Snorkeling

The Community Services Department is offering a three-hour class in snorkeling and kayaking today. The class will be from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Brea Plunge, the community pool at Brea Boulevard and Elm Street. The pool used for the lesson will be decorated with shells and imitation fish to simulate a snorkeling experience in the ocean. Participants must know how to swim and be over the age of 11. The fee is $22 for Brea residents and $27 for non-residents.

Iceland has become the little nation that could. Despite an economic collapse in 2008, the island has bounced back on the tourism charts and made the cut of must-see 2013 destinations, according to both Lonely Planet and Frommer's .  So maybe it's time to go, especially to see the Northern Lights. Online discounter Zozi offers a five-day Winter Northern Lights Adventure for those who want to make like a Viking and experience the outdoor life. The tour is for two people with dates available through mid-May.

I understand and acknowledge that sharks are wild animals and are unpredictable and that if I should be bitten, attacked or harmed in any way I could suffer severe injuries including, but not limited to punctures, abrasions, lacerations, dismemberment, emotional distress and even death . . . . Signing a waiver that included this passage seemed an ominous start to a weekend.

Truth Aquatics' one-day adventure to Santa Cruz Island is a great day on the water, with whale watching, a visit to Santa Cruz's Painted Cave, snorkeling, kayaking and just plain relaxing. $90 per person includes breakfast and barbecue lunch; $50 for kids ages 5 to 12. Multiday hiking trips to the island also are available. Truth Aquatics, Santa Barbara; (805) 962-1127, http://www.truthaquatics.com Doris Schaffer Santa Barbara

In "Going Overboard on the South Shore" (April 13), author Jeffrey Selin writes of how beautiful the marine and bird sanctuary is, yet there is a picture of a young man "with a moray eel he speared while snorkeling at Ulua Reef." Those of us who are scuba divers and snorkelers realize how irresponsible it is to spear fish (especially moray eels). The picture represents all that is bad about spearfishing.

The Galapagos Islands tour from Thomson Family Travel keeps the adventure quotient high -- orienteering, snorkeling, kayaking and camping on the beach -- and prices low for selected 10-day trips this summer. The Galapagos Multi-Sport Adventure begins in Quito, Ecuador, with two days in the Andean highlands that include a visit to Itchimbia Hill, 9,500 feet above sea level overlooking the city, and a stop at the Condor Project in Hacienda Zuleta to see the huge birds firsthand.

In John Henderson's Oct. 28 article ("Frolicking with Cayman Stingrays Is Dive 'High' "), the implication is that the fun is restricted to divers. But there is excellent snorkeling. At Sting Ray City, the water is waist deep--ideal even for non-snorkelers. A fascinating experience and highly recommended. MARION LUTZ Pasadena

Johnny Guagliardo emerged from the water, splashing violently and extending his arms at full length trying to describe the halibut that just got away. He spoke quickly, trying to catch his breath, as he described his snorkeling/fishing expedition. "I've never seen a fish that big in my life," Guagliardo said. He and his friend, Richard Miller, sat on the beach exchanging fishing tales, and battling a rush of the shivers.

Deloris St. John ("More Than Just Carsick Near Cairns," Letters, Feb. 3) complains about choppy seas on her Great Barrier Reef trip and suggests that going to an island will solve that problem. When the ocean is choppy, the viewing is poor whether you enter the water from land or boat. We also took a boat to a pontoon last July, and we had a wonderful time snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. Luck and timing helped, and, of course, checking the weather. We stayed in Cairns and enjoyed every minute.

I enjoyed reading Tracy Johnston's Feb. 15 article on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. But her descriptions of Green Island as "filled with day-trippers and fast-food stands" in contrast to "pleasant and relaxing" Heron Island could lead prospective visitors into making the wrong choice of resorts or prevent some with only a day to spend from visiting the reef altogether. I have stayed at and enjoyed both resorts. Green Island is best for those with limited time and money. Because of the excellent underwater observatory, reef movie theater and the large well-kept aquarium and museum, it is possible to get a good introduction to the reef and its inhabitants.

Looking for a last splash before the school year kicks in? The adventure deal site Zozi is offering a Catalina snorkeling trip for two for $38, about half the usual cost. It includes a guided trip to explore Lover's Cove, where participants can swim alongside sea lions, seals and colorful fish. The deal: Guided two-hour tour leaves from shore. Customer is responsible for arranging transportation to Catalina Island. Reservations are required and subject to availability. Snorkel trips depart almost hourly between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., seven days a week.

