CHV Week One!

My first time at Camp Harbor View was so fun! On Monday, day one, I began to get used to the camp, and I really enjoyed it. The setting was really nice, and everyone had a lot of energy. Most of the kids were engaged and asked to fish right away. From one week it is easy for one to tell that Camp Harbor View is a safe and pleasant environment for kids of many ages. I also enjoyed the company of Qalid, Eric, and Damani, who made for a fun and funny time at the camp

I enjoyed the flexibility at Camp Harbor View, and I liked that we could flow from handling the crab traps, the touch tank, and even could help the kids fish as well. Being able to rotate helped me from getting too tired and hot, and also made for a very engaging week. It was fun being able to pass on skills of fishing, and how to work the crab traps to the kids.

I met a young boy named Sebastian, who has been coming to Camp Harbor View for 3 years. When I asked him if he needed any help fishing, he had told me that he really enjoyed aquatics, and that fishing was one of his favorite activities. In addition to Sebastian, I saw a familiar face, Janessa, my best friends’ sister and I taught her how fish. These two boys, Carlos and Juan were having trouble during their time fishing, so I helped them. They had never fished before, and their line was caught, which made it hard.

On day three, Thursday, Jovanni and I went to check are crab trap from Tuesday, and we had over 10 crabs in it. One of the most interesting discoveries at Camp Harbor View, were spider crabs. Before Monday, I had never seen a spider crab before, and they were huge and not pretty. I wasn’t aware of the many different types of crabs until I joined this program, and when we caught a lot on Thursday, I actually got to see them all in comparison to one another. In our second group, one of the kids caught a Skate, which I’d never seen anyone catch before. We let the Skate back into the water safely, after we let the kids see it.

On Friday, the weather was amazing! It was really nice being on the dock with the cool weather. Sadly, a lot of the activities were cut short, especially for us because we were on the dock/water. When we got sent off the dock, due to weather, we began to do more fish prints, and to my surprise, one had a cyst, which ended up popping when Qalid was painting it!!! I’ve never  seen a cyst on an animal before, let alone it popping as well.

Despite the really hot weather, I really enjoyed my time at Camp Harbor View, and can't wait tto be back next week!

-Aleena

The first Skate of the week!

Crab trap after returning from the 4th of July!