Coming out of my shell!

This week at Camp Harbor View was an adventurous one. On Monday, we started the week off a bit slow at CHV, catching only some skate and flounder. To switch it up a bit, we had our first fishing trip on Tuesday where I held a crab for the first time!! I’ve always been really afraid of sea creatures so I was proud to get over that fear. It wasn’t anything like I had expected. Having that fear for so long made it seem scarier than it was.

First CHV fishing trip!

On Wednesday we checked the traps to find that we caught THREE lobsters and two flounders. That by far was the most successful catch ever since we’ve started here at Camp Harbor View. It’s often really hard to catch fish there, and we’re constantly answering the question “why do we only catch skates,” but later this week that all changed.

I told myself I would never hold a spider crab but to my surprise, on Thursday I built up the courage to hold one. Truly I was nervous, but after I held it I was proud.

First time holding a spider crab! EW

Friday I did my first fishing demonstration for the kids, which I was proud about. Before our first group on Friday, Dexter caught the first fish from Camp Harbor View. We haven't caught any fish before then. I never knew that when the tide was so low that the boat couldn’t go straight to camp. On Monday we ended up cruising for an hour before we went to camp, due to the really low tides. When we arrived we began the scavenger hunt around camp, and we were stationed at the Boat House, where we waited for the kids to find mussels. After they were done, we began to look for the invasive crabs along the shoreline. We ended up catching a lobster later at fishing club as well, along with a skate egg sack, which I’ve never seen before. Unfortunately we had to tell the kids that we couldn’t keep it, which made everyone sad :(

That’s all for this week!

Aleena Mangham