Ferries

Birds twitter and sunshine twinkles through groves of bamboo and banyan trees adorned with cascades of orchids. With every step, my Vibram boot soles crush hibiscus blossoms littering a pathway, while butterflies flutter around a group of elderly folks welcoming the morning with the gracious silent semaphore of tai chi. At a clearing where remnants of a World War ll gun emplacement rust, half-swallowed in greenery, an opening in the jungle reveals...

  In an apartment on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, an opposition activist retrieves stashes of medicine and bandages from hiding places. "What we need most right now are empty blood bags, oxygen masks and tetanus shots - and also a heart defibrillator," says the medical volunteer, tallying packages of antibiotics soon to be channeled out to protest strongholds. The trick is to move the supplies quickly so no evidence remains if security forces raid the premises, says the activist, who, like others interviewed, declined to be named for security reasons.

Victoria, British Columbia, pops with blooms in spring. Tulips, cherry trees and more can be seen around the Canadian city and at Butchart Gardens . Clipper Vacations has a ferry and hotel package that's good for visitors short on time and money. Prices start at $138 a person for round-trip ferry from Seattle to Victoria and two nights in a hotel. The deal: The Springtacular Sale is based on double occupancy and includes two round-trip Victoria Clipper ferry tickets plus two nights in the Harbour Towers Hotel.

Many of the best-received commercials during Sunday's Super Bowl referenced movies — they just weren't for movies heading to the local cineplex any time soon. Several car ads that sparked some of the biggest interest on Twitter and other social-media platforms during the big game alluded to classic older films. Meanwhile, studio spots for major upcoming releases — including Marvel's "Avengers," Universal's "Battleship," Disney's "John Carter" and Paramount's "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" — passed without any great excitement or anticipation from a large number of online commenters.

The tide was just high enough for Skip Staats to take his wooden dinghy up to the sea wall, where he likes to sit and sip coffee in the morning sun. Had it been any more shallow he might not have been on the scene to help save a family of four whose van plunged off the Balboa Island ferry and into Newport Harbor early Friday. Staats, 46, is credited with rescuing two children and their father from the sinking minivan, which was shoved into the water when it was rammed from behind by a Mercedes-Benz.

At least six people were killed when a luxury cruise ship with 4,200 passengers and crew aboard ran aground off the Italian coast and began taking on water Saturday, according to numerous news agencies. The Costa Concordia was on a Mediterranean voyage when it hit a reef about dinnertime near Isola del Giglio, a tiny Tuscan island. European news agencies quoted Costa Cruises, the company that runs the ship, as saying the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members were being evacuated, "but the position of the ship, which is worsening, is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation.

Vancouver Island , Canada, is within easy reach of Seattle . Now Clipper Vacations makes it easy and cheap. Fall and winter getaways with a ferry and hotel package start at $99 a person for an overnight stay. Go for fall colors, holiday lights or anytime in between. The deal: The Big Colorful Sale includes a round-trip ferry crossing from Seattle to Victoria and one night at the Harbour Towers for $99 a person. Two nights start at $123 per person. Prices are based on double occupancy and exclude tax and fees.

One of the world's biggest casino operators has hired Los Angeles shopping center magnate Rick Caruso to develop a $550-million retail and entertainment district in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip crowned by an enormous Ferris wheel. Caruso, who is weighing a run for mayor of Los Angeles, was tapped by Caesars Entertainment Corp. to oversee creation of the Linq, a new open-air attraction across Las Vegas Boulevard from Caesars Palace. The outdoor venue would have more in common with Caruso's Grove shopping center in Los Angeles than it would with hermetically sealed casinos.

Reggae rock comes to Santa Catalina Island with a Friday night beach concert by Dirty Heads. Tickets cost $30 each, but you can score a free ticket if you buy a round-trip boat package for $70.  -- The deal: The Dirty Heads in Concert package includes same-day, round-trip boat fare between Long Beach and Avalon. Simpkin Project and HB Surround Sound open the concert from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Descanso Beach Club, an easy walk from the boat dock. Concertgoers travel on a Catalina Classic Cruises chartered boat from the terminal at the Queen Mary parking lot, 1046 Queens Highway, Long Beach.

They fly low and slow over the border, their wings painted black and motors humming faintly under moonlit skies. The pilots, some armed in the open cockpits, steer the horizontal control bar with one hand and pull a latch with the other, releasing 250-pound payloads that land with a thud, leaving only craters as evidence of another successful smuggling run. Mexican organized crime groups, increasingly stymied by stepped-up enforcement on land, have...