SINCE THE BEGINNING of time, man has been fascinated with caves. Dark, dank and mysterious, they test the very depths of our imagination. But while man lived for centuries in caves on dry land, it's sea caves that offer the real adventure. And no place in California has more sea caves than the Channel Islands .

First, a geography lesson. The Channel Islands are eight spits of land off the Southern California coast. They lie in a spot between the mainland and the deep ocean called the Continental Shelf. There's an amazing array of wildlife and water so clear, Jacques Cousteau once called it one of the best cold water diving spots on the planet. Oh, and something else. We own these islands. They're part of the U.S. National Park system.

On a day when the fog was skirting the sun, I joined a group of kayakers on a trip to the closest island in the chain, Anacapa. We left out of Oxnard, about an hour north of Burbank and just below Santa Barbara . It's a wonderful town that really needs a name change (remember the Johnny Carson jokes on "The Tonight Show"?) But that's a story for another time.

The boat trip to Anacapa is not for the weak of stomach. Dramamine and a steady eye on the horizon helped me through the 90-minute excursion, which was more like a liquid roller coaster ride. But once we were in our kayaks, the waves were gentle and easy to ride. Anacapa is a long, skinny spine of cliffs and caves

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that the Chumash called "Anyapakh," or mirage. Our guide was most aptly named, Jimmy McWaters.

In and out of the sea caves we paddled, riding the tides and marveling at the marine life. If ever there were an amusement park for this sport, the Channel Islands would be it.

Off of Anacapa alone, there are more than 120 sea caves. Some are big, with wide open entries. Some are tiny, barely allowing a kayaker to enter before being spit back out with the tide. On longer trips you can beach your kayak and hike the trails on several of the islands.

For information on Channel Islands National Park , call 805-658-5730 or log on to www.nps.gov/chis.

Ginny Prior has a weekly syndicated travel radio show on Sports Byline USA. If you have a travel destination you'd like to share, drop a note to The Happy Wanderer at ginnyprior.com.