Dive With Dolphins, Boat Next to Whales

As part of its Travel for Women Series, Natural Habitat Adventures of Boulder, Colo., is offering an eight-day Dolphin Watch program that lets participants swim with wild dolphins in the Bahamas. The program begins Aug. 30 in Fort Lauderdale aboard an eight-passenger, 70-foot sailing schooner. Because the dolphins come and go freely, travelers can expect the dolphins to approach the boat two to four times each day with encounters varying between 10 minutes and two hours.

Cost: $1,795 and $1,995 depending on cabin selection. Fee includes all accommodations, most meals, services of a program leader, local naturalist and crew, and all taxes and service charges, except Bahamas customs tax. Air fare is not included. Contact: Natural Habitat Adventures, 2945 Center Green Court, Boulder, CO 80301; telephone (800) 543-8917.

Baja’s Whales

Take a vacation with the whales on various trips February through April. Join gray, blue, humpback, fin and sperm whales and other wildlife such as sea lions, common and bottlenose dolphins, reef fishes, elephant seals and sea birds in Baja California. Departures include Feb. 7, 13 and 22; March 6, 17, 22, and 29; and April 5. Trips range from six to 12 days. Passengers will sail aboard a 95-foot vessel, which accommodates up to 12 passengers. The ship will stop at islands and lagoons along Baja’s Pacific Coast. Also included is the Sea of Cortez, a wildlife-rich body of water that separates the Baja California peninsula from the Mexican mainland. This area provides the perfect habitat for year-round resident whales as well as migrating spring whales, and snorkeling opportunities for all levels of snorkelers.

Itineraries depart from San Diego as well as Mexican ports. Each trip includes daily stops at rugged and scenic islands such as Islas San Benito, San Jose, Santa Catalina and Espirtu Santo. There are opportunities to hike, snorkel, whale watch, bird watch and photograph. Cost: from $1,150 to 2,100 per person, double occupancy, including meals, entrance fees and excursions. Not included: ground and air fare. Contact: Searcher’s Natural History Tours, 2838 Garrison St. San Diego, CA 92106; tel. at (619) 226-2403.

Cruise for Wildlife

Martine Colette, founder and director of the Wildlife Waystation, is offering a fund-raiser cruise March 7--three nights to Baja with a stopover at Ensenada. The cruise begins in Los Angeles and proceeds help feed the animals at the 160-acre facility in the Angeles National Forest.

Colette will be on board to host a cocktail reception and discuss the progress and needs of the wildlife at the Waystation.

Cost: from $299 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin. All meals and sightseeing are included. Not included: port taxes, which are $78.50 per person. Contact: Lenna Welling at Cruise Stars; tel. (818) 226-5555 or (800) 732-7287.

Loire Valley

Join a cultural, historical and up-close look (via bicycle) on a seven-night tour of the Loire Valley in France from April 12 to 19. Participants spend the first three nights at a private country estate, where evenings include discussions on French etiquette, a cooking class and informal talks and tastings of different wines each day. The group gets a firsthand look at the local culture by bicycling for two to three hours each day (there is one no-biking day) at a very relaxed pace on selected routes through small country villages and along the three rivers (the Loire, Cher and Indre) that make up this valley. There is a support vehicle at all times. Additionally, the group will attend a monthly Antique Fair, take a lunch cruise on the Cher, do a formal wine tasting at one of the many wine caves and visit five chateaux that are architectural masterpieces made famous by the French nobility who traveled south from Paris to vacation, hunt and fish. Time is set aside for shopping.

The guides are Jim Gurnham of High Country Trekkers in Studio City and Pascal Giraudon of Sherman Oaks, who has lived most of his life in the south of France and knows many of its gastronomic hideaways. There will also be a local historian and lecturer to guide the group through Old Town in the city of Tours. The lodgings for the remaining nights are all chateaux of a smaller size.

Cost: $1,495 per person, double occupancy, including some meals, entrance fees, guides and ground transportation. Not included: bike rentals (about $100) and air fare. Contact: High Country Trekkers, 11950 Ventura Blvd., Suite 4, Studio City, CA 91604; tel. (800) 475-0004.

Jewish Italy

Nob Hill Travel is offering a Jewish heritage tour called Jewish Italy: From the Venetian Ghetto to the Arch of Titus. Textile artist Beth Kellman will lead the tour. The tour, May 10 to 24, begins in Venice, the site of the world’s first Jewish ghetto, where the Jews of the 16th century built ornate synagogues housed in a physically isolated community of tall buildings and narrow streets.

The group will then visit the Jewish communities in Ferrara, Padua and Bologna en route to Florence. In Florence they will see Renaissance art and the Jewish highlight of the city: the Great Temple of Florence that survived the devastation of World War II. In Siena, members explore enchanting Tuscan hill towns as they proceed to Pitigliano, known in medieval times as “little Jerusalem.”

The final stop is Rome to explore Trastevere, the first Jewish community of Rome, and Ostia Antica, the site of the oldest synagogue in Europe. The group will walk around the Arch of Titus built to commemorate Rome’s conquest of Jerusalem.

Cost: $4,485 per person, double occupancy, including deluxe or superior hotels, most meals, entrance fees and guides. Air fare is not included. Contact: Estelle Alberts, Nob Hill Travel Service, 950 Mason St., San Francisco, CA 94108; tel. (800) 777-8630.

Pismo Butterflies

A tour to Pismo Beach to photograph 200,000 migrating Monarch butterflies will be conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 2. Participants will also visit the adjacent Oceano sand dunes wilderness area.

Cost: $275 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations and some meals. Contact: Image Quest, 1164 Alvira St., Los Angeles, CA 90035; tel. (213) 939-2819.

Southern Archeology

The Archaeological Conservancy is offering a tour to the South, April 19 to 26, called “The Peoples of the Mississippi Valley.” It focuses on the cultures that inhabited the region more than 5,000 years ago. Starting in Memphis, the tour follows the Mississippi south to Natchez. Numerous archeological sites will be visited, including Parkin State Park in Arkansas, home to a Mississippian mound complex; Poverty Point in Louisiana, a prehistoric site dating from 1700 BC; and Emerald Mound, a Mississippian temple mound.

The tour also visits several conservancy preserves, including newly acquired Watson Brake Mounds, one of the oldest mound complexes known. Tour-goers will also get a glimpse of more recent history with a visit to the Civil War battlefield in Vicksburg; a tour of the Grand Village of the Natchez, destroyed by the French in 1729; and a chance to tour several charming pre-Civil War homes.

Cost: $999 per person, double occupancy, including seven nights’ lodging, ground transportation, entrance fees and lunches. Transportation costs to and from Memphis are not included. Contact: The Archaeological Conservancy, 5301 Central Ave., NE, Suite 1218, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517; tel. (505) 266-1540.

Winter Wonderland

Discover or renew your creative energy and experience Norman Rockwell’s Vermont at a relaxed pace on a winter trip Feb. 27 to March 3. Participants will snowshoe and cross-country ski from inn to inn, photographing or sketching picturesque villages, farms and pristine landscapes along the way. Members will learn back-country winter safety skills and creative techniques to capture winter from grand scenics to detailed close-ups. After dinners at lovely old inns, the group can relax, enjoy music in the village or go for a sleigh ride.

Cost: from $495 per person, double occupancy, including airport transfers from Burlington, Vt., accommodations, some meals and guide. Air fare is not included to the airport in Burlington. Contact: Wild Heart, Journeys of Discovery, P.O. Box 31, South Pomfret, VT 05067; tel. (802) 457-9367.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with travel agents or tour operators.