HAUL AWAY JOE

This Sunday I went to Spectacle Island and I did hiking and flying kites with my FAVORITE, Patrice. Before we got on the boat we had to direct everyone on which way to go and it felt different to deal with families instead of groups or summer camps because the kids felt more comfortable and more outgoing with their families. It was also very nice to see everyone have fun, smile and laugh with their families, I have never seen so many kids have fun like today than the whole summer. The kids had so many questions on what we could do on the island and when they heard about the kites they almost went crazy!

         After we got off the boat I found out that I was assigned to fly kites and do hiking which was in my opinion the best activity on the island. It was pretty hard though considering that it was VERY foggy, we could not see the top of the hill or farther than about 20 feet away. It cleared up throughout the day, on the way back we sang Haul Away Joe at the top deck. The view was amazing it was one of the best rides back to land, I can't wait to come back!

Sincerely,

Vince Vila

The Best Day Ever

I had the most amazing day yesterday. I asked to be put on the job for the Spectacle Island trip. I skipped my pregame practice for this job and anyone who knows me knows that I never EVER skip soccer practice. But the All Access team had been planning this. We missed each other so much and wanted to see each other so badly. So we all signed up to work and see each other on Sunday. I can't explain how amazing it felt to give everyone a hug and be reunited. Sure we missed Kharliyah and her laugh, Henry's presence, and most of all Jenn the mermaid, but we couldn't be happier to see each other. Even though it had been nearly a month since we all worked together, it came back to us with no trouble at all.

I helped Amy check people in, Vince ran back and fourth giving us the count of how many people got on the boat, and Max simply observed us all. When we got to the island, we all split up into our separate jobs. Vince and I were in charge of hiking, Max, Qalid, and Marly were all fishing off the pier. After we finished our hiking session, we headed over to fishing. Now it really felt like old times. We all rotated casting, baiting, and helping the kids fish. The best part came on the boat ride home. We all gathered on the very top deck to sing with the entire boat our special sea shanty. It was amazing how the entire boat sang along with Chris the pirate and the STH/STB staff.

It made my heart fill with joy as everyone who stepped off that boat thank us genuinely and asked when the next trip would be. It makes me feel good because I knew that I contributed to their great day. Many of these people had never been to the island before and now they knew how special it was. One woman asked me what town we were in and I told her we are on Boston Harbor and she was shocked. She had lived in Boston her whole life but never knew that these islands existed.

Once we returned the supplies to the office, the All Access crew was leaving and I received a FaceTime call from Jenn. Everyone crowded around the phone and we all screamed hello into the phone. The smiles on our faces were like those never seen before. It was officially the best day ever.

Reuniting with Spectacle Island

The big playing field at spectacle!

Today was the first time this summer I got to go to Spectacle island. Last year, I went a couple of times since I was on All Access, but this was my very first time this summer. Coming back to Spectacle was awesome because I remembered a couple of things we learned about the island from last year, so it was a refresher to hear all the things that I had forgotten, like how it was an island built on trash, and about the big bulldozer that sank at the very top of all the trash that used to be there, and so many more other cool things. 

Before we left to get on the boat I remember David telling the kids that whether they had been on the island before or not, to try and do something they've never done before. So I decided to try something new myself. Last year, every time I came to Spectacle I always did fishing and never really bothered to even try sports. So this time, I decided to go for it and play sports with the kids which ended up being way more fun than I imagined. 

We asked the kids which sport they wanted to play and they all ended up saying kickball so we broke up into two teams and played. I didn't think the smaller kids were so competitive, but they were, which made the game not only a whole lot of fun but also very meaningful to them. After my team was losing 6 to 1, we stepped up our game and started making more home runs. It was nice to see how supportive the kids were of each other and cheering themselves on. Unfortunately my team lost with 6 points while the other team won with with 10 points. However, it was a very fun game and I enjoyed breathing the fresh Spectacle Island air and being out in the sun playing an awesome game of kickball with the kids. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the day at Spectacle. Most importantly I tried something I had never done before and so did many of the other kids, and that is all that really matters.

Until next time, 
Rusenny

Cool Weather & Crabs!

