Explore a strange and mysterious forest under the sea and meet some of the funny and freaky animals that live there! In this program we use the Newbury Award-winning book, Island of the Blue Dolphins, as a way to introduce the giant kelp forest ecosystem found around the California Channel Islands. The program begins with a demonstration of the high-tech Aqua Lung® SCUBA diving equipment we will need to use to explore the giant kelp forest around the "Island of the Blue Dolphins" -- San Nicholas Island. Two children are chosen from the audience to put on the actual SCUBA equipment used on our expedition. After seeing how we adapt ourselves to visit the underwater environment we look at the key part of the ecosystem that we will be visiting -- giant kelp. During this demonstration, a specially constructed giant kelp plant is used to compare and contrast kelp plants to typical land plants. After the demonstrations, undersea explorers, Wayne and Karen Brown, then take your patrons on an exciting tour of the Island of the Blue Dolphins' giant kelp forests via an exciting and fast-paced, high-definition, digital multi-image presentation. Your students join the Browns on the expedition boat where they meet the captain and divemaster. As they hop on the underwater scooters and accompany Wayne and Karen on their scuba dive, your patrons see the incredible diversity of life in the Island of the Blue Dolphins' giant kelp forests. Your patrons learn how kelp plants grow and discover how kelp forests are important natural resources. Your patrons will meet the animals that make the kelp forests their home. They will see a fascinating variety of marine animals big and small, from the most docile to the so-called "dangerous" marine creatures, including encounters with sharks! Your patrons learn about the important relationships among different creatures. They also learn how fishes protect themselves from predators and how some fishes search for food. After the multi-image presentation, your patrons are shown surprising examples of some of their favorite foods that contain giant kelp. At the end of the presentation time is set aside to answer your patrons questions and allow them to try on our SCUBA gear.