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Larry and I teaching Identification 101 at Courageous Sailing Center

The Boston Harbor holds plenty of surprises but Courageous Sailing Center holds much more being off of the Boston Harbor. Despite the fact that I have worked for Save the Harbor for three years and this is my first time working Courageous Sailing Center I am very pleased. Usually people expect so much of things but are not satisfied with the outcome I came into Courageous hoping the best and the first day I went home with a male lobster. I learned so much like how we can't eat female lobster because they carry sperm for up to a year, carry eggs, and over fishing is really a big problem in the Harbor.

We caught four lobster, but only one was legal. The legality of lobster is based off the measurements of its carapace. If the carapace is less than 3 1/4" it isn't able to be taken out of the harbor and eaten. Also male lobsters are the only lobsters that The Fishery Regulations allow us to eat. Many lobsters can be differentiated between male and female by the texture of the swimmerets closest to their head, if they are rough and ridged they are male, tender they are female. I took a male lobster home and made a good dinner for myself. Although I took it home I wasn't able to eat it due to my run in with mother nature and becoming sick and obtaining a swollen throat. It was an amazing first day and am looking forward to the rest of the week!

-Ahmed Hassan

Ultimate FrisKick

This blog is definitely not about playing kickball and Frisbee on Georges Island........


This week on Georges Island, we spent a great day full of sports outside the tunnel. Davis, Manny and I took Braintree After School enrichment programs children onto the open fields and made sure they had a fun time. I ran kickball as usual with my ultimate dynamic teams and Davis ran Frisbee. The children were all

enthusiastic to play kickball and most kids were already very athletic, Davis also know as Mr. Sullivan knew some of the kids and the ones he knew were great sports. My team captain Matt, was an awesome captain we had the all start team. We had several all stars and the ultimate outcome was Matt and I team dominating against Anicias team. It was hysterical how competitive the kids were over something not so big but they had the best spirit! It was all fun and a great day my best day on Georges so far. Matt was an MVP so I named him KD also because of his Kevin Durant hat, plus my MVP D-Rose he was a champ.

Remember this was not a blog about our day playing kickball and Frisbee on Georges Island..
Over and Out

-Ahmed Hassan

Super Crew

Me, Karrisha, Bridget, Mark, and Anicia ready to fish!

Hey guys!

Yesterday was so much fun! Almost all of the STH/STB staff came together very early in the morning to go on a fishing trip. We were split into different groups to go on separate boats. My group consisted of Karrisha, Mark, Anicia, Bridget, and myself (Aka best team ever!). Plus, Captain Paul and First mate Steve. I got to meet Anicia and Karrisha's mother, Marlene, who was really nice! 

Unfortunately, nobody on my boat caught any fish. We still had fun, though. We talked and got to know each other a little better. It was a very informative boat ride. Lots of work stories were told and lots of laughs were had. It was a great bonding experience! Karrisha even got to drive the boat for a few minutes. Shh! Don't tell anyone..

It was only 60 degrees out and we were on the water so as you can imagine, we were freezing! Of course we made the best of it. Even though we didn't catch any fish, Bruce was nice enough to give us 2 really big Striped Bass, which Tom was super excited to fillet for us to  take home! I so psyched to eat it and in fact cooked it later for dinner! 

Voila! It was delicious!

Working at Revere beach

Showing children the crabs, lobsters and starfishes.

Hello, we went to Revere beach on Friday. We brought traps, fishing rods and baits. We also brought the crabs, lobsters and starfishes from when we caught them at South Boston. My co-worker is Annie, she drove us to Revere beach. We brought fishing supplies to the table. We put starfishes, crabs and lobsters inside the bucket filled with ocean water. We showed children the starfishes, crabs and lobsters. There was a camera crew and they video taped me showing children the crabs, lobsters and starfishes.

Taking a picture at Revere beach while having a lot of fun.

After that, we ate lunch, we went to take pictures of sand sculptures. We went to spin a wheel to get prizes. I won a bandage, some of my partner got a water bottle. A lady who worked there gave everyone a water bottle. We got some drinks and played some games. We cleaned our stuff and then we left Revere beach.

Fishing and Cliff Diving

The Vertex fishing event that Save the Harbor attends is probably my favorite weekend event to attend. Its a full day of fun just like any other day at the job but with kids that I never met before. When we fish off the dock we catch a lot of fish although all of them aren't big 45" Striped Bass the kids are happy with their first fishing experience and catching something. We caught a lot of bait fish that had a similar purplish stripped pattern that were very small.

