It's a Photo Finish!

Hey Everyone!

It's Senior Harbor Educator, Briana, with the scoop on our first week of programming!

Eric leading our Crab Chat

This week has been an eventful one at Blacks Creek in Quincy. We had a huge turn out for the races, a total of 28 crabs were caught in one day! We began our crabbing curriculum by teaching our Harbor Explorers about crab traps and how they work. We buckled our life jackets up and headed over to the dock. We allowed our explorers to pull the trap out of the water and onto the dock, revealing the numerous crabs we caught. After placing each crab into a bucket we brought them to the touch tank on the beach and circled the kids up for a Crab Chat. During our chat we taught our explorers all about crabs; the difference between a boy and girl crab, how to hold a crab without getting pinched, and even about the moulting cycle of a crab. We also discussed why some crabs may have fewer legs or claws than others.

"And they're off!"

After our Crab Chat it was time to get our creatures that we learned so much about back to their habitat. One of our favorite pastimes at Save The Harbor/Save The Bay is crab racing. We started out by drawing a line in the sand and grouping explorers into pairs. Each pair got one crab and was able to properly hold it until we were ready.

"On your mark, get set, go!!" Group 2 came out of the gates quick but was the first to hit a wall. It was a photo finish for two groups and ultimately it came down to a rigorous game of  Rock, Paper, Scissors to make the final decision. In the end, the girls from group 3 were victorious.

Eric commentating the final competitors

At the end of the day we all celebrated our valiant efforts in the races and our 100 degree exploring with some Gaga Ball in the shade. Despite the exhaustion from the heat, spirits were anything but low. Both Harbor Explorers and staff members were playing and enjoying the game. Everyone had a great time, even when someone got out they stood on the side lines and cheered on the remaining players.

It was a blast!!

Now, I'm off to the races! See ya next time!
Briana

Fun at Carson Beach!

Warm sunny day, tons of kids, over a dozen activities and hundreds of hot dogs, its the Beach Bash and Splash! Every year the Beach Bash and Splash is one of the most fun events throughout the summer, and this year wasn't any different.

Splash!

 For most of the day I was fishing with kids from many different camps, some of the camps were from Braintree, while others were from South Boston and other nearby areas. Fishing was one of the most popular activities of the day and we always had a large group of kids eager to fish with us. We set up shop about ankle deep in the water, and began fishing. We didn't catch any fish but we did catch crab after crab, and ended up catching over a dozen by the end of the day.

 After fishing came the main event, where we all lined up and ran into the cold water.  First we sang "Haulaway Joe" and took some photos, and after this we were ready for the splash. The Save The Harbor Staff and the campers  sprinted towards the water. Some people like Max dove into the water, while others like me just went knee deep, and some people even got thrown into the water. No matter how far into the water people went, everyone had fun. After drying off, everyone went to go get some hot dogs, which were delicious. After eating and relaxing for a little, we all went back to our activities, and for us at fishing, we caught some more crabs!

Until Next Time, Abel Yohannes

A Change of Pace

We caught a fork and some sea creatures on our line.

My first day working at Children's Museum was amazing! Everyone has tons of fun and we were all able to enjoy the beautiful summer weather. I arrived at Children's at 1:45 which is when we typically get the most visitors. For about an hour straight all our fishing rods were in use and there was at least one kid looking at the crab in the fish tank. During this time two visitors were able to catch a crab using their fishing rods! Sadly the crabs let go of the line both of these instances, and we weren't able to reel them in. The kids didn't seem to mind, they were just excited they got something on their lines.

The View from Children's Museum.

Later in the afternoon Rusenny, Vince and I started playing a very competitive  game of four square. Soon enough we were able to get some of the kids that were just fishing to join our game. They spoke limited English so it was somewhat difficult to explain the rules, but they caught on quickly and then all four of us were able to enjoy a nice game of four square. Everyone was laughing and competing, which was great to see.

Until Next Time, Abel Yohannes

82, 81, 90, 91

Those are the temperatures the Boston Harbor area has been climbing to this week. The days in the 80s feel like 90s and the 90s feel like 100! It is easy to say we definitely in the dog days of summer.

Check out those crabs! 

Despite the heat, nothing can stop our campers from their daily routine. They relentlessly cast their lines, pull up traps, and paddle their kayaks through the water. The games of capture the flag seem endless and the day seems to drag until we get to the park but there is nothing compares to the smile on their faces when they see water on a hot day. The sprinkler is flowing and they can't get enough of the water. Soon enough they are even pouring it on the playground making "water slides". 

As sad as it is to leave the park and sprinkler, we make our way back down to the dock. The kids are getting hot again and are mostly dry. We thought, why not give them some more water? We turned on the hose and started spraying the ones who were willing to get wet. The kids were loving it!  

This moon jellyfish is AWESOME!

Before wrapping up for the day the kids partook in some heavy betting during the crab races, I believe a green crab won and his winnings were getting back into the water first. The kayakers also caught a jellyfish and brought it back to the dock for us all to hold it. So far this week has been a smash hit. 

