Islands In The Stream Take A Canoe Ride To The Wild Side: The Unspoiled Isles In The Delaware Near The Water Gap, Some Of Which Offer Overnight Camping. No Electricity, No Snack Bars, No Amenities. (but They're Free.)

The island fantasy: Gliding leisurely downstream to a remote, uninhabited island. Fishing for the evening's fare. Swimming in the cool, clean water as a French chef prepares a gourmet dinner over an open fire. Dining alfresco; sipping Champagne; listening to the breezes wafting through the trees. Sleeping under the stars. Waking to the sounds of water lapping the banks and birds singing.

Paradise? One can dream.

The island reality: Namanock, one of more than a dozen unspoiled islands on the Delaware River, in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and one of five with designated overnight camping areas for canoeists and boaters on the river.

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The National Park Service calls the 120 camping spots in the Delaware Water Gap "primitive" campsites - accessible only by boat - and they're not kidding.

The price is right: absolutely free. But unless you're swimming to an island, (not recommended), the cost of the boat must be considered: $8 million for the Trump Princess or $22 a day for a rented canoe.

However, you get what you don't pay for: There are no electric hookups, no snack bars, no showers or fresh water, no picnic tables or chairs, and only rudimentary toilet facilities - if any. The sites are first come, first served. Only a small sign and a metal fire grate anchored in the earth identify them.

This is bring-your-own-fantasy-land. And it requires a lot of imagination to transform it into paradise for one evening. (Campers are permitted to stay only one night.)

For most of the 2 1/2 million annual visitors to the park, about two hours up the Delaware River from Philadelphia, primitive camping might be a nightmare. But for more adventurous campers who enjoy the outdoors but find most commercial campgrounds too crowded, too confining, too noisy or simply too suburban, it can be an exciting alternative. For a half-dozen daring venturers (including one very resourceful French chef), it offered the perfect challenge: to enjoy the highest civilized pleasures in the most primal setting.

The necessary ingredients for a five-course gourmet feast, complete with Champagne, fine wines, candles and cognac, were loaded onto three canoes, along with the required camping gear and equipment; all were wrapped in plastic bags in the unlikely event of capsizing. Unless one encounters a reckless canoer, there's little risk of spilling; the Delaware flowing through the park is relatively calm.