $124 a night, double occupancy. The most expensive is a bungalow for $580 a night, double. Prices go up 20% during the high seasons, which occur in July and from Dec. 19 to March 1. Meals are fixed-price and cost about $25 each if ordered separately, but there is a $40 daily meal rate, with three meals included. Reservations can be made through the resort’s U.S. agent: F&H; Consulting, 2441 Janin Way, Solvang, Calif. 93463, (800) 544-5503.

When to go: The low season is March to June and Aug. 1 to Dec. 19. Conventions may be booked to fill the hotel during that time. During the high season, when there is a seven-night minimum stay, many families come to take advantage of the activity programs. The ocean is warm enough to swim all year long, so weather is not a factor.