Sailing the Mediterranean, Rafting Alaska Rivers

A trio of sailings this summer in the Mediterranean:

The Royal Odyssey leaves Athens Aug. 6 for Istanbul and Kusadasi (port for Ephesus), Turkey; Rhodes, Greece; Cyprus, Cairo and Rome. Cost for the 12-day cruise: $3,099, including air fare from LAX to Athens and return from Rome. The price includes a $50 donation to the sponsor, Santa Monica College. The tour leader is geology instructor Richard Robinson. College Community Services: 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405, (310) 450-5150, ext. 9731.

The 148-passenger Wind Spirit, which travels under machine-set sails, will depart every Friday from Athens or Istanbul between May 14 and Sept. 24. Each sailing will call at the Turkish ports of Canakkale, Kusadasi and Bodrum, and the Greek ports of Kos, Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos. Passage: $3,494, excluding air fare to and from the home ports. Windstar Cruises: 300 Elliott Ave. West, Seattle, Wash. 98119; (206) 281-3535.

The 116-passenger Sea Goddess I sails for 11 days from Monaco to Piraeus (the port for Athens) beginning July 10. The vessel will call at Portofino, Italy; Portocervo, Sardinia; Taormina, Sicily, and the Greek islands of Itea, Nauplia, Santorini and Mykonos. One of a series of Sea Goddess cruises featuring the winemakers of California, the voyage will include a presentation by Dirk Hampson of Napa Valley’s Far Niente vineyard. Cunard Cruise Line: 555 Fifth Ave., New York 10017-2453, (800) 528-6273.

Alaska Whitewater

A 10-day trip on Alaska’s Tatshenshini and Alsek rivers begins June 21 in Haines, about 150 miles northwest of Juneau. After driving the next day into Canada’s Yukon Territory, participants will begin their westward journey on the Tatshenshini, rafting and camping on the river bank and taking day hikes up side creeks and into glacial valleys. After six days, they reach the Alsek and spend the last day in a bay where great chunks of ice fall, or “calve,” into the water at the foot of the Alsek Glacier. After continuing on to Dry Bay, they will be flown to Yakutat for airline connections to the Lower 48. Cost: $1,640 including lodging, meals, guides and transportation from Haines to the put-in and from Dry Bay to Yakutat. The price does not include air fare to or from Alaska. Mountain Travel/Sobek: 6420 Fairmont Ave., El Cerrito, Calif. 95430, (800) 227-2384.

Custom Botswana

A safari company in southern Africa customizes game-viewing trips. Ker & Downey, which operates tours in Tanzania and Botswana, flies visitors to its own bush camps, each in a different environment. In Botswana’s Okavango Delta, for instance, camps are in an island-dotted marshland, where travel is mainly by canoe; on higher ground in the Moremi Game Reserve, where buffalo and elephant may be seen; and on Shinde island in the northern delta, where herons and other water fowl breed. Rates range from $795 per person, double occupancy, for two nights at one camp, to $3,995 to see all three camps over 13 nights. The prices include flights to the camps, meals, entrance fees, fishing equipment and daily laundry service. They do not include transportation to Maun, Botswana, hub for the company’s fleet of bush planes. Ker & Downey: 13201 Northwest Freeway, Suite 850, Houston, Tex. 77040-6096, (800) 423-4236.

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