Julianne Steers knows her trek to the water at Crystal Cove State Beach, carrying 50 pounds of dive gear, is never easy – but the payoff is worth it.

As a marine biologist for the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, Steers sees the underwater stretch off Crystal Cove as both inspiration and workplace.

“I always have a quest to see what new species I can find or what new behavior I haven’t seen before. Every time I dive there, it’s different.”

So she dives into a world with sea cucumbers and urchins, with octopuses and kelp; with many species of fish and, yes, at least one sunken World War II training plane.

The world Steers loves and works in is one more thing – a state park.

Just like about 20 state beaches, the Crystal Cove Underwater Park, along with Doheny Underwater Park in Dana Point is an official, protected state park.

Saturday is Underwater Parks Day, a designation that’s aimed at ocean lovers and explorers to celebrate ocean reserves. Aquariums locally and around the state will be holding lectures to educate people about the parks and what you can see in them.

A study issued Thursday by researchers at UC Santa Barbara – saying the world’s oceans are near a tipping point and could turn barren without active preservation and strong action from humans – only highlights the importance of places like the Crystal Cove and Doheny underwater parks.

O.C.’s underwater parks

“They are there to create a sustainable environment in the ocean,” said Jonathan Witt, senior education director at the Ocean Institute. “By really promoting what they are and the value they have, it really brings people together. That’s why we want people to visit underwater parks. It’s going to create an intimate experience for them.”

The network of underwater designations along Orange County’s coastline stretching from Newport Beach to Dana Point includes conservation areas or the state’s marine reserve, which includes about 120 underwater refuges along the 1,100-mile California coast. In all these zones there are strict rules about fishing and collecting from tide pools, restrictions aimed at preserving the species that live in the areas.

But the underwater parks feature some unnatural elements as well.

There’s believed to be four vessels in the Doheny underwater park that have sunk over the years; the bigger (1,140-acre) park off Crystal Cove includes six, according to the state’s website. Crystal Cove also has had two anchors, one found in the Newport Harbor and dropped here in 2002 for divers and fish to enjoy. The other smaller anchor sits south of the cottages.

In 2004, divers working on a kelp restoration project near Reef Point discovered an odd-shaped rock lying on the ocean bottom. It turned out to be a stone hand tool called a pestle, which was used thousands of years ago by natives to grind acorn and seeds. It was the first known artifact of its kind to be found offshore in the state parks area.

The crashed plane has been a major draw for divers looking for something unique off the coastline, and it tells a fascinating tale. It was piloted by Lt. William H. Anderson on July 5, 1949. He was doing a routine training flight when he crashed. Anderson somehow survived, recovered by Marines in the area, and according to an archive article, he never flew again.

In 2005, an underwater archaeological diver found the plane had been well preserved. Both wings were intact, and though the engine was retrieved by the Navy, many other parts, including the instrument panel outlets, rudder controls and cockpit wiring, were still identifiable at the time, according to the state website.

This is the only aircraft wreckage known to be within an underwater park in California, according to John Foster, senior archaeologist for California State Parks.

State Parks lifeguard Ryan Gates explored the area in October, and along with others from the State Parks dive team, mapped the remains of the plane. He said parts still can be found, but they are scattered around the ocean floor.

Though time and the motion of the ocean have disintegrated much of the plane’s remains, Steers said what she does find off the coast is fascinating enough. She’s usually armed with an underwater camera.

“My nature, as a biologist, I’m watching and observing as a firsthand witness,” she said.

She encourages others to seek out what the parks have to offer.

“It really is truly in our backyard. It truly is something you have to see for yourself,” she said.

Witt said there will be hands-on activities at the Ocean Institute on Saturday, so people can learn about the animal species and kelp forests that live in nearby underwater parks.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com