Vacationers Steve and Kindre Kearney, of Woodlyn, Pa., help their children, Maya, 7, and Shane, 4, search for sea shells.
By Donald Wittkowski
Ron Kovatis held up a bottle filled with sea water from Townsends Inlet in Sea Isle City and pretended he was going to take a drink.
“I haven’t had my morning orange juice and I’m kind of thirsty. Should I drink it?” Kovatis asked the group of children surrounding him.
“No,” the children shouted in unison.
Kovatis then asked them why he shouldn’t take a sip.
Cecilia Malatesta, a 6-year-old from Broomall, Pa., blurted out, “the salt.”
Kovatis nodded his head in agreement as he began talking about the salt content in sea water. His kid-friendly lesson about the ocean was part of a beachcombing tour focusing on the Jersey Shore’s ecosystem and marine life.
Kovatis, a 69-year-old retired high school teacher and guidance counselor, is one of the volunteers with the Sea Isle City Environmental Commission who conduct the popular, family-oriented summer tours that combine fun with education.
Sea Isle Environmental Commission volunteer Ron Kovatis, one of the beachcombing tour guides, describes a seashell while talking to a group of children.
For only a $1 donation, beachcombers learn all about seashells, marine life, the ocean, the bays, the beaches and more from the environmental experts. The tours include shell-hunting excursions that allow children to dig in the sand like modern-day pirates searching for buried treasure.
Tours are held twice a week from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. On Tuesdays, they take place at 29th Street and the Promenade. On Thursdays, they are held at the Townsends Inlet Waterfront Park at 94th Street.
This summer marks the 30th year that Sea Isle has held the tours, drawing an estimated 50,000 beachcombers during that time.
“We thought it would be very cool to teach both the young and the old about the environment and how to appreciate Sea Isle, a barrier island,” said Abby Powell, who co-chairs the beachcombing program with Marianne Snyder.
Abby Powell, center, the co-chair of the beachcombing program, calls it a "very cool" way for people of all ages to learn about the diverse seashore environment.
Children are given some environmentally themed goodies, including shell-collecting plastic buckets, a coloring book decorated with marine life and a beachcomber bracelet.
“It’s just a buck a bucket,” Powell said of the $1 donation.
Afterward, beachcombers are presented with certificates proclaiming them as official stewards of the environment.
The tours are particularly popular with summer vacationers looking for family-friendly activities to do. On a recent day at the Townsends Inlet Waterfront Park, dozens of children and their parents trudged through the powdery sand to meet with Kovatis and other yellow-shirted tour guides.
Parents and their children head down the beach path at the Townsends Inlet Waterfront Park to begin the tour.
To illustrate his remarks, Kovatis used an assortment of shells, crabs, fake turtles and other sea life spread out on a towel on the sand.
Among other topics, Kovatis touched on the seashore’s diverse ecosystem, the ebb and flow of the tides, the importance of the dunes, the marshlands surrounding the bay, the abundance of sea creatures and the salinity levels in the ocean.
“What’s the environment?” he asked the children at one point.
The children raised their hands and eagerly waited for Kovatis to call on them. The kids did their best to answer the question, drawing praise from Kovatis each time.
“It’s important for everyone to understand just how delicate our environment can be and the impact – both positive and negative – that people can have on it,” Kovatis reminded his group.
Jamie Malatesta, the mother of Cecilia Malatesta, the little girl from Broomall, Pa., who urged Kovatis not to drink the salty sea water, said the educational component was a big reason why she brought her children on the beachcombing tour during their vacation. She also had her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia.
“They both love the ocean. They’re always asking about seashells,” Malatesta said. “I want them to learn all about the sea life and the ocean.”
Vacationers Steve and Kindre Kearney, of Woodlyn, Pa., help their children, Maya, 7, and Shane, 4, search for seashells.
Kindre and Steve Kearney, vacationers from Woodlyn, Pa., brought along their daughter, Maya, 7, and son, Shane, 4. The Kearneys were part of a larger group of family members from Pennsylvania on the beachcombing tour.
Kindre Kearney noted that this was the third or fourth time that her family has done the tour in the past few years. She said the children became excited when she mentioned doing it again this summer.
“I love it. I love beachcombing,” Maya chimed in.
As the Kearneys scoured the beach overlooking picturesque Townsends Inlet, Shane filled his bucket with a variety of seashells plucked from the sand.
“It’s fun finding pretty shells,” he exclaimed.
For more information about Sea Isle City’s beachcombing tours, go to www.visitsicnj.com and click on the “Weekly Summer Events” link.