Stay cool folks

Briana

Six Arms

Greetings folks!
This past week at Save the Harbor Save the Bay was a blast! I learned, taught, saw, and held some new things I never had before! And that's what these programs are all about.

First, here I am ecstatic about having found a 6-armed starfish.




I mean come on folks, this defies the name of the creature itself! It's a STARfish because it has five arms, just as a star has five points. Yet Tuesday at Courageous Sailing in Charlestown, our group of kiddos revealed a six-armed starfish in the flesh. This was the chance for a couple of different firsts for me. Not only was it my first time touching a wild starfish, it was also my first time encountering or even hearing about one with six arms. This is a perfect example of the amazing things the beautiful harbor can do for people like me and the many kids in the Boston area. Any previous encounter of mine that involved a starfish also involved either an aquarium or a tank. While this may be naive of me, I didn't even realize starfish inhabited the Boston harbor.

I also had the pleasure of teaching some kids how to tell the difference between a male crab and a female crab.

      


They all wanted to assume that the bigger crabs were all male while the smaller were female, when really, size does not always serve as an indication of gender. Instead, it is all about the shape present on the crab's belly. A straight triangle is present on a male's belly, while a more broad shape is present on the female's. Honestly, this is something I wasn't even aware of before the start of this position. Now I not only know this myself, but I get the pleasure of sharing this knowledge with kids who are very eager to learn.

Until next time,
Jessie

A Minnow Crossing the Ocean

Welcome back to another post from a fisherman in training! The highlights of this week: a big rock crab, two skates, "stickers", and a fractured toe.

We easily average about twenty to thirty crabs a day at Pier's Park. This week in particular we caught a rock crab that spanned about 7 inches length wise! Luckily for this big guy, none of us were interested in keeping him for dinner, so he was released later that day. Before that happened though, one of the staff that we work with at Pier's Park Sailing Center told me that in all the years she has watched over the kids handling crabs, she never actually held a crab herself! I am proud to say that after this week, this staff member can without a doubt tell anyone that she got past her fear of crabs, just long enough to get a photo with one in her bare hands! #UppingSomeonesSelfieGame

On Thursday I had an amazing opportunity to learn about fishing from some amazing people: Bruce, Sam and Captain Charlie! Alongside Maeve, Mauricio, Abel, Cristin, and Ahmed we each adopted a kid or two for the day to aid them in fishing. Once the boat was out in the waters, it didn't take long for me to bond with the crew. First and foremost, Sam, also known as "stickers," is quite a guy! As kids where squirming in place over the thought of just touching a sea worm, Sam made himself known. One of the neat things about the sea worms that we had as bait was the fact that they have pincers. After Sam said something along the lines of, "You guys want to know a trick on how to not get pinched?," he bit off the end of the sea worm that had the pincers. It was barbaric and I loved everyone moment. I just wish I got it on camera. During this trip I caught two skates! I finally figured out the difference between a skate and a flounder! 

When I play alongside the kids in Sharks and Minnows, I try my best to make sure that the kids are safe and that I am also enjoying what I am doing! On a daily basis, that means I am running full speed to dodge the kids from making me into sea weed (and I am not the only staff to do so)! The kids, other staff, and I all have a blast when we play like this! Unfortunately, due to me stubbing my toe last week, I finally had my injury catch up to me while I was running this past Friday. My "ring toe" was aching and was purple by the end of the first round of Sharks and Minnows. At the end of the day, when the kids started playing capture the flag, one team told me that they needed me. Without a second thought, I jumped into the game and played the rest of the day! 

By Raymond Chai

Small People Finding Smaller Life

Hey guys, today Carson was filled with little people on the hunt for clams. They found big clams and some kids found extremely small clams. The day was filled with explaining to the kids why clams dig so deep and how they were able to squirt up the water. They were all so enthused to start the hunt for clams. Some kids even turned the hunt into a competition. A group found like almost 100 clams; like what?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? While all up in that sand, I found such a baby clam, it was amazing. All the kids thought it was so cute!

While the morning went along, a little girl found, as I would say, the smallest crab in the world...... well at Carson. Literally it was a miracle that she even saw the crab because of its size and its camouflaging skin with the sand. The staff couldn't believe their eyes when they peeped the size of the crab and it was alive. Just goes to show you that small things can be more fascinating than bigger things.

Whelp, bye til next time

-Ary

Crabs > Skate

It surely has been an epic week for the crew over at Save the Harbor. The highlight of my week would probably have to be watching Little T, from St. Marks, catch a skate off the dock. This was the first big catch after many bites over the course of the summer. Despite the skate being the biggest Spectacle moment all summer, another particularly small part of my week was highly memorable. This would definitely have to be watching one of my campers catch a crab using one of our ugly sticks. This was legit.

Mini caught a crab!

Excitement all around for the squad!

For the first time in five years I led fishing this past Tuesday on All Access Boston Harbor. The bait used to catch this small green crab was a squid. Interestingly enough most of the squid was gone and the crab was latched onto a fairly minor part of our intended bait. Mini was part of one of the last groups to attend my fishing clinic, it feels awesome to say that, and achieve this great accomplishment. It was about 2 p.m and most would normally understand that the day is over at this point but Mini put up a a good bargain. Her words were simply "Can i fish for crabs?" That's all she had to say to win me over.


