We were stuck on an island!

Staff day was a very eventful day for us at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. I think there were numerous "first-time" occurrences for many of us. I know for me this was my first staff day. I just want to say that I really enjoyed the staff day before you read what happened that day and believe other wise. It was a great morning, the birds chirping, the sun shining and the clouds were scarce. With the morning like this nothing could go wrong, right? Well you are in for a great surprise. We all met up at the ferry docks by the aquarium at 9:45AM with the weather still perfect as can be. We all board our ferry and began our journey to the island but wait! as we are leaving the docks we look at to see a very distraught Bridgett Ryan who was not on the boat! We all look out as we go farther and farther away and Bridgett remains at the dock by the aquarium (No worries, Bridgett made it to the island on a water taxi with the very on time Myriam). This is a great start to staff day don't you think?

Bridgett's water taxi

We finally arrived at beautiful, clean Spectacle island (with everyone present) and we all set off for the hills! At the top of the hill was a wide open feild of grass perfect for extracurricular activities. We set up camp here, layed our belongings on the grass next to a nice tree and commenced our activities. At first we started to play wiffle ball but as batter after batter struggled to make anything happen, Sarah Bailey brought the great idea for us to just start playing kick ball. Shout out to her because it sparked one of the greatest games of kick ball I have ever played since elementary school. The teams were set and what we soon came to find out was that we had created the dream team of kick ball! The dream team consisted of me, Sarah Bailey, Will Conroy, Chris, Hung, Manny, Bridgett Foley and Jennifer. We dominated and I do not use that term loosely. I think the score ended with 26 to 9. I know it was all fun and games but winning was really awesome!

Cy Young Award winning pitcher

After this game, we made our way back to the docks where Bruce and Patty were waiting for us on their boat with food and drinks perfectly set up next to it. There were chips and cookies and of course, you have to have the veggies! Then the hot dogs came out and those went faster then the pizza did the day of the fishing derby. We all enjoyed our food and had great conversations with one another. We were all laughing and talking like nothing ever happened out on that kick ball field. It was great and definitely the highlight of Staff day. We were all like family out on that dock, eating and having a great time. I have only known most of them since the first day of work this summer but it feels like its been forever. The Save the Harbor team is more than just a group of co-workers, we are a family helping the city we love.

The Save the Harbor FAMILY!

After our great lunch, we all charged back up the hill for another epic game of kick ball. This time, the other team wanted to disband the Dream Team so they demanded a re-pick. The Captains ended up being me and kiauna. As I chose my team, I tried to slowly reassemble my dream team but my most important player was stolen from me. Sarah Bailey went over to the dark side and left my team. She was filled with revenge for not choosing her first (Friendly revenge) and was aiming for my head (literally). Kiauana seemed to have cooked up a little dream team herself with big foot, Davis and Tom as her top kickers. My team managed to trail by one until we finally shot out into the lead. The runs were getting intense and on one of my turns I blasted one out to center field over Davis and ran my bases. As I was approaching third, I felt like I could make it all the way (I was like "I got this!") but little did I know Davis got the throw in to Sarah Bailey. I rounded third base and aimed for home and that was when I saw Sarah Bailey charging towards me with the green ball in her hands. I ran and I ran and tried to slide in for the point and that was when Sarah Bailey clocked me in the face with a big green kick ball. Staff day is splendid! Well no worries because once again my team came out on top!

The winning team (All-star Team)

Our games were finally over and it was about that time to wrap up the fun on Spectacle Island. We all made our way back down towards the docks where we met the rest of the staff that were not a part of our epic games of kick ball. This is the best part. When we were ready to take what we thought was a 2:55PM ferry back to Boston, we come to find out that our boat had already left half an hour ago. We looked at our ticket and it read 2:25PM ferry back to Boston. We were all shocked and to make matters so much more delightful, the sun kicked it in to high gear, blaring down on us as if to tease us. This was when our survival skills kicked in. We were all looking for comfort away from the sun, laying down with shirts and towels over our faces and water in our hands. The next ferry was due to arrive at 3:55PM and we were not even certain to be admitted on that boat. It was like Gilligan's Island by that time as I constructed a hat that would cover my head from the burning fire ball in the sky. The next ferry arrived and we were all informed that we would be able to take this back home. The relief on our faces was indescribable. We all looked like we were stranded in the desert for 10 days when it was literally an hour that we were stuck on a civilized island. My staff day was amazing!

Davis and Sarah trying to survive

Tom trying to survive

Me and Will Conroy trying to survive