Travel by schooner in B.C.

CANADA

SAIL into one of western Canada’s newest national parks aboard the 92-foot schooner Maple Leaf.

The five-night British Columbia trips, which explore inland waters north of Victoria, are offered Oct. 11, 19 and 26, and Nov. 2.

“It’s a very unusual and endangered landscape,” said Maureen Gordon of Maple Leaf Adventures. “To find wild and untouched areas of this region is becoming increasingly rare.”

Tours begin and end in Sidney, cruising to Cabbage, Wallace and Mandarte islands in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, established in 2003. Group members will paddle intertidal areas by kayak, hike through rain forests and visit archeological sites of the indigenous Coast Salish people.

Cost: $1,700 per person, including cruise, accommodations, meals and excursions. Transportation to Sidney is not included.

Contact: Maple Leaf Adventures, Victoria, Canada; (888) 599-5323, www.mapleleafadventures.com.

BHUTAN

Sacred sites in remote nation

DISCOVER the remote kingdom of Bhutan on an 11-night tour sponsored by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

The tour, which begins Sept. 25, will be led by Brent Olson of Geographic Expeditions. The group will visit Paro and Thimphu, then continue into the Wangdiphodrang Valley to attend the colorful Wangdi Tshechu festival.

The event honors the Indian saint Guru Rinpoche (also called Guru Padmasambhava), who helped spread Tantric Buddhism in the Himalayas around AD 800. During the festival, legends are acted out by masked dancers, accompanied by musicians and drummers costumed as wild animals.

Other highlights include visits to cliff-side temples, including the Tiger’s Nest temple in the Paro Valley and to Gangteng Gompa in the Phobjikha Valley, one of the country’s oldest private monasteries.

Cost: $4,995 per person, double occupancy ($660 single surcharge), including lodging, meals, ground transportation, excursions and entrance fees. Internal airfare and international airfare from Los Angeles is not included.

Contact: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; (805) 884-6476, www.sbma.net.

ANTARCTICA

At home with the penguins

VOYAGE to see emperor penguins at the Snow Hill Island rookery in the Weddell Sea of Antarctica.

The two-week journey begins Oct. 8 in Ushuaia, Argentina. Travelers will go by icebreaker, helicopter and on foot to reach the newly discovered home of thousands of emperor penguins.

The 108-passenger Kapitan Klebnikov will cut through the ice of the Weddell Sea to Snow Hill Island. On the way, photographers and naturalists will lead seminars in nature photography and penguin behavior.

Passengers continue by helicopter, landing two miles from the rookery. They will walk, stopping one mile away to view the 4-foot-tall flightless birds.

The return route takes them to the Antarctic Peninsula to visit Adelie and Gentoo penguin colonies.

Naturalists will compare the adaptations of these birds to the much larger emperors.

Cost: $11,995 per person, double occupancy ($20,395 twin single cabin), including accommodations, meals, cruise and helicopter transportation, seminars and guides. Airfare from Los Angeles to Ushuaia is not included.

Contact: Quark Expeditions, Darien, Conn.; (800) 356-5699, www.quarkexpeditions.com.

MEXICO

Gills, not frills, in San Quintin

ANGLE on down to Baja for three days of serious fishing.

The bus trips, planned Sept. 22 and Oct. 20, leave Paso Robles, Calif., at 4 a.m. Passengers are also picked up at several points in Southern California starting at 7:30 a.m. for the trip to San Quintin on the Pacific Coast, about 200 miles from the border.

“There’s not a lot of froufrou,” said Steve Barstow of BajaFishing.Org, “We go catch fish, bring ‘em home.”

The trip eliminates the need to drive in Baja to a good fishing area that’s not served by the airlines, he said.

Participants head out early in the morning on 26- to 28-foot panga open skiffs in search of yellowtail, white sea bass, red rock cod, ling cod and possibly tuna.

Barstow warns that companions along for the ride will be bored. “There’s no shopping or pool” at the rustic Old Mill Hotel -- “just serious fishing.”

Cost: $725 per person, double or triple occupancy ($75 single surcharge), including accommodations for four nights, transportation and fishing excursions. Most meals are not included.

Contact: Baja Fishing.Org, Paso Robles; (800) 894-7239, www.bajafishing.org.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. Send information to Tours & Cruises, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., CA 90012 or travel@latimes.com.