How do you stay dry in a saltwater park?
Well, anything’s possible on Catalina Island.
You can visit hundreds of fish in Love’s Cove.
Seated, comfortable in a semi-submersible.
A boat with large windows, stools below deck.
Where you pass through kelp forests.
Underwater seaweed trees.
Undulating this way, that.
According to the currents.
Straightening up to look for light.
For in this briny world, kelp grows like magic.
Sometimes two feet a day!
With the help of spherical gas-filled floats.
Like tiny helium balloons.
Keeping blades near the water’s surface.
To catch sunshine.
Schools of fish and seaweed forests
are busy beneath the sea.
Hop a semi-submersible
to glimpse the variety.
No need for scuba gear,
for deep diving anxiety.
Take children, keep them dry,
eyeing marine society.
Lynn Benjamin
March 24, 2024
