Nothing but Surprises at CHV

This week has been a hot one at Camp Harbor View, but its also been a week of surprises. The first part of the week had scattered showers from time to time. Going from hot to cold, back to hot weather all inn one day really took a toll on everyone. But none the less, the kids had an amazing time. We started out fishing, and during the rain showers we talked to kids about crabs and lobsters. For most of the kids, they have never seen a crab up close in person. So it was a perfect time to let them all get a chance to hold the crab. From faces of confusion, to smiling faces of excitement, everyone who held a crab had something amazing to tell their group leader.

Our group of fishermen!

Meet Jennifer, she is 12 years old and its her first year at Camp Harbor View. Last week she had a lot of questions about the harbor, and what we do at Save The Harbor. Although, she seemed interested, she was a little sceptical that they would catch anything while they were there. Campers from last year told her about last years catches and that the water around the camp has an abundance of wildlife. Still unpersuaded, I brought her down to the dock to pull up a crab trap. When she pulled it up she screamed in utter excitement, "Oh my goodness, look there's a lobster!"As she jumped for joy on the dock she was lost for words. She was so happy that she called her mom screaming about how cool lobsters looked in person. She even gave him a name, Bobby The lobster. This was easily the highlight of my week.

 Until next time, Preston.

Lobsters!

Just the other day at Piers Park, we were pleasantly surprised to find lobsters in our crab traps! There were two lobsters in total. One of them was fairly small, definitely not fully grown, and the other was larger and big enough for us to keep, if we so pleased. Everyone on site, Harbor Explorers and sailors alike, were amazed at our most recent catch. I'd never caught a real, live, wild lobster before, and like everyone else, I was unsure of how they would react to their current predicament.

We opened the crab trap and carefully slid them onto the dock. There, we met our first challenge: the claws! Thankfully, we were prepared and had elastic bands in our tackle box. The smaller lobster was very cooperative, barely moving, and it's claws were also a bit littler, allowing for the elastics to slip on easily. The other crab was more predominant, and much stronger than it's partner. When I held it's claws, it clearly resisted, pushing it's arm stubbornly away from mine. It's larger hands worked as a team, in synchronization, following my fingers around as I attempted to shut it's pinchers. After some toil, the deed was did, and the lobsters were placed safely into their touch tanks. 

Their antennas stretched from their heads to the water's surface, where they rested on top of the liquid. These antennas were super perceptive, and reacted to anything that touched their surroundings. If even just a fingertip dipped into the water, the lobsters would immediately begin to scurry around their enclosures with their claws waving above them. This tactic was very intimidating, and scared many of the kids from wanting to hold them.  

The thing that surprised most of the children was the way that the lobsters used their tails. The more dominant lobster, who continuously acted in defiance of us, once had a bit of a fit on the dock, where it flapped it's tail and flopped on the dock, very similarly to how a fish would if it were taken out of water. It's tail was powerful, and we saw this strength more clearly when we eventually let our critters free and placed them back into the ocean. The more docile lobster floated innocently to the sea's bottom, as relaxed as it had been in it's whole tenure with us. Our alpha friend, however, left in style. It hit the water, danced for a moment, and then thrusted it's tail and zoomed away from us. It used it's tail very similarly to how the squid that we captured used it's tentacles: by pushing the water in violent blasts, so that it shot away like a torpedo through the water. 

Yes, we even let the monster lobster go free and back to it's home. At the time, I thought that it was a good idea, but around dinnertime, a smidge of regret passed through me. I don't like most seafood, but I do love lobster. 

-SEAN 

Our Lucky Crab Traps

Hey guys,
Last Friday was particularly exciting for the Piers Park crew. It started off as a day where running around was going to be too much. Friday was so hot and humid. When the day started I was not in the best mood because of the heat, but I still played with the kids and tried to fake my best smile. My mood suddenly changed while we were on the dock. Some kids wanted to pull up a crab trap, so I suggested pulling up the one next to the sail boat. A Harbor Explorer, Anya was pulling up the crab trap, but it got caught on the dock, so I took the line from her and started pulling it up. As it came towards the surface I saw these two big crabs in the crab trap, and I was thinking to myself, wow those crabs are huge. But then as I pulled it all the way up I quickly said "Oh my god we caught two lobsters. SEAN WE CAUGHT TWO LOBSTERS!" Everyone suddenly got super excited. Zach was right next to me on the sail boat and he lost it, he was so happy that he quickly ran to get a bucket to help me put them in some water.
Sean was the man who put the rubber bands on their claws. Luckily he did not get pinched, and he admitted that he did not know how to put on these rubber bands. The kids were all so excited, and it was very amazing because it was the first time all summer we caught lobsters, and we did not catch them in the lobster trap either, which is incredible. Our crab traps are very lucky, because about 10 minutes later I heard a kid yelling about how we caught another fish in the crab trap. It was really cool when we put the lobsters back in the water because the bigger one swam away, down and under the dock while the smaller one just kind of slowly sank to the bottom.
Til Next time,
Amanda