Gualala Arts Lecture Series presents:
Diving Komodo Island

with Mark Roth
Monday, June 15, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
Admission is $5

What started as a family vacation activity has become a passion for Mark Roth, who carefully records his twice-yearly scuba diving trips on DVD. His June 15, 2009 presentation, entitled "Diving Komodo Island," is just one example of his creations. It not only reveals the fascinating world under the water, but also provides a glimpse of the legendary Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard.

The bulk of the video takes place under water in the Lintah Strait off Komodo Island in Indonesia, 300 miles due east of Bali. Mark seeks to capture marine life in its natural habitat. For him the real drama comes from observing the rich variety of ways the aquatic creatures obtain food, adapt to their environment, mate, hunt and protect themselves.

The film reveals the beauty of anemones, nudibranch, crustaceans, pygmy seahorses, as well as the wide variety of fish, eels, rays, octopus, sea snakes, and large predators. Mark wants to see it all from the tiniest shrimp to the largest fish, and his videos capture his curiosity and his joy of discovering something new.

His Sea Ranch home includes a separate studio where he can edit his film, add commentary and dub sound tracks. It is full of equipment, reference books, professional videos and mementos, and of his DVDs, which he enjoys sharing with his grandchildren.

His work is for his personal enjoyment; the only other public screenings were at Gualala Arts in 1999 and at the local Rotary last year.

After serving in the Marine Corp for twenty years and then running a family business, he retired to his Sea Ranch home in 1989, where he now lives fulltime. He says he does not dive here because it is too cold and the visibility is too poor for good video work.

A question and answer session will follow the screening. Admission is $5.

The Gualala Arts Center, located at 46501 Old State Highway in Gualala, CA,
is open weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and weekends from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Please call (707) 884-1138 for more information, or email info@gualalaarts.org.

Serving the coastal communities of northern Sonoma & southern Mendocino Counties.