ARUBA DESCRIPTION PROFILE - ARUBA TEMPERATURE, ANGUILLA, CARIBBEAN

Columbus gave this long, thin island its name - Spanish for "eel". Anguilla is a late bloomer in tourism, with a bloom perhaps all the lovelier for its delay. The raw material for tropical perfection was already there: a soft dry climate, colorfully inhabited reefs, and a shoreline bountiful in sand that is to beachcombers what Aspen's slopes are to skiers. There were already a few lazy gingerbread inns, though meals and recreation were primitive. But in the Seventies the government decided to choreograph an ambitious yet controlled growth in the hospitality industry. Now, especially along the island's narrow West End, travelers hungry for jet-age luxury worthy of the Medicis will find numerous fantasy hotels and villas with every aristocratic amenity, from cavernous marble baths to private cooks. Following the hoteliers, talented chefs flocked here as well, offering gourmet French, Italian, and nouvelle West Indian fare. Not to imply that Anguilla has locked step with such jumping islands as the Dominican Republic; far from it. Nightlife is still minimal - a live band or two, the odd modest disco - and though tennis is an option, your golfing clients would be left high and dry.

Archaeology lovers, however, will find ample diversion: aboriginal sites dating back 4,000 years, plus the museum and park at The Fountains, where underground caves display ancient fossils. Several tiny offshore isles provide additional beaches and stepping stones to dive sites beyond Anguilla's convenient snorkeling reefs (seven underwater shipwrecks are within easy boating reach). De rigueur is a jaunt to Scilly Cay, where the sunbathing is divine, surpassed only by the midday grilled seafood.

Anguilla created quite a stir in 1969 when, breaking from St. Kitts and Nevis, it refused independence from Britain. Today the island contentedly remains a Crown Colony and, as such, preserves certain stiff-upper-lip attitudes. Nude bathing is prohibited, and despite the languorous backwater feel to daily life, the evening dress code may strike some as stuffy. This is also an expensive island but its sunny pleasures are well worth the price.