Best Affordable Fall Adventures

Sea Kayaking Amid Killer Whales in British Columbia

Operator: Pacific Northwest Expeditions

British Columbia’s Johnstone Strait, a glacier-carved channel between the mainland and Vancouver Island, offers intrepid sea kayakers a chance to get up close and personal with killer whales. Surrounded by the glaciated peaks of the Coastal Range, you’ll witness pods of orcas feeding on the annual salmon runs, which go only through October. Other likely animal sightings: humpback whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Dall’s porpoises, minke whales, even black bears and grizzlies. You’ll also take short hikes in the mountainous Pacific rainforest from your beach camp at Spyhop Point, a quiet spot with roomy tents under towering hemlock and Sitka spruce trees.

Cost: $880, four days.