GUIDES MAKE KAYAKING EASIER.

Byline: Bill Becher Special to the Daily News

While paddling around Scorpion Bay can be suitable for beginners, learning to spelunk caves in a kayak should be done with an experienced guide.

Southwind Kayak Center (949-261-0200 or 800-SOUTHWIND or southwindkayaks.com) and Channel Guides (805-899-4807) have guided tours and instruction. For transportation, contact Island Packers (805-642-1393 or islandpackers.com). Camping information: Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center (805-658-5730, or nips.gov/chis). ``Sea Caves of Santa Cruz Island'' by David Bunnell is an excellent guide to the caves. ``Adventure Kayaking: Trips from Big Sur to San Diego'' by Rob Mohle has cave tour descriptions and maps.

--Santa Cruz Island: The National Park Service acquired the east end of the island only a couple years ago and is in the process of setting up facilities. The Nature Conservancy (805-962-9111) owns the majority of the island. Santa Cruz is the largest of eight California Channel Islands and the most varied. It is home to many species of plants and animals, some found only on the Channel Islands. Mountains rise to over 3,000 feet, deep valleys pierce the island, and year-round streams provide a lusher environment than other, more barren islands in the group. Seventy-seven miles of undeveloped coastline riddled with sea caves ring the island. Seal Canyon Cave is over 600 feet deep. Paddling the coastline, you will see rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, tide pools dotted with brightly colored starfish, many sea birds and, of course, the caves.

Santa Cruz Island was formed some 20- to 25-million years ago from volcanic lava flows from the ocean bottom. The lava cracked as it cooled. Later, under pressure, other material infused into the cracks and hardened. The same plate tectonics that created the Sierra Nevada uplifted the previously submerged volcanoes to form the Channel Islands. The caves were formed very recently in geologic time by erosion from the ocean carving the softer material out of the cracks in the volcanic basalt. Fresh water percolating through the ground also helped create the caves.

Chumash Indians inhabited Santa Cruz for over 6,000 years. They hunted and fished the island and made shell-bead money, used as a trade item with mainland tribes. Starting in 1839, the island was sheep and cattle ranched, and vineyards produced award-winning wines. The Park Service is restoring and preserving an adobe and several ranch buildings at Scorpion Bay. Santa Cruz was named, according to a legend, for a cross-tipped staff, accidentally left behind by a priest from the Portolla Expedition of 1769, which was later returned by a Chumash Indian.

--Hantavirus: A strain of Hantavirus similar to the Four Corners strain has been found in up to 70 percent of the mice on Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands. There have been no reported human illnesses from contact on the islands. When the strain was found during testing in 1994, further tests were performed including testing of long-term island residents and employees. None tested positive for contact.

Hantavirus (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome) causes flu-like symptoms: fever, fatigue, muscle aches, cough, headaches and vomiting followed by rapid onset of respiratory distress 12 hours to several days later. The disease is spread through contact (aerosol or skin) with urine, feces or nesting materials of rodents or through contaminated food or water. This is a life-threatening illness.

REDUCE RISK OF INFECTION

The National Park Service recommends the following to help avoid infection:

--Do not feed any wild animals.

--Avoid contact with rodents and rodent burrows.

--Do not disturb dens.

--Do not pitch tents or place sleeping bags in proximity to rodent feces or burrows or near possible rodent shelters.

--Keep food in rodent-proof containers.

--Promptly discard garbage and trash in rodent-proof containers.

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