Cruise News from Canada: New Ship, Photographing Bears and Whales, and with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society

New Ship 
Maple Leaf Adventures, Canada's boutique expedition cruise company, is pleased to announce the addition of a second classic schooner to their fleet for the 2014 season. The company has made a name for its wildlife, nature and culture cruises on the Alaska and British Columbia coast aboard a classic sailing ship. Their flagship,  the Maple Leaf, a 1904 Canadian schooner, has been sailing at capacity for years. Maple Leaf is pleased to add a new , 70 foot wooden schooner to the fleet, offering  addtiional trips in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) in May and June, and in the Great Bear Rainforest in September and October.

Photographing Bears and Whales
From August 23 - September 2nd, 2014
MapleLeaf adventures are offering a  Boutique Expedition Cruise and Workshop. There are a lot of photography trips out there. What distinguishes this one is three fold. First, the exceptional guest to instructor ratio. Second, its led by some of the coast's most experienced bear guides in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest. Third, it includes a land based workshop followed by a 10 day expedition aboard the classic, Canadian schooner Maple Leaf.

This is a trip for beginner, intermediate or advanced photographers who wish to photograph grizzly bears, whales, rain forest, fjords and seascapes. Limited to just 8 participants, there are two professional nature photographers as instructors, with plenty of time for one on one instruction at each participant's level of experience. Add to htis the ship's expedition bear guides and a gourmet chef, plust 6 million hectares of fjords and bear meadows, and you have the makings of an epic photography trip.

Details: Cdn $6970 per person based on double occupancy , includes 2 daypre cruise workshop and accommodations and meals, all shipboard accommodations and cruising, gourmet meals and snacks by the ships chef, all beverages including wine and beer, all shore trips, photo instruction and guiding, and use of all gear on board ship including kayaks. 11 days/10 nights departng Port McNeill, BC and return Bella Bella, BC (Gateway airport Vancouver, BC)

Sail the Great  Bear Rainforest with the Royal Canadian Geographical Socieity and Robert Bateman
June 19 - 27th, 2014
In the Great Bear Rainforest, on the west coast of Canada, 6 million hectares of fjords, mountains, islands and forests stretch from north of Vancouver Island to the Alaska border. Its teeming with wildlife , from whales and seabirds  to ocean swimming wolf packs, to grizzly bears and the rare, white spirit bear. Most cruise ships are bound for Alaska and blindly sail past this great land in the dark, their theatre shows and movie screens in full blare.

But if you step aboard the Maple Leaf Adventures expedition cruise here, you'll sail down the fjords by classic schooner, go ashore in the rain forest, view bears eating sedges in wildflower meadows, feel the breath of whales drift across the deck, and set foot on remote sandy beaches with no one around for miles.

This special trip, a fund raiser for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, includes Canada's most famous living painter, Robert Bateman, a naturalist, as well as experts from the RCGS,and local researchers and residents. Plus, there are just  8 guests per  ship - for a personalised adventure.

Details: Cdn$9995 per person double occupancy includes air fare from Vancouver to Bella Bella, all accommodations and cruising, gourmet meals and snacks by the ships's chef, all beverages including wine and beer, all shore trips and guidling and use of all gear on board including kayaks. 9 days/8 nights, depart & return Vancouver.

For more information on all of the above check out www.MapleLeafAdventures.com
Prices do not include international airfares.  

For more media information please contact Ms Nim Singh, Canadian Tourism Commission on 0207 389 9983 singh.nim@ctc-cct.ca (not for publication)