Focusing on Grizzlies in British Columbia Forest

Stalk grizzly bears--with a camera--in the wild backlands of British Columbia’s Coast Range on an unusual daylong nature tour that includes orcas, gray whales, eagles, wolves and churning tidal rapids.

The excursions, available now through mid-October, focus on seeing grizzlies on their home turf. “The salmon are running right now, coming into the rivers to spawn, and that brings the bears out of the woods to feed on fish,” said biologist Tom Rivest, co-owner of Great Bear Nature Tours.

The area, known as the Great Bear Rainforest, stretches over 8 million acres. Trips begin in Port Hardy, near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Participants take a morning boat ride to see whales and the Nakwakto Tidal Rapids and then travel by skiff up the Seymour River to grizzly-bear viewing sites. During salmon runs, participants view bears from tree stands and river blinds that have been constructed to allow safe photo opportunities. The tour concludes with a flight over the Coast Range back to Port Hardy. Overnight trips are also available.

Cost: $244, including transportation on the day of the tour, lunch and snacks. Longer trips range from $456 for one night to $1,046 for three nights. Transportation to Port Hardy, B.C. and air fare from Los Angeles are not included.

Contact: Great Bear Nature Tours; (888) 221-8212 or (250) 949-9496, www.greatbeartours.com.

Hawaii: Sea Journey

If you hate to fly--but still dream of seeing the golden shores of Hawaii--a Jan. 24th cruise might help you achieve your goal.

A low-cost, 14-day round-trip cruise from Los Angeles to the Hawaiian Islands will zip across the Pacific in a bit more than three days, allowing time for stops at four of the main islands. Two-day, overnight port stops will be made in Maui and Oahu; full-day stops--from 8 a.m. to midnight--will be made in Kauai and at Hilo on the Big Island.

The trip will be aboard Royal Olympic Cruises’ new Olympia Explorer, one of the fastest cruise ships in its class. The 836-passenger ship, christened June 7 in Athens, travels at speeds of up to 30 knots per hour.

Cost: A package being offered by a Laguna Hills travel agency lists starting prices at $1,689 per person, double occupancy, for an inside cabin. Prices for an ocean-view cabin start at $2,154. Port charges, taxes and group travel insurance are included. Irv Yudin of Golden Circle Cruises and Tours/American Express will escort the tour.

Contact: Golden Circle Cruises and Tours/American Express; (800) 364-6533, www.travelgc.com.

London: Show Time

A holiday-season tour to England will focus on the London theater scene, with four West End shows on the schedule for the 10-day trip.

The annual excursion, which departs on Dec. 26 from Los Angeles, is planned and led by actor and director Stan Mazin. It includes a New Year’s Eve party for tour participants. The group spends eight nights at the Radisson Edwardian Mountbatten Plaza Hotel in the Covent Garden area.

Cost: $2,275 per person, double occupancy. Included are round-trip air fare on Air New Zealand, transfers into London, upgraded accommodations, breakfast, one pre-theater dinner and shows.

Contact: Travel Galore, (818) 990-4499, or Stan Mazin, (818) 786-6845, e-mail trvlnstan@aol.com.

Ireland: Onstage

The performing arts will take center stage for a tour to Ireland from Oct. 4 to 13.

Included on the TheaTours itinerary will be the Dublin International Theatre Festival, where tour participants will attend four performances. They will also visit the Siamsa Tire, Ireland’s National Folk Theatre, for a dance and theater program based on Gaelic folk traditions. Pubs--the birthplace of some of Ireland’s time-honored ballads and rebel songs--will be on the itinerary too.

Led by local arts writer Laura Hitchcock, the tour will also visit some of Ireland’s best-known landmarks, including the Cliffs of Moher, the Ring of Kerry and the lakes of Killarney. There will be visits to the Waterford Crystal factory and to Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Trinity College.

Cost: $2,447 per person, double occupancy, including nine nights’ hotel accommodations, welcome and farewell parties, breakfasts, most dinners, bus tour, entrance fees, theater tickets, service charges and taxes. Air fare from Los Angeles to Ireland is not included.

Contact: TheaTours; (323) 656-6309 or (323) 856-3085.

Washington: By Foot

A trip for walkers who want to practice their photography skills while seeing Washington’s Olympic Peninsula is planned from Sept. 15 to 21.

Designed by the Wayfarers, which specializes in walking tours, the group will visit the Hall of Mosses, the Hoh Rain Forest and Sol Duck Falls. Walkers will also climb Hurricane Ridge, stopping at Sunrise Point, which has views of Mt. Olympus on one side and Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the other.

Nature photographer George Baetker will assist photographers with composition and lighting. The trip is planned for people who have beginning to intermediate photo skills.

Cost: $1,995 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations at Lake Quinault and Lake Crescent lodges, all meals including wine, snacks on the trail, airport transfers from Seattle and guides. Air fare from Los Angeles to Seattle is not included.

Contact: The Wayfarers; (800) 249-4620, www.thewayferers.com.

Missouri: Under the Arch

Art, architecture and the theater will be emphasized in a Sept. 13-to-15 tour of St. Louis being organized by Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts.

The group will visit the St. Louis Art Museum, which is hosting an exhibit of the work of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, father-and-daughter painters in Baroque Italy. Artemisia, born in 1593, was one of the first women to achieve recognition in the male-dominated world of post-Renaissance art.

The exhibition, which opened in Rome, made its first U.S. stop at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The St. Louis Art Museum is the last stop on the tour.

The Pasadena group will also visit the recently opened Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts center, designed by internationally known Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The center houses the Pulitzer family art collection, which includes works by Henri Matisse, Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly and Pablo Picasso.

Other stops include the Grandel Theater, where tour participants will see Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” and the Clayton Arts and Crafts Festival.

Cost: $449 per person, double occupancy. Included are accommodations, all meals, entrance fees, art and historical tour and transfers within St. Louis. Transportation from Los Angeles to St. Louis is not included.

Contact: Suzette Stambler, Armory Center for the Arts; (626) 792-5101.

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