This week at Piers Park has gotten off to a cool start (literally). Monday's weather was beautiful and it was overcast while Tuesday was quite chilly. Despite the weather and lack of sun, the new kids this week are all very unique. There are a lot of kids this week who really actually enjoy fishing and they have the patience to do it. One little boy named Aden is obsessed with crabs and he keeps them out of the water for most of the time we’re on the dock. We tell Aden constantly to put the crab back in the water to rest for a minute but whenever we say it he takes it so literally. He dunks the crab in the water but he never takes his hands off of it. It is funny to watch because he entertains himself with the simplest things. Today he put one of the crabs legs in its own pinchers and he walked around screaming “The crab is pinching itself! The crab is pinching itself!”. He gets really sad when he has to put the crabs back in the ocean but we always have crabs in the trap so he knows it won't be long until he finds another friend to play with.

Even the staff were fishing

Aden and his crab obsession

Some of Aden's friends

Eli being a monkey

Today we went to the playground like we usually do after lunch and I played with this little boy named Eli. He and his friends introduced me to a really fun game called Sardines which is basically backwards hide and seek. One person goes to hide and everyone else has to spread out and find them. If you find the person hiding then you have to hide with them in their spot until there is one person left. That is why it is called Sardines because you all have to squish into really small spaces. It was really fun and at one point we had almost the whole camp playing. It was a really fun day at the park and I bet we will be playing Sardines for the rest of the week. I’ll keep you readers posted on any more new games I learn at Piers Park!

Until next time! -Maeve Fittz

Reminiscing

Water bugs always on his mind
 

Fly guy Zach

As the summer is past the mid point, I started reflecting on Blacks Creek. Our last week there was so short, we only had programming there on Monday and Tuesday. I hadn't realized that we would not be returning this summer. This means I haven't said my goodbyes! I reflect back on the children that we meet, I remember the first week feeling like we would have a good summer but nothing out of the ordinary. Leave it to Save the Harbor to prove me wrong, I fell in love with Blacks Creek and everyone involved with it. The kids personalities really started to show after the first week, we meet the most unique children I have ever encountered. We had Nick who refused to touch a crab or have one near him, although I did manage to get to him to pick one up when he was feeling very brave. The last week he brought in a winter glove so that he could scoop them up without hesitation. There's our friend who only cared about bugs and would spend all of our time together searching for water bugs.  We encountered many siblings, this was my personal favorites. It's fun to see them interact with their brothers and sisters. I learned that seven year olds can throw much farther than me, which was really embarrassing on my behalf, the kids thought I was joking when I would throw as far as I can. The kids taught me to always be involved to have fun and learn new things. Then we have the Blacks creek staff, don't even get me started with the crew. I felt so blessed to be out with the staff I was. I felt instantly comfortable with them and they never failed to make me laugh. The summer at Blacks Creek would be nothing with out them and the children. I feel connected to the site now and hope I will get to go back next year!

Taking in the beautiful scenery 

Catch ya later,
Ana

Fishmania at Children's Museum!

It is said that there are plenty of fish in the sea.... and today at the Children's Museum it was definitely proved. Today was my first morning at the Children's museum and it was more exciting than I expected. When we first got there, as we waited for some kids to arrive I spotted some chalk and decided to start drawing what I draw best.. SPONGEBOB! Since I was a kid my favorite show has always been Spongebob and so I was inspired to start drawing him. In the end, we all pitched in to help draw Spongebob and the final product was pretty decent. After drawing Spongebob, all the kids that passed by would yell "look it's Spongebob!"

Kids fishing at the children's museum!

Aside from our totally awesome drawings, we also caught some feisty green crabs in the crab trap, and not only were there crabs in the first trap we brought up, there was also a cunner! It was the coolest thing ever because I had never seen that type of fish and the kids were pretty excited too. Some even asked if they could pick it up and take a picture with it! But wait it gets even better... within that same hour we caught two more cunner fish! They were about 6-7 inches long and we put them in a small tank for the kids to see and learn about. They were really excited and it encouraged them to fish. Although we didn't catch any more  fish on the fishing rods, one of the kids named Daniel who had been patiently fishing for a couple minutes finally caught a crab right before he was about to leave and it was the most exciting thing to see. It had been his first time fishing and he yelled "I caught something! I caught something!" and when he railed up to see the fiesty green crab at the end of his rod he was the happiest kid ever! Even though it was just a crab, it was nice seeing a little boy experience fishing for the first time and enjoying it. I can't wait to see what more awesome fishing experiences await us at children's museum!

