August 4, 2014

Reef Check Foundation Hosts Dana Point Adopt-a-Reef Event

Reef Check Foundation is teaming up with four Dana Point hotels to host a first ever Dana Point Meet a Citizen Scientist event on August 10, 2014 from 2:00 to 4:30 pm at The Ritz- Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Children and adults will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on beach activities, from exploring tidepools to interacting with Reef Check volunteer divers and learning all about rocky reefs.

The four hotels – The Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, Marriot and DoubleTree – are partners in Reef Check’s “Adopt-a-Reef” program that sponsors annual health checks of the reef ecosystems by volunteer citizen scientists trained by Reef Check. The event will allow families to experience something extraordinary and learn not only about ocean life, but also how Reef Check divers monitor the health of the reefs. There will be a tide-pooling activity at 2:30 p.m. With guidance from marine biologists, participants will have the chance to explore the tidepools near Salt Creek beach and they will be able to test their knowledge with a round of Tidepool Bingo! After that, participants will get the opportunity to practice being a Reef Check diver, on dry land, by recording kelp forest critters on their datasheets and using giant measuring tapes called “transects”. Finally, at 3:30 pm, Reef Check Citizen Scientists will emerge from the ocean after a survey dive. The divers will show off their dive gear, survey gear and completed datasheets and guests will be able to interact with the dive team to learn more about the amazing, colorful life found in kelp forests.

This event will permit those involved to step away from television and computer screens and plunge into an outdoor learning environment. Participants will have the chance to discover what may be a new passion and learn first-hand about the rocky reefs that surround the environment in which they live.

For more information about the Adopt-a-Reef program, visit https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/join/adopt_reef.php.

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