My maritime obsessed father named me Marina and it feels right–I always want to get out on the water. After browsing for day trips on boats leaving out of Santa Barbara, an upcoming getaway, my husband Sam found one boat offering a once-a-year, 5 day, live-aboard, fully guided and supported expedition around the Channel Islands. We stopped looked at each other in stunned silence–screw day trips, this was the dream! And the expedition was leaving the harbor in, uh, 48 hours. After a wild childcare scramble, we made it from Hawaii to the Santa Barbara harbor, the last guests to drag our bags, surfboards and cooler onto the 80-foot Vision, joining maybe 15 other adventurous souls and a motley crew of grinning staff, no doubt stoked they got to come along for this rare voyage.