Til Next time,
Rusenny

The Catch of the Summer!

The fork we caught!

Monday I was supposed to go to Camp Harbor View but I ended up going to the Children's Museum where I was fishing and showing kids crabs that we had caught trolling around in the touch tank. It was extremely hot on the dock as we tried to gather kids that were passing by to join us in fishing. We caught a lot of odd things before while fishing but today we caught by far the most weirdest thing ever: a fork! There was a sea squirt living on the fork. It was squishy and when you squished it water squirted out. Kind of nasty but at the same time it is pretty cool, and what are the odds of someone being able to genuinely say they caught a fork while fishing?

Today, as well as yesterday, I went to Spectacle Island which by the way is my favorite place to go to out of all the sites! Every time we go to Spectacle I look forward to going swimming at the end of a hot word day. Today I did sports with our senior harbor educator Jenn and Kharliyah. We played a weird version of soccer, volleyball and we also played catch. I was really looking forward to playing kick ball but the kick ball was pretty deflated. We tried to fill it up with air but there was a hole in it so there was no hope. The kids are always more into football than any most of the other sports. I think football is okay but I think I honestly like kickball better. After sports we went swimming and David splashed me with water without warning before I was even fully in the water-- it was freezing!


Until next time,
Vince Vila

Flash back Friday

Friday and we are back at the Courageous Sailing Center! We switched things up a little instead of being stationed to do fish printing I was fishing. After doing our opening activity we split up into groups. As I'm asking the kids questions about what we were using for bait, flounder, and what were some fun facts about the fish I started to feel like I recognized some faces. That didn't actually make sense though because it was a new group of kids. As we are fishing a girl, about 10 years old started asking me some fishing questions but then started to just stare at me. Then she asked "Do you work at the club?"  I just kept staring at her and asked what?! She just kept repeating the same thing, that I look familiar and she thinks it's because I work at "the club". Apparently she meant the Boys and Girls club, so that couldn't be it, I asked if she danced, thinking she could be one of my students but that wasn't it either. She took off her glasses and said 'These are new, maybe you'll remember now." I laughed thinking glasses don't make that much of a difference but the second she took them off I screamed Maggie!!! She looked shocked that I knew her name and then I said you went to Piers Park two summers ago and that is where I was stationed! Then she remembered going kayaking with me every day and me attempting to beat her, and the rest of the kids in all our field games. I was impressed and touched that she recognized me, it shows how children really remember and appreciate all that programs and staff from Save the Harbor.

Piers Park Summer 2015

Courageous Sailing Center Summer 2017

Catch ya later,
Ana

Another Tuesday on my Favorite Island

This Tuesday we ventured back to spectacle Island. This is seriously my favorite island because I love being able to use its swimming beach at the end of our day before leaving, something always happens to get me in the water. Today it started raining right when we were about to get in the water, but it was still the best because I was debating swimming because I wanted to avoid wetting my hair, but the weather made the decision real easy for me. When we went swimming the water wasn't as cold as it usually is, finally warm from all the recent sunshine!. My coworkers and I played catch in the water with the few kids who dared to remain in the water and who ever let the ball fall in the water had to dive in. Guess who didn't dive in by choice.... me! Every time I dropped the ball, one of the boys would splash me or throw me in, hilarious right? Trust me, I got all of them back.

Today I did fishing though I really wanted to do sports club on the island's drumlins. My colleague Vince beat me in a game of rock paper scissors so he got to go to sports, but its okay because I'll get to do sports tomorrow. Fishing for me is actually really funny because I'm scared of the crabs so every time I'm with a camper and they catch one I call Max over and he comes running to get the crabs on the pier. I do like to man the touch tank though, and allow the kids to get familiar with the crabs, investigating their anatomy and actually picking them up. I honestly always have the best time coming to Spectacle Island!

swimming in the rain i know we look cold cause that water is cold.

