Check Off Your Bucket List: The Best Travel Deals This Week

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We love it when summer vacation planning is about deciding between bucket list items. Swimming with whales

On the one hand, we could go snorkeling with pods of humpback whales off the Canadian Atlantic island of Newfoundland. Oceanquest’s half-day “Close Encounter” snorkeling excursion costs just $199 -- not much more than bottle service costs -- and gets us literally close enough to reach out and touch those creatures of the deep. Weekend and weeklong snorkeling-with-whales packages are debuting soon. And snorkeling is one of several outdoorsy experiences, from shipwreck exploration to hiking, within a weeklong "Consummate Explorer" package, for $1,999/person, double occupancy.www.oceanquestadventures.com Sharp shooting

On the other hand, we could jet to the Kingdom of Tonga accompanied by legendary nature photographer Amos Nachoum. Bonus: Nachoum’s willing to reveal wide-angle lens secrets as we all -- you guessed it -- snorkel with humpback whales. The photog's Big Animals Expeditions is organizing this “free-diving encounter with gentle giants” trip, August 20-September 2, for $7,500/person, double occupancy, excluding airfare.http://biganimals.com Even sharper shooting

If you'd rather shoot guns than cameras, try Primland's “Driven Pheasant Shoot” package. It features a night at this seriously upscale Blue Ridge mountain resort, a dinner, practice sporting clays, and a guided shoot of 200 marked birds for eight guns, six drives, which includes breakfast, snack, lunch and ammo, at $2,800 per gun.Or, for a less bloody getaway, southwestern Virginia’s marquee annual outdoor music festival, FloydFest, takes place off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the laid-back town of Floyd, July 26-29. Stay at Hotel Floyd.www.floydfest.comhttp://primland.comhttp://hotelfloyd.com Pop-up resort

Speaking of unique places to chill, Berlin-based Design Hotels has taken over an older collection of beach bungalows in Tulum to create a “pop-up resort” open only until May 5th. Papaya Playa, a Design Hotels™ Project on the sandy (and safe) beaches of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, temporarily features a German chef, holistic Mayan healers at a beachfront spa, a raw bar, and DJs imported to lead jam sessions in the sand.www.designhotels.comwww.mamounia.com/ Manly luxuriating

And, finally, let's take it to extreme heights of luxury. Here’s a great guy-themed package from Hong Kong’s The Landmark Mandarin Oriental: “Time for Two,” available March 1-August 31 at $1,779 per night, offers a night in an L900 Landmark suite, breakfast, one dinner for two, free Internet, plus a massage, and VitaMan treatment at a 25,000-sq-ft spa (with guys-only saunas and Turkish hammam). The deal includes choices such as a private viewing of Audemars Piguet’s latest watches, a Pringle of Scotland gift set or a session with Brioni’s chief master tailor Angelo Di Febo, who will be visiting the hotel from March 23-25.http://www.mandarinoriental.com/landmark/ Continue Reading

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