Bubbly Lobsters

Hello everybody!

This past week was very exciting for me. I got the opportunity to work the Hull Illumination Festival. I always love working the Better Beaches event each year because I get to connect with so many people from so many different communities. At this particular event, there were a lot of Coast Guard and military families. As they chatted over sodas and ice cream, I blew bubbles and fish printed with their kids. I love watching families that are as loving as the ones at this festival. In that moment nobody waned to be anywhere else. As a matter of fact neither did I.

Playing "pop the bubble"

The little boy in this picture is named Michael. Michael's dad works in the Coast Guard and doesn't get home as often as most of our fathers do. However, Michael looks at his father like he's superman and could do anything. I used to look at my grandfather that way especially after I found out that he fought in the Korean war. Our military are our superheroes. By definition, superhero means "A type of heroic stock character, usually possessing supernatural or superhuman powers, who is dedicated to fighting the evil of his/her universe, and protecting the public".  Not all superheroes wear capes and have supernatural powers. Some are just ordinary people who go out of their way to do extraordinary things.

some more kids captivated by the bubbles

The rest of the week, I worked for All Access going out to Spectacle Island each day. I was so happy to be at Spectacle this week because it was about 80000 degrees outside. Spectacle means swimming and in the hot, humid weather the water feels amazing. If you know David Coffin, he makes sure everyone gets into the water whether they brought a swimsuit or not. Up in the fields, Damani and I played football with Blackstone Academy. I got to see my bestfriend Louis who is 5 years old and loves giving big hugs. My favorite part about All Access is that each year the kids will come back and some will point at you saying "hey I remember you". It puts a smile on my face every time because who doesn't like being remembered?

On Friday, I worked over at Atlantic W(h)arf (if you worked on the mural you know why the "h" is in parentheses). The Ollie came to spend the day fishing, fish printing, and drawing with us. Just as we were handling out boloco burritos and gulping down ice cold waters, Brianna pulled up something BIG in the crab trap. A couple of the SBNH counselors ran over curious as to what was inside. through the crowd we watched as Brianna held up the giant lobster like a trophy. never in my life had I even dreamed of seeing a lobster this big. Sadly we had to toss it back into the ocean because it was too big to keep.

Brianna with her prize lobster

Until the next big catch,
Patrice Haney

Seaweed scarfs and lobsters!

Larry The Lobster and his crab friend

Our group of fishermen!

Hi everyone! It's Tuesday week 3 at Camp Harbor View and we still have only caught one fish (and the tiny one we caught in the trap) unfortunately but some other exciting things have happened! So yesterday as the new set of kids came in for fishing club they were all excited to get their rods out and patiently wait for the big catch. We haven't had much luck lately with fish, but there has been a ton of crabs of course. So out of no where one of the kids named Max yells "I think I caught something! Help!" as his rod was bending and pulling. And of course, we all rushed to see what mysterious fish could have been at the end of his rod. "It's defiantly a big one!" We all took turns at pulling until finally we reeled and reeled up... and what did we see?.. A ginormous piece of seaweed! It was about 7 feet long and all the kids looked at it in amazement and wonder. Jen then helped us identify the tiny living creatures that lived on it and what their role was. The kid who caught it was even brave enough to pick it up and put it around his neck!

Not only did we catch the seaweed scarf yesterday but today we caught something in the crab trap that surprised everyone. It was a lobster! It was very scary looking at first because I had never seen a live lobster that close up before just like some of the kids hadn't either. After a while of learning about them and how they get around by swimming backwards, I finally got the courage to touch it more although I still didn't get to hold it because they like to move around a lot! It was really fun because some of the kids held "Larry the lobster" and they had fun showing him around the dock and learning more about him.

Seaweed Scarf!

Just as the CHV Save the Harbor crew was getting used to talking about crabs: how they eat, how to identify whether it is a male or female, what type it is, and that they have ten legs that can grow back when harmed; we were astonished when Maeve and Preston pulled up a lobster on Tuesday. Now, not having a ton of information about the ins and outs of lobsters, we pulled out our guidebook to equip ourselves with interesting facts to tell the campers. If we thought that the kids loved learning about, touching, and holding crabs, this was amplified tenfold when they encountered our lobster friend. I also had never caught a lobster before, and was almost as excited as the kids were. 

Excited about our catch!

A theme that has emerged on the end of the pier as we talk about an increasing number of sea creatures, is that we often compare them to characters from the show Spongebob. We have had Spongebob himself found on a crab arm, Squidward unfortunately as bait, and now we added one more to our crew. When one of the kids yelled "Larry the Lobster" we did not skip a beat in continuing to call it by that namesake. Although our lobster was not quite a keeper, we were able to show each group that day what was probably our most impressive catch this summer!

We are still waiting for more luck catching more than one Striped Bass, and are still hopeful especially after getting word that there are Stripers at both Spectacle Island and outside the Children's Museum. Even catching a skate would be just the thing we need to let the kids know that there are in fact more than just crabs and lobsters in the Boston Harbor. 

Keep your fingers crossed for a big catch this week!

Until next time, 

-Kristen