She won’t emerge from the half-shell like Botticelli’s famous Venus, but La Jollan Anne Cleveland will arrive in Monaco later this month from the sea.
Cleveland and a group of La Jollans will make a splash to announce the new La Jolla-Monaco Science & Cultural Exchange with the small principality on the Mediterranean. Famed long-distance swimmer Cleveland ” who has conquered the English Channel twice, including a double-channel swim ” will swim from the French town of Cap’ Martin down the coast to the Musee’ Oceanographique de Monaco on June 22.Cleveland is a La Jolla Town Council trustee and member of the council committee that is working to forge a special bond with La Jolla’s sister city.
Centerpiece of the exchange will be a sharing of oceanic knowledge between the Musee’ Oceanographique and La Jolla’s own Scripps Institution of Oceanography.Both were founded at the turn of the 20th century as the world’s first oceanographic institutions, Scripps by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps and the Musee’ by H.S.H. Prince Albert I. The council committee will commemorate both benefactors.
The goodwill mission was announced during a May 25 press conference on the roof of the old Scripps Hospital at 464 Prospect St. ” now a cluster of high-end condo apartments ” by Capt. Ed Sullivan, chair of the town council’s La Jolla-Monaco committee, and Max Gurney, honorary chairman and Hon. Consul of Monaco (Ret.), who has lived in La Jolla for many years.
Sullivan gave credit for the exchange idea to Kay Gurney, Max’s late wife.
“She always used to remark about how similar La Jolla and Monaco are,” Sullivan said after the press conference.
As part of the Monaco visit, the council committee will present a portrait of Ellen Browning Scripps to the Musee’ Oceanographique de Monaco as a gift from La Jolla.The portrait is by La Jolla artist Nora, who attended the La Jolla press conference and showed the crowd the unfinished work.
Other members of the town council’s Monaco committee include La Jolla Art Association President Scott Graham, who is developing a network of La Jolla artists and arts information for networking with Monaco artists, and Dianne York-Goldman, co-founder of La Jolla Spa MD.

Sullivan introduced York-Goldman ” who is also a model and author ” by commenting that although France and Monaco are known for their beautiful women, La Jolla “certainly can compete.”
The committee’s visit to Monaco will coincide with the Monaco Boat Show, June 17 to 24, in Monaco Harbor.
Cleveland said she had originally planned to swim right into Monaco Harbor to announce the partnership with fanfare.
“But then I started thinking about the possible danger with all those boats,” Cleveland said, so her seaside Monaco destination was changed to the Musee’.
In September, Prof. Jean Joubert, Musee’ director and a renowned coral reef specialist, will visit Scripps. Joubert is also science director of the Cousteau Society. The late Cmdr. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the famed oceanographer and environmentalist, was a former director of the Musee’ Oceanographique de Monaco.
Joubert’s visit will happen to coincide with the Museum of Contemporary Art’s annual Monte Carlo-themed fund-raiser, another aspect of the arts portion of the exchange.
For more information about the La Jolla-Monaco Science & Cultural Exchange Committee, call the La Jolla Town Council office, (858) 454-1444.