Watching people flip off the ICA building was a great way to end the day because it was so surreal. They were doing cartwheels and flips and spins but all in the air in one jump. Red Bull did a great job keeping us hydrated while watching after fishing. Saturday was an overall great day and a good way to wrap up the summer.
-Ahmed Hassan

Party over here!

           Some would think throwing a beach party is already hard enough but how about a beach party with nearly 700 kids.The party was a lot of fun, I directed the sports section along with Anthony, Leon, and Andrew. It was a lot of fun and something new because I met a lot kids I didn't meet before and a few that I met the day prior to the party. Most of the kids from All Access and I even met some kids from Winthrop who I taught to swim and a lot from the East Boston YMCA. The highlight of my day was when Alie called Candido, Vinh, and I a fish. It was funny because the children could go out into the water only until their belly button while I stand 6'4 and I was no where near the sand in the water. Candido is a true force of nature he can  backstroke for however long and anywhere in the water while I just did my signature shredding of the water.

Serving the food most have been the hardest part of the day. Me and Will gave out so much cold water that we had no feeling in our hands for a good 35 minutes. It was upsetting telling the kids that they couldn't have a drink until they had a hotdog. After I regained feeling in my hands I ate and enjoyed the rest of the day. It was a lot of fun.

-Ahmed Hassan

AWESOME STAFF DAY !

Hello Explorers,

Two days ago we had our ''Annual Staff Day'', that was incredibly awesome...
My Staff and I cruised all over All Access boat , while socking up the hot sticky sun.
Looking at the lovely water i saw a lot of interesting things in the water that caught my attention at the moment for example; waves and couple of fish that looked cool to me. hehe ...

We finally got there to Spectacle Island , yay ! I was so excited even though it didn't seem like it to others. I finally went walking on the beach , and it totally helped me feel at peace and i started looking at the water and the rocks. I'm weird , i know but i love rocks and there texture and color. I sat down and put my head phones on and started listening to nice soft music :)

 Unfortunately I'm disappointed  that i did not take any pictures at all at Spectacle Island but if i did , it would have been the best pictures ever !! So I'm pretty bummed over that.
We headed back to Bruce and Patty's fantastic boat to enjoy some delicious food , that they took there time and prepared for us, that i am Thankful for.

However, did i mention how fun and delicious it was... Well believe it, it was the best !
I could not get enough of the '' hot dogs and chips'' even though its was plain meal, well to me it was delicious.

 Then we hiked up the hill to play a game of capture the flag that unfortunately was too short to find a winner. It was a nice day to sit back and relax with my group.

- Ana Munoz

Kayaking on a pair of Spectacles

Usually at Spectacle Island swimming and flying kites are points of interest for most people. I chose to go kayaking with my fellow workers Carolyn, Thi, and Andrew the Beast. This was something that I had done before at Community Boating but taken to a new extreme. When we went kayaking we went over safety procedures and precautions of to do and what no to do. The kids were all scared to go kayaking because the weather wasn't the best and they were scared. So the staff tried it for the first time. Our instructors Kevin and Dennis were laughing when we got on the water. Beast and I flipped more than twice there were many problems such as bugs, water in the kayak and waves. I flipped battling waves and was forced to swim back to shore.

Thi and I were the only two who were devastated when we saw Beetles, and other insects on us. I freak when there is something on me and I can't see it but I can feel it. These were some of the things that caused me to tilt and lose my center of gravity. The kids that went the day before explained to me some of the things that we should do and I didn't comply to what they were telling me and the worse happened. It was a blast and something that was really fun. Kevin the instructor asked for some of us to go back out with him again next time with a group of kids which I am looking forward too.


-Ahmed Hassan

Swimming in the Harbor

Last week on All Access, I finally started swimming on Spectacle Island. This isn't something I usually do but I tried it and David was surely right. Returning children such as kids from the East Boston YMCA usually ask me to go to the top of the island with them to fly kites and play with them, but they were upset when I told them I was going to swim. When they saw me swim one of my friends from the YMCA David asked his mentor to come in the water with me. This showed me a new part of my job which was that I could teach the kids about sea glass and then swim with them. As soon as we started swimming David got the rest of his friends to come in the water and we all had a blast. As the ferry docked waves coasted to the shore really fast. Waves are a lot of fun but also very painful. We told the kids to get out the water cause if you don't clash with the waves you're going to get hurt. Something I learned the hard way.

Kids from the East Boston YMCA really enjoyed the company of my fellow worker Beast and I. The days before we flew kites and it was a pleasure  helping the kids experience new ways to have fun on the island.

-Ahmed Hassan