The sun beamed down on a grassy patch of Mission Point where a handful of teenagers were struggling into thick, unwieldy wetsuits last month. Once they pulled, tugged and squirmed their way into the cumbersome gear, they waddled down to the calm waters of Mission Bay like giant penguins. Cheryl Barnes, outreach director of the nonprofit San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF), explained the need for the wetsuits. “They’re really buoyant – it keeps them floating and keeps them warm,” she said. The warm and buoyant included high school participants in the organization’s summer snorkeling program, and the SDOF staff, interns and volunteers who supervised them. Summer snorkeling is part of SDOF’s Ocean in Motion program, which seeks to bring San Diego’s terrestrial inhabitants closer to its vibrant marine ecosystem, with an emphasis on youth. The organization partners with other local groups, such as the YMCA, Boy and Girl Scouts, and children of military, to get young San Diegans snorkeling. There is also a classroom component to the program, which holds interactive presentations in schools. The day’s partner is Outdoor Outreach, a nonprofit that aims to provide ecological adventures to underprivileged youth who have little other opportunity to explore the environment. As nonprofit workers have discovered, living near the ocean is no guarantee that residents know much about it. At one low-income school Barnes visited to conduct a mammal class, she encountered kids who couldn’t identify a sea lion. “The craziest thing that has happened was a kid got in the water and said, ‘Why does it taste salty?’” Barnes said. “And they’re from San Diego.” The snorkeling trips offer a full day of hands-on learning. For groups that have transportation, it begins at the Birch Aquarium where they are introduced to various marine species and habitats found on the Pacific Coast, get their hands wet in large touch-tanks and receive a primer on climate change. Otherwise, the day begins at the Mission Point snorkeling site with program coordinator Zoe Dagan’s briefing on local marine life. “The idea is for them to be able to identify the things they’re going to see,” Barnes said. While education is a primary goal, SDOF places equal importance on safety. The location at Mission Point was chosen not just for the presence of three distinct habitats (rocks, sea grass and sand) but also for its easy beach access and calm conditions. Because groups typically include some first-time snorkelers — and often a few who have never been in the ocean — they spend as much time as necessary in shallow water before moving away from the shore. Finally, SDOF requires a maximum adult-to-student ratio of 3 to 1 and Dagan, who leads the trips, is a certified rescue diver. The snorkelers float and kick along the rocks for an hour, meeting creatures like the neon-flecked Navanax sea slug, long-legged brittle stars and Garibaldi, the California marine fish. When they return, some boast of more exotic finds: a flatfish, even an octopus. Before shedding their heavy wetsuits, the students learn to take core samples of sand and witness the ghost shrimp, olive snails and polychaete worms that live under the floor of the bay. The day concludes with a chat about ocean stewardship and sustainable seafood choices. Amadeus Avakian, 17, saw his first glow-in-the-dark lantern fish at the aquarium and learned that sharks kill only one to 10 people a year worldwide. “It made me a lot less scared of sharks,” he said. Dagan knows that attitudes can soften as a day advances. “They’re a little distant earlier in the day, and then by the end of the day they’re your best friend,” she said. “They’re asking questions, they’re involved, they want to know more.” Another testament to the program’s impact is the steadily growing number of participants, up 250 percent from its debut in 2002 to 360 (so far) in 2009.
