Bacteria Make a Day at the Beach No Picnic : Environment: Water is off limits along five-mile stretch from Venice to Playa del Rey. Authorities remain uncertain of cause of the contamination.

On the second day that a five-mile stretch of beach from Venice to Playa del Rey was closed because of high bacteria counts, Peter Kinloch went swimming.

Despite myriad county health department signs warning: “Beach Closed--Avoid Water Contact,” Kinloch rode the waves in Venice on Sunday and declared that he found the water quality superb.

“It’s like champagne,” said the native of Australia, now living in Hollywood, wiping his face with a towel. “It’s got fizz in it.”

Kinloch was among only a few, however, who braved the waters off Dockweiler, Marina del Rey and Venice beaches after county health officers again ordered the beaches closed. Water contaminated by coliform bacteria had been detected by city sanitation officials at the Ballona Creek outlet, prompting the county to close beaches north and south of that point on Saturday morning.

Although testing revealed that bacteria levels were falling Sunday, Toby Staheli, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Health Services Department, said the beaches were likely to remain closed through today.

“Our people are still unaware of the cause of the problem,” she said.

Coliform is an indicator of decaying waste, such as fecal matter or rotting food. City sanitation spokeswoman Anna Sklar said the city’s Hyperion sewage treatment plant, at Ballona Creek, was not responsible.

“Hyperion does not discharge into Ballona Creek, but five miles out to sea,” Sklar said, adding that city biologists might have more information on the cause early this week.

Meanwhile, throngs of beach-goers adapted as they sought to escape temperatures that climbed to 94 in downtown Los Angeles and up to 105 in Van Nuys--with no relief in sight before late in the week.

Michelle Parker, 21, of Michigan, and Wendy Weith, 24, of Illinois walked about a mile north from where they parked to reach an area where swimming was allowed.

“We don’t mind. We need the exercise,” Parker said.

Beaches north of Venice were open, and throughout the morning a steady stream of people walked the shoreline toward Santa Monica, most keeping their feet out of the water along the way.

Crowds were larger near Santa Monica as a result, said county Lifeguard Lt. Mickey Gallagher, who estimated that a larger-than-usual crowd of 500,000 visited beaches between Marina del Rey and Topanga.

Jason Brewer, 23, a carpenter from Tujunga, did not feel like lugging his cooler, towel and radio up the beach, so he stayed on a section of Venice where swimming was barred. “It’s a long walk and I’ve got all this stuff,” he complained. “If I’d heard about this I wouldn’t have come.”

With him was his 16-year-old cousin from Georgia, Kelly Seaborn, making her first visit to a famed Southern California beach.

“What a waste of time,” Kelly said.