Time for Programming

We finally get to start programming! I got to start my summer at Piers Park, a beautiful park located in East Boston. It is a sailing center for young kids ages (roughly) 5-9, and it was a blast! Some kids were returning, and knew about all the fun things we were going to dive into, but the new kids were surprised by all the fun activities. We were able to fish, sail, crab/mino trap, kayak and more. We played some fun ice breaking games, so that we got to know each other and started our week with some fun! For the following two days, I was at a very familiar site: All Access Boston Harbor. We went out to Spectacle Island, and we caught a 17 inch fish! We also swam, played some football, and had a whole lot of fun.

We caught some animals this week, ranging from fish to crabs. In particular we caught green and spider crabs. Green crabs are cool because beside each eye they have five little spikes that you can use to spell out green. We also taught the kids how to differentiate between a male a female crab, by observing its stomach! Spider crabs stole the show however. From puny to giant, we caught a boat load of spider crabs! Spider crabs have a more scary type of look, but they are actually a lot more calm in my opinion. They are also covered in algae from the ocean floor where they live, establishing a mutual relationship by giving the algae a place to live, and the crab some decent camouflage so that they will not be noticed by predators.

spider crab dun dun dun

To close out the week, I am going to be celebrating July 4th with some friends. I am going to start by going to Singing Beach in Manchester, NH. I hope to play some spike ball, eat a nice breakfast, and get ready for the long night of fireworks at a beach near my house.











Until next week,
Qalid

Finally Fish!

Our first skate and the lucky fisherman

After a crab-filled summer at Spectacle Island, this week finally broke our fishless curse! I was in charge of managing fishing on Thursday when our luck changed. The first group to fish was filled with energetic kids ready for anything to bite the hooks. After just a few minutes, one young man started shouting that he thought he caught something. I ran over to help him reel up a skate! We got the skate up and onto the pier where Kharliyah and Patrice carefully removed the hook from the spiky skate's mouth. A lot of the children did not know what type of fish this was or confused it with a stingray. After everyone had a chance to see our pokey pal, we sent him back into the ocean. 

When the next group arrived to fish, I told them they had some big shoes to fill after the previous group's achievements. Within a matter of moments, a camper from Tricklin Falls Camp claimed that he had caught something as well. We expected another fish, but instead we discovered that he caught an old and forgotten crab trap. The trap was filled with a few small green crabs, a tiny spider crab, and even a few little fish! One crab had a baby flounder clutched in his claws. When we removed this crab from the trap, he waived his baby flounder around proudly as if he was showing off his own catch. I managed to free the founder from the crab's grasp and gently plopped it back into the water. We let the other little fish go and kept the small crabs in the touch tank for other kids to enjoy. 

Catching crab traps

Baby spider crab

After our first two eventful groups, we continued to catch plenty of crabs left and right. At one point, Patrice pulled up a line to reveal that she had snagged a pregnant crab in the process of giving birth! As she was in the middle of releasing her eggs, we quickly let her return to sea to ensure that her babies had a safe delivery. 

A crab and his flounder friend

I think this has been my most successful day of fishing ever! We encountered so many interesting creatures and it really boosted the kids spirits to see that they could find such cool things in the ocean. I hope this is just the beginning of a bountiful summer.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker