Baja Whale Watching and Kayaking, Family Style

Sea & Adventures is offering trips to Baja, Mexico, geared to families, featuring three- and five-day whale-watching and sea-kayaking adventures from Feb. 18 to 22 in Magdalena Bay. Guests will meet in Loreto and will be taken to a base camp nestled in the sand dunes of Magdalena Bay. Whale watching by skiff allows close-up encounters with Pacific gray whales.

Cost: $350 to $595 per person, double occupancy, including lodging in tents, meals and ground transportation. Guests need to bring their own sleeping bags. Air fare is extra.

In March and April, three- and four-day kayaking getaways to the island of Espiritu Santo are offered from La Paz. Kayaking and camping along the shores of Espiritu Santo Island allow families to explore white sand beaches and snorkel among sea lions, coral and tropical fish.

Cost: $295 to $395 per person, double occupancy, including camping facilities, meals and activities. Not included: sleeping bags (rentals available) and air fare.

Contact: Sea & Adventures; tel. (800) 355-7140,

Internet https://www.kayakbaja.com.

Bali: Ecology

EAS, an adventure-oriented geographic and environmental education group, is offering two programs to explore the culture and ecology of Bali, Indonesia, July 8 to 23 and July 22 to Aug. 6. The tours will be conducted by a college professor, and highlights include two nights in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; five nights in Bali to view dance performances, terraced rice fields and the monkey forest, with a white-water rafting option; three days in Lovina, with black sand beaches, hot springs and dolphin sailing; snorkeling at the shipwreck at Tulamben; three nights in Candidasa, with offshore reefs; and the Bali Aga villages.

Cost: $1,899 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, daily breakfast, transfers, transportation around the island and entry fees.

Contact: EAS Tours; tel. (818) 832-1282.

New Mexico: Back Roads

A tour of northern New Mexico is being offered May 26 through June 2 with an emphasis on visiting remote places coupled with a special dining experience each day. Guests can trek into canyons and through mountain paths with a geologist and botanists to discuss the flora and fauna. Archeologists will lead guests into other areas. Stops at local vineyards, meetings with chefs and visits to gardens and apple orchards are also scheduled, as is special nightly entertainment.

Cost: $1,050 per person, double occupancy, including land transportation; lodging in Santa Fe, Taos and Jemez Springs; two meals each day; and fees for museums. Air fare to Albuquerque is not included.

Contact: Christy Rojas, Aventura Artistica; tel. (800) 808-7352.

West Africa: Heritage

A black heritage tour to Senegal and Gambia in West Africa, hosted by Spector Travel of Boston, will contrast cities with rural villages and landscapes with historical sites on a six-night itinerary. The tour departs March 4 with two nights in Banjul, Gambia, and four nights in Dakar, Senegal. Guests will visit Goree Island’s slave house in Senegal and Juffure in Gambia, and will take city tours of Dakar and Banjul. The program will also include visits to an orphanage, village health clinic and nursery school in Gambia.

Cost: $1,289 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from New York, ground transportation, tours and breakfast daily.

Contact: Spector Travel; tel. (800) 879-2374,

Internet https://www.spectortravel.com.

Asia: Three Lands

Signature Tours is combining Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong on 10-day cultural tours departing Feb. 29, March 7 and March 14.

In Thailand, guests will visit Buddhist sites, the Royal Grand Palace, a floating market, a wedding procession, a monk’s ordination, a demonstration of elephants at work and a classical dance performance. Singapore’s multicultural aspects will be seen on tours of the Chinese, Indian, Malay and Arab sections and the Royal Orchid Garden. In Hong Kong members will learn about the transfer of power to China and local life aboard junks (boats) at the Aberdeen fishing village. Travelers will have a seafood buffet and lots of time for shopping.

Cost: $1,599 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, first-class hotel accommodations, breakfast daily, four dinners and local guides.

Contact: Signature Tours; tel. (800) 958-2742.

Asia: Shopping

Bring a thick wallet and shop till you drop in Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand with JoAnna Nicholson, an interior design consultant and author of books on fashion and beauty. Nicholson will advise each shopper on colors, fabrics and values. Participants can shop for tailored clothing, decorative arts and collectibles. The group will also stop at cultural and historic sites. The tour runs March 8 to 18.

Cost: $2,195 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, some meals and sightseeing. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Global Spectrum Travel (ask for Marsha); tel. (800) 419- 4446.

Alaska: Hiking

There are no roads, no trails, no campgrounds in the Alaska lands above the Arctic Circle where Arctic Trek Tours of Alaska takes backpackers and river rafters. Some of the hiking is in mountain valleys and some is across the foothills, tundra and coastal plains where the caribou roam.

Rafting is along the Hulahula, Koyukuk, Canning, Killik and Kongakut rivers. Travelers--nine per journey--can expect to see caribou, musk ox, wolves, fox, bears and predatory birds. There are 14 trips in 2000 from six to 19 days, with departures June 6 to Aug. 22.

Cost: from $1,850 to $3,675 per person, including internal air fare from Fairbanks, rafts and most other gear and all meals. Air fare to Alaska is extra.

Contact: Arctic Trek Tours; tel. (907) 455-6502.

Europe: Literature

Seeing where writers lived and wrote is the focus of two literary tours, one to Scotland, the other to Paris and environs. The Scottish journey is May 18 to 27 and, in part, follows poet Robert Burns from his birth in Ayr to his death in Dumfries. It moves on to the mansion of Walter Scott at Abbotsford, the writers’ museum in Edinburgh and J.M. Barrie’s home. Cost: $2,743 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York or Boston to Glasgow, eight nights’ lodging, daily breakfast, two lunches and six dinners, transport and guides.

If you prefer French and expatriate authors, a tour focusing on them runs June 19 to 27. It begins with dinner at La Coupole, frequented by several 20th century greats. Then it’s on to Victor Hugo’s home, Harry’s Bar (Hemingway and Fitzgerald), Balzac’s house, the graves of luminaries at Pere-Lachaise and Montparnasse cemeteries, Zola’s house and a round of cafes favored by writers.

Cost: $2,690 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from New York or Boston, seven hotel nights, daily breakfast, two lunches, three dinners and guides. Extensions are offered for both tours.

Contact: Specialty World Travel; tel. (800) 242-2346.

*

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