Final Cruise of the Season to Spectacle Island!

On Saturday October 24^th more than 250 people from Greater Boston visited Spectacle Island on our last fall cruise of the season!

Participants spent the chilly autumn day exploring Spectacle Island with Save the Harbor’s staff and interns and sharing stories with Save the Harbor’s Humanities Scholar Norah Dooley as Mary Read the Pirate. Dooley helped the group get into the Halloween spirit by sharing haunting stories about the “Lady in Red” and the better known “Lady in Black” and encouraging island visitors to hone their own storytelling skills by sharing some of their own stories as well.

Derick Weekes of Quincy shares his story with  Save the Harbor's Humanities Scholar Norah Dooley who appeared as the pirate Mary Read on Saturday's free fall trip to Spectacle Island

Giles Parker, Superintendent of the Boston Harbor Islands for the National Park Service, was glad that so many young people and their families were able to “Find Your Park” and explore the Boston Harbor Islands National and State Park on Saturday. “As we celebrate the 100th year of the National Park Service, the NPS and our partners including Save the Harbor/Save the Bay are working together to connect the next generation of visitors to city, state and national parks. “

A group from the Highland Coalition in Lynn made the trip out to Spectacle Island to enjoy a day of exploration and fun. (Adults from left to right: Riffin Olivier, Bruce Berman, Lucie Sthilaire, Jasmine Charles, George Charles and Shade Olivier)

21 people from Maverick Landing in East Boston set sail on Saturday for Spectacle Island.

Despite the chilly weather, it was a great day to fly a kite, enjoy a picnic lunch, take a hike to the top of a drumlin to see the city, or simply search for treasure and blue marbles on the beach, as part of Save the Harbor and JetBlue’s “Simply Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt.

“It was a record breaking year for our free All Access Boston Harbor program, which connected nearly 10,000 underserved young people and their families to Boston Harbor with free trips to Spectacle, Peddocks and Georges Islands,” said Save the Harbor’s spokesman Bruce Berman. “We are looking forward to celebrating our 30^th Anniversary next year and setting new records, but hopefully we won’t set new record for snow!”

Save the Harbor's free youth environmental education and family programs are made possible with Leadership Grants from Bay State Cruise Company, The Boston Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation and Distrigas/GDF SUEZ.

Save the Harbor is grateful for Partnership Grants from Forrest Berkley & Marcie Tyre Berkley, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Boston Properties – Atlantic Wharf, The Chiofaro Company, The Clowes Fund, Marion L. Decrow Memorial Foundation, Alice Willard Dorr Foundation, Eastern Salt Company Inc., The Fallon Company, Hampshire House Corporation – Cheers for Children, John Hancock Financial Services, Inc., Mass Humanities, Massachusetts Bay Lines, Massachusetts Port Authority, National Grid Foundation, P&G Gillette, William E & Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, Vertex and Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation.

Save the Harbor also appreciates funding support from 3A Marine Service, Arbella Insurance Group Charitable Foundation, Andus Baker & Rowan Murphy Family Fund, Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation, Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, BOMA Boston, Boston Bruins Foundation, Boston Global Investors, Breckinridge Capital Advisors, Andrew J. Calamare, Camp Harbor View Foundation, Carnival Foundation, Circle Furniture, Cresset Management, LLC, The Daily Catch Seaport, Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation, Thomas & Lucinda Foley, Legal Sea Foods, Ms. Wallace M. Leonard Foundation, Mass Bay Credit Union, HYM Investment Group Inc., Sherry & Alan Leventhal Family Foundation, Lovett-Woodsum Foundation, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, National Park Service, Nicholson Foundation, Randy Peeler & Kate Kellogg, Reebok Foundation, Rockland Trust – Peoples Federal Foundation, Lawrence J. & Anne Rubenstein Foundation, Senior Housing Property Trust, Skanska, South Boston Community Development Foundation, Spectra Energy, South Boston Community Development Foundation, Storm Duds, Matthew J. & Gilda F. Strazzula Foundation, TD Bank Charitable Foundation, Tishman Speyer, UDR, and Kyle & Sara Warwick.

Special thanks to the hundreds of individual donors and to our partners at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and the YMCA of Greater Boston for their support.

For more information about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the work we do to restore, protect and share Boston Harbor, the harbor islands and the metropolitan region’s public beaches, visit our website at www.savetheharbor.org and follow savetheharbor on Facebook and Twitter.