Fund-raiser goes under the sea

Young Chang

CRYSTAL COVE -- Without wetting a toe, visitors could see the ocean

floor Saturday.

They saw the undersides of starfish at the edge of a nearby reef,

plants colored a glassy lavender, senorita fish that glowed bright red

and the occasional gloved hand pointing to something better, something

newer swimming by.

The view came through an “Interactive Water Educator” that the Crystal

Cove Conservancy and the California Department of Parks and Recreation

unveiled during a conservancy fund-raiser.

The program connected divers wearing headphones, video cameras and

walkie-talkies to monitors and viewers on land.

Such advanced marine technology, cove conservationists said, is the

ironic but effective way to get close to nature wherever you are.

The underwater presentation was sandwiched among lectures on

everything from kelp reforestation to dolphin-birthing studies, tide pool

programs, raffles and an exhibit of historic storyboards. Vendors offered

information on protecting nature while artists from the Laguna Plein Air

Painters Assn. sold art.

Crystal Cove, designated by the state as one of 34 areas of special

biological significance, will serve as a pilot location for the new

technology.

“The object of this is to be able to perfect this technology so we can

bring it from the beaches to schools and hospitals,” said heiress Joan

Irvine Smith, co-founder of the Crystal Cove Conservancy. “Don’t you

think it’d be interesting for kids in the inner city to see the beach?”

Proceeds from Saturday’s unveiling will benefit the conservancy’s

education programs and go toward the restoration of the cove’s 46

cottages, which were vacated by residents in July to make way for state

repairs.

“If we’re going to preserve our environment, it’s imperative that our

young people and others become acquainted with the environment,” Smith

said. “We are the stewards of the land, the water and the air. It may

inspire [kids] to get involved with something to do with water, like

marine biology.”

Adrian Novotny, one of about 20 divers who bobbed off the cove, said

he’s glad the rest of the world can finally view what he has long seen.

“We have an enormous coastline,” the Long Beach City College teacher

said. “And only divers have been enjoying it.”

As Joe Valencic, a professor of marine science at Saddleback College,

managed technicalities on land, divers wearing photography equipment

pointed out everything from fishing lines to the digestive functions of

starfish.

They joked about sharks, or the lack of them this weekend, and assured

viewers they wouldn’t leave one nook unexplored.

Newport Beach resident Patti Boortz said she didn’t know there was so

much color down there.

“This is great. It’s right in our own backyard,” she said.

Her friend Lori Christine, also of Newport Beach, said she recently

visited Hawaii and saw similar colors there. They openly “oohed” and

“aahed” throughout the morning, both confessed.

State Parks officials are looking at ways to broadcast the images over

the Internet and in homes.

“They plan to be able to take this all over the world,” Smith said.

-- Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268

or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .