Floating on Air : Forget the rafts and inner tubes. The new generation of pool inflatables--from icebergs to alligators--is like blowup art.

If you see icebergs in your neighbor’s pool this summer, it’s not because the water’s freezing.

Those icebergs are nothing more than a lot of hot air. They’ll never melt, although they might deflate.

They’re pool floats.

Icebergs, towering volcanoes, big banana boats, alligators and whales--you never know what you’ll find bobbing around the pool these days.

The new generation of eye-catching pool floats is like blowup art; people leave them out even when they’re not in use.

“The colors are beautiful and bold, and the shapes are incredible,” says Dawn Brittain, co-owner of Zodiac of Orange County. The Newport Beach store carries a wide assortment of floats. “They’re not like the black inner tubes I played with as a kid.”

Rafts used to be pretty dull, with plain colors and boring rectangular shapes. They’d clutter up the back-yard pool like old mattresses in a garage. Inner tubes were even worse; they looked like floating Michelins.

But now there’s a menagerie of floats in animal shapes and giant floating structures. Some islands come with inflatable palm trees and are big enough to support a party of four or more.

“You can have a big party in the pool,” says Jill Piazza, manager and buyer for Our Gang General Store on Balboa Island.

Floats have become increasingly sophisticated, with all kinds of frills and creature comforts. There are inflatable La-Z-Boy-like chairs for water-loving couch potatoes equipped with headrests, cushions, cup holders and storage units for suntan lotion.

Should anyone get hungry while lounging around the pool, inflatable pool trays hold snacks and drinks.

Sevylor, manufacturer of inflatable sporting goods in Los Angeles, makes the iceberg float as well as a volcano float complete with simulated lava, available through Sharper Image stores and catalogues.

The Diamond Head Giant Volcano has a four-foot-high peak and no bottom so you can swim inside it and hang out through its windows. You might want to keep the volcano, which costs $199, away from sharp edges.

Floats cost from about $3 for a simple Water Weenie or Water Noodle--long, colorful floating tubes that can be twisted into all kinds of shapes--to $40 for a huge, floating island. During the summer months, they’re available at sporting goods stores, toy stores and drug stores, and they can turn up at discount stores such as Price Club. Some retailers, such as Zodiac of Orange County and Leslie’s Swimming Pool Supplies in Orange, Placentia, Fountain Valley and Mission Viejo, carry floats year-round.

People can do a lot more than just lie around on a float. Unlike the passive rafts of the past, many floats today demand user participation.

The Pedal Lounge by Sevylor comes with a paddle-wheel you pump with your feet so you can pedal yourself around the pool. The Squirt Rider kick board comes with a squirt gun that draws ammunition from the pool’s water supply.

“That’s my personal favorite,” Piazza says. “You can float around the pool and squirt everybody.”

Infants, who used to be confined to bobbing around in harnesses attached to buoyant rings, now can troll the pool in a miniature tugboat complete with blue-and-white striped covered awning, smokestack and bottle holder. The 3- to 6-year-old set can ride the water in an inflatable sports car. Both floats are available at Leslie’s.

Improved technology has made the floats more durable and comfortable to ride. Leslie’s carries its Unsinkable Molly Brown, a raft made of tiny air bubbles; if it gets punctured, it won’t sink.

Sevylor’s Soak N’ Float Mattress has a built-in water cooling system so you don’t have to lie around in pockets of stagnant warm water. The Ipanema Tie Down has a system of strings inside that adjusts the float’s shape to your body.

The Technicolor wave has even washed up against basic rafts. They are adorned with tropical blooms, birds, fish and colorful, abstract designs.

“When people are lying on a raft, they want to enjoy what they’re lying in, and they want it to look pleasing to the eye,” Brittain says.