Sincerely, 

Marly Burgos

Day of Courage

Me showing the kids how to cast a fishing rod.

Hey guys nice to see you back again. If you don't know my name is Jaiden and this week at the Courageous Sailing Center I spent my day showing the kids how to fish off the dock and also how to create their very own fish prints.The day was a bit chilly but something about the feeling of the salty breeze, the sound of the water hitting the dock, and the kids enjoying their Friday made the day all the better for me! 

Me commanding the fishing club at Courageous
all by myslef!

This Friday was a blast and although it was swift due to the fact we leave a bit early it was one of the best days due to the fact that it was full of firsts! What I mean by that is for the first time I ran our fishing club without the help of a senior harbor educator. Although it was definitely a challenging task to do, it was an exciting new experience for me to try and I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it. I tried something new today, I encourage you to come down to the harbor and try something new with us!                                                                               Yours truly,                                               Jaiden C.                                                    

It's the Little Things

After the first full week at Blacks Creek I began to be concerned that the children would get bored of looking for crabs and our other creatures since they come to us multiple times a week, but I wrong! The kids find a way to make everything so exciting daily and keep the energy up no matter how many crabs we get. Never disappointing, their fun make our jobs effortless. Earlier this week our first session of the day had been struggling to find any crabs. We spent the better amount of time searching for them but did not seem to have any luck. I was expecting to find disappointed faces... wrong again!! Instead we found something else in the water that made our explorers just as excited. They never ponder on the negative, instead they make due with the positive.

Holding their friends of the day

 It really is the little things that can make someones day. Cici was unable to catch anything this same day and seem down about it. We were sitting talking about all the creatures we had in the touch tanks and she said the snails looked like twins. I recalled that morning Cici told me that she liked my braids, after I suggested that I could braid her hair and we could be twins like the snails were. Her face lit up and we did it. She was so happy when they were done and loved the matching hair, she left Blacks Creek ready for her swim lesson with hair that was ready to keep up with her.

Showing off her braids

Twinning

Catch ya later,

Ana

Hi I'm Vince, Nice to Meet You

Just another day in the office.

My Name is Vince Vila I am from Brighton, my parents are from Peru which I recently visited about two years ago. I like to do hands on activities and move around a lot because it is way better than sitting down doing paper work. When I have nothing to do I usually like to listen to music or go and hang out with my friends.

I think Save the harbor save the bay is a great job for me because I like to be active and I have been dealing with younger kids all my life so I have good experience working with them. I have 3 younger siblings which at the moment are 9, 11 & 15. When they were younger I would always take care and look after them when my mom wasn't around and I still do to this day, so being around younger children isn't anything new to me.

I am excited to join the Save the Harbor Save the Bay team!

Sincerely, Vince Vila

Hello from Claire!

Hi everyone! My name is Claire and I am a new Environmental Policy Intern here at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. I am currently in my senior year at Boston University, where I am getting my degree in Environmental Analysis and Policy. Coming from suburban New Jersey to Boston has been an awesome change, even though there aren't as many trees for me to hug in the city. Growing up around farms and parks taught me to appreciate animals and nature, so I decided to study how our society can protect and sustain them. One of my favorite things to do is travel, and I am always searching for the balance between urban sprawl and wilderness no matter where I go.

Smiles from Salthill Beach in Galway, Ireland!

My favorite childhood memories are of exploring the woods by my house and searching for shells on the Jersey Shore (and yes, there are actually beautiful beaches despite what you might see on TV). Once I took AP Environmental Science in high school, it became more clear that I wanted to spend my life working to protect the environment. I am excited to be working with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay because it is an organization that works for conservation in so many ways. It's important to show people how awesome their environment is, especially since there are so many unexpected opportunities in the city! I hope that through my work here I will be able to see policies in action as we advocate for the planet and show communities around Boston how they can enjoy the natural world from right here in the city. There are so many awesome natural areas in Boston that wouldn't be as great if there weren't as many people working hard to protect them.

Boston is a city with so many resources, and I can't wait to work with everyone at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay in conservation projects and to share my enthusiasm for the environment with other curious people!

Claire looking for snails on Revere Beach