Scuba Diver Dies : Tides Play an In-Out Game

Tides so low that they exposed parts of the ocean floor unseen for a decade or more attracted thousands to beaches and tide pools of Southern California Tuesday for a glimpse of some of the sea’s secrets.

In Laguna Beach, the tide level was blamed in part for a holiday tragedy. Randall Frans said he was unable to reach his brother, who was knocked over by a large wave while scuba-diving off Moss State Beach, because of rocks exposed by the low tide.

Richard Frans, who was visiting from Connecticut during the holidays, was found 50 yards offshore and was pronounced dead later at a hospital.

The unusual tidal conditions are caused by a relatively rare alignment of the earth, moon and sun, coupled with the moon in perigee, to produce a stronger than normal gravitational pull on the Earth.

While the effect on the Pacific is relatively small, the tides were the highest in 20 years, reaching peak levels of more than seven feet along the Orange County coast in the morning and dropping to below minus two feet about 3 p.m.

Tides were expected to be slightly higher this morning and to drop a little lower this afternoon. More visitors are expected along the shores to examine such creatures as limpets, sea hares, sea anemones, starfish, hermit crabs and many others that play an important role in the life chain connecting ocean with land.

“I’ve never seen so many people here,” said Stan Cummings, director of the Orange County Marine Institute at Dana Point, located just inside a breakwater beyond which extensive, rock-studded tide pools were bared by the retreating waters.

In small pools of water trapped by the rocks, hundreds of children and parents poked at sea anemones, cradled tiny hermit crabs in their hands, watched sea hares squirt their purple ink.

“These pools can suffer from the human impact, but so far today I haven’t seen any serious damage, in spite of the crowds,” Cummings said. “I think many of the people here have learned from our courses at the institute that the creatures must not be carried away to die.”

While sea water lapped higher and farther than normal into many coastal areas of Orange County Tuesday morning, only minor damage was reported, officials said. One store in the Cannery Village area of Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach suffered some water damage, and one lane of Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach was closed for about 90 minutes.

Water Through Seawall

In Newport Beach, Schock Boats on Lafayette Avenue was flooded shortly after 7 p.m., owner Scott Schock said. The store fronts on Newport Bay, and “water came in from the seawall through a slab in the building,” he said.

But damage was minimal, he said, because the display boats, furniture, and even phone jacks had been moved well in advance. Also, he said, “we’d placed about 75 sandbags around the store, and that helped. This isn’t the first time we’ve flooded; we had water just last month, but the worst flooding we’ve had was about four years ago when all those storms hit.”

In 1983, heavy rainstorms coincided with high tides in the Orange County coastal area, and the result was millions of dollars in property damage.

The high tides this week have come to the Orange County shore without any added punch from offshore storms or onshore rain.

“Without a storm, we’ve been in good shape,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Dick Olson. “If a storm suddenly comes up, then we’ve got a few problems.”

Frank Holmberg, acting director of Newport Beach’s General Services Department, noted Tuesday that the city had been preparing for several days for the high tides. “We put out about 10,000 sandbags,” he said.

Coast Highway Closure

Holmberg said he knew of no damage other than that to Schock Boats. “We only had water back up on four streets, all on the bay side, and the water was low--not much more than from a rain.”

One lane of Pacific Coast Highway had to be closed from 7 to 8:30 a.m. between Warner Avenue and Anderson Street in the Sunset Beach area, the California Highway Patrol said.

Traffic slowed to a crawl in that area, but the CHP said most of the delay was from motorists gawking at television crews filming the high tide.

“It seemed that all the drivers wanted to stop and see their favorite TV personality covering the scene,” said CHP Officer Bruce Mulligan.

At Dana Point, Stephanie Elkins of San Juan Capistrano, and her children, Kristen, 3, and Jeffrey, 2, chose to ogle the sea creatures in the tide pools.

“The kids love it,” Elkins said. “They found some sea anemones and poked their fingers in among all those little legs and watched them close up till they looked just like a little rock.”

Betty Zunich of Dana Point, who visits the shore every day, said she had never seen the tide so low, exposing so many rocks and pools that she “didn’t even know were out there”.

Tide Pools a Magnet

“And I’ve never seen so many people here, either,” she said.

Cummings said some children Tuesday brought little specimens in to the institute to have them identified, or even offer them for the institute’s collections.

Tide pools all along the county’s coast, including those at Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach as well as Dana Point, were designated marine refuges by the state Legislature in 1970. Harming or removing the tide-pool creatures is punishable by fines up to $500 or six months in jail or both.

But, Cummings said, “People aren’t the only threat to the tide-pool animals. The limpets and anemones and hermit crabs and all the others need water. They could have a tough time weathering the added exposure to air that comes with low tides like this.”