SANCTUARY!

Great news: You don't need a hunched back and bad prosthetic choppers to find a fabulous seaside getaway, much less climb the flying buttresses of Notre Dame! Just up the coast from Monterey in Marina, CA., you can escape whatever mobs are chasing you at the Sanctuary Beach Resort, a luxury waterfront hotel situated on an endless stretch of unspoiled dunes. I've been stopping here for years and the facelift money they've thrown at the place has transformed it from humble to high-end in a happy heartbeat.

If you do decide to stay in the room and not prowl for seashells, you'll find flat-screen tv's, king-size beds, wet bar, minibar, high-speed internet -- all that and a personal golf cart you're free to use to race around the property in, from the heated swimming pool to the Kula Ranch Steakhouse. The views are fabulous, the staff low-key but attentive and the whole feeling of the property is that it hasn't sullied the pristine location. Rarely has such a sprawling resort left such a gentle footprint in the sand.

They are currently offering something called the "Paddle & Jump" adventure package -- two nights at the hotel, a tandem skydiving experience, kayaking in Monterey Bay, a massage for two at the Serenity Spa and dinner for you and the significant other at the aforementioned steakhouse. Whew! The deal is good through March of next year and runs around $1500 per daredevil. If you're not the dive-out-of-a-Cessna type, may I suggest loading up the iPod (docking station in-room) and a bottle of local cabernet and just keeping the gulls company? SANCTUARY!!