It’s been a busy few weeks at the corner of Front and Beach streets, where a steel structure has sprouted out of the wedge-shaped lot across from the Santa Cruz Wharf, kitty-corner to the Dream Inn and a hop, skip and a jump from the Beach Boardwalk. It’s the perfect location, really, for an ocean-themed visitors’ center with fun for the kids—precisely what the NOAA Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center promises to be.
On Tuesday, the construction hit another milestone with the installation of the center’s crowning glory—a two-story, 14,000-gallon tank housing a model of the deep-sea canyon lying just off Moss Landing in the Monterey Bay. At this point, only the bare bones of the building are in place, but at 13 feet high, 10 feet wide and 15 feet long, the canyon exhibit is so large it needed to be installed via crane before the walls of the building go up.
As large as it is, the model is not even close to scaled, says Lisa Uttal of the Monterey Bay National Marine sanctuary. “No,” she says, laughing, “it can’t be made to scale because the canyon here in Monterey Bay is 4,000 meters deep.” (That’s twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.) “What it represents is a deep water body.”
The model won’t have live plants or animals but will feature a replica ecosystem, complete with replica creatures of the deep-–lanternfish, anglerfish, sponges and other invertebrates, plus a purse seiner fishing boat skimming the surface. Visitors to the Center will be able to roam the exhibit by proxy, directing an underwater robot outfitted with a VideoRay camera via remote control. Real-time video from the ROV will feed to a screen suspended above the tank.
The tank is one of several exhibits slated to be on display at the Exploration Center. Others include an intertidal touch tank, a replica kelp forest and a theater with interactive video exhibits. The total tab for the center is close to $3 million, of which the project’s three partners—NOAA, the city of Santa Cruz and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation—have already raised $2.6 million.
As far back as 2003, when the search for a location got underway, the city lobbied hard to be the home of the Exploration Center. Ultimately Santa Cruz donated the land, a former bike and skate park known as “The Fun Spot,” for the project.
According to Bonnie Lipscomb, economic development director for the city, the center is a lynchpin in the effort to bridge downtown Santa Cruz with the beachfront. “The Exploration Center is the key project in our revitalization efforts. It is a link between downtown and the beach, so we are really excited that the project is going forward,” Lipscomb says.
Construction on the building, designed by the Portland-based architecture firm Thomas Hacker Architects, Inc. to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold standards, is expected to finish up in December of this year, with the center’s final unveiling slated for next spring.