Travelers may think of Hawaii as the land of surfboards, sunsets and mai tais, but there's a lava flow of reasons to go beyond the beaches and discover why residents say they are lucky to live in Hawaii. And, yes, some of the state's best beaches are found on the Big Island. But don't get stuck there. Do what the locals do: Swim with the honu. There are five snorkeling areas along the Big Island's Kohala Coast: Puako Bay, Waialea Beach (Beach 69), Hapuna Beach, Mauna Kea and Mauume.

The Galapagos Islands tour from Thomson Family Travel keeps the adventure quotient high -- orienteering, snorkeling, kayaking and camping on the beach -- and prices low for selected 10-day trips this summer. The Galapagos Multi-Sport Adventure begins in Quito, Ecuador, with two days in the Andean highlands that include a visit to Itchimbia Hill, 9,500 feet above sea level overlooking the city, and a stop at the Condor Project in Hacienda Zuleta to see the huge birds firsthand.

Delve more deeply into Bali's cultural side on a 12-day tour that emphasizes drumming, meditation, spiritual ceremonies and more. Tribal Music Tours leads a group of 14 to the Indonesian island on a trip that includes daily guided meditations and daily healing drum circles (drums provided). Guests stay in jungle villas in Ubud where exploration begins by foot to the Monkey Forest and the village. During the trip, participants jam with gamelan masters during a drum workshop, visit drum craftsmen and master healers, take a Balinese dance workshop and experience a men's kecak trance dance by night.

Did you promise to get active in 2011? If you have a taste for the offbeat — swamp soccer, anyone? — these one-of-a-kind sporting events can help you keep that promise and travel at the same time. The World Bog Snorkeling Championship If you love to snorkel, you can have a "bog-tastic" experience at the World Bog Snorkeling Championship in August in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, where snorkelers complete two lengths of a 60-yard water-filled trench cut through a peat bog. Competitors wear snorkels and flippers, but they don't use conventional strokes — just their flippers.

N. Paul Kenworthy Jr., a camera-systems inventor and cinematographer whose captivating wildlife footage was featured in Walt Disney's Academy Award-winning True-Life Adventure films "The Living Desert" and "The Vanishing Prairie," has died. He was 85. Kenworthy, who co-invented the Snorkel Camera System, died of thyroid cancer Oct. 15 at a senior living facility in Ventura, said his son Kirk. The cancer had spread to his lungs. A World War II veteran, Kenworthy earned a postwar master's degree in cinematography at UCLA, shooting a documentary on desert wildlife that centered on the battle between a pepsis wasp and a tarantula.

"Island Crime Problems Point to Trouble in Paradise" (Her World, Oct. 20) was unfair and slanted. There are areas where tourists shouldn't go on St. Croix, but this can be said of many Caribbean islands. Susan Spano may think St. Croix is less appealing than St. Thomas, but St. Thomas does not have the Whim Plantation Museum, where tourists can see what plantation life was like or Buck Island Reef National Monument with its underwater snorkeling trail. True, we don't have million-dollar jewelry and T-shirt shops.

With respect to the article June 7 by Rob and Steve Kay, "A Capital Time in Old Fiji," I would like to deter others from falling into the pit called the Old Capital Inn in Levuka (Ovalau). Having spent numerous vacations throughout the South Pacific and two months traveling in Fiji, I must comment that this is the worst place I have ever encountered. The rooms are lousy and the food is worse. Emosi Yee Show advertises as going to Cagelai daily, which he doesn't. A far better bet is to contact Jan Tuni of Tuni Tours operating out of Rukuruku Resort or at Matt's Corner (the only coffee shop in town)

Swim with the humpback whales at Silver Bank, Dominican Republic. Observe whale behavior and snorkel with them during seven-day trips on a comfortable 18-passenger boat. Great adventure and educational too. Conscious Breath Adventures, P.O. Box 430343, Miami 33243; (305) 753-1732, http://www.consciousbreathadventures.com From about $3,000 per person -- Doris Schaffer, Fallbrook

Believe it or not, there is a strange breed of people who never lie down at the beach. Maybe they aren't tired, or forgot to bring a book, or have an aversion to nostril sand, but they hardly ever touch their towels. Instead, the beach is their launching pad for adventure -- for swimming pier to pier, running miles through the whitewater, snorkeling, and digging for volleyballs. If you can relate, here's some innovative new gear worth lugging along. -- Roy M.