One cast...... BAM, a crab. God written or luck? The world may never know (No, this isn't a tootsie pop advertisement). This was very fun for all of us on AABH to see and a great end for our first day out on the island this week.

Until next time,

Ahmed Hassan

Peddocks Island

Hi everyone,

This week, All Access is at Peddocks Island. Peddocks Island used to be my least favorite island, yet it has a better beach than Spectacle. I disliked Peddocks just because every where you would step last year, you would see goose poop. This year is totally different. It's like a miracle because there is no goose poop!  Now I can say that Peddocks is definitely my favorite island. 

       It's the biggest SPIDER CRAB!

These past two days has been amazing. Yesterday, we caught about fifty to seventy-five crabs. Most surprisingly, we caught LOTS of spider crabs. We normally catch more green crabs than any other type of crabs. I was also surprised that we caught several humongous red rock crabs.

      Caught in the pavilion on Tuesday

Today, Sam who's back with All Access went with us to Peddocks and guess what he caught on his first day in a matter of five minutes? A SKATE!!! Lord knows that I was excited when he caught the skate. The kids were also excited and I really mean that they were extremely happy when they got to wear the skate on their heads as a hat. It's really funny but I mean Sam is just amazing. For my lovely All Access coworkers, they should know that I always get too excited when we catch anything. Whenever I get crabs from the crab traps, I always call them my people. My love for sea creatures is unbelievable because I hated and I had a fear of all types of animals. Thanks to Save the Harbor, especially All Access who made me overcome my fear for sea creatures.

       Happy girl wearing the skate as

                             a hat 

           Sam reeling in the SKATE

Sea Creature Loving,

- Andrea Lopes

Crabs at Blacks Creek

Hello again!

This week has been a really good week for the kids at Blacks Creek. They've been a lot more successful in their quest to catch critters than they were last week. There are minnows a plenty, and every day hermit crabs and sea snails are presented to us counselors as symbols of the kids' hunting prowess.

On Wednesday, however, we caught a mussel and used it as bait in the crab trap. After previous unsuccessful attempts to use the crab trap, we weren't expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised when there turned out to be four crabs that were trapped! They were a lot larger than any of the crabs that we'd found before, with one being about the size of my fist. The kids were so excited to see their hard work pay off.

Jane with one of the many animals she has caught.

We also found a horseshoe crab, but sadly it was dead. That didn't dampen the kids' excitement, though. It was an excellent opportunity for the kids to ask questions and handle the crab without getting hurt. I know I learned a lot about horseshoe crabs this week, and I hope the kids did too.

Some of the kids with the horseshoe crab.

I hope to have more surprises next week!

Dan O'Hara

Quiet day at Courageous

Once again it was a quiet day at Courageous! We did not catch any fish, but the kids are always excited to see the crabs- the crabs never get old with them. They love picking up the crabs to figure out if it's a boy or girl and trying to figure out what kind of crab it is. Today, we caught a really big rock crab, the campers were amazed by how big it was! We also caught a crab that was pregnant and we released it as soon as we found out.

Holding the rock crab, we called him "Crabzilla"

A pregnant green crab

Even though the kids already know that the traps will be filled with crabs, they continue to get excited about seeing them every week. This is one of the reasons why I like working with kids- the are always interested in what we find!

Until next time!

-Andy

First Day At Children's Museum

This is Mike Murray. Our first day at the Children's museum was awesome. We had over fifty people come by and we caught eighty crabs! The JPA's, Ana, Jayda, Marco, Isabella, and Mike, all did a fantastic job interacting with the kids, teaching them how to fish, and showing them crabs. Mark did an awesome job overseeing the site, talking to people, and making sure everything ran smoothly. 

Earlier today, while we were setting up, Mark mentioned that he was scared of jelly fish. Later in the day we caught a moon jelly in our pale, and Mark, I am proud to day, not only touched the jelly, but picked it up (and then promptly dropped it). The next step: swimming with jelly fish, though not at the children's museum. After today, I'm really, really excited for summer. We're going to have a great time!

-Mike

The Crab Kings

This week not that many kids have been at McDonough, but as soon as we start catching crabs and lobsters they all start lining up to see them. This Monday we caught 6 lobsters and they were all huge. The kids were all really excited to see the huge lobsters that we had brought back with us. Lucky for the lobsters I don't eat them or other wise they would've all been dinner. One of the lobsters we caught was 4 pounds, he was really fat and looked like he had been eating for days.

Me and Mae and Larry

On Tuesday Daniel and I went fishing for crabs to see who could catch the most crabs. When the race started I was down 6 crabs and I had lost all hope of wining and Daniel looked like he was never going to stop catching crabs. However, once I started there was no stopping me, I had caught 5 crabs in less than 6 minutes and I had a bonus of catching 3 crabs at once. The race was first up to 10 but we were so competitive that we raised the number to 20. After we both had tied at 20 crabs we decided that who ever made it to 30 first would be the winner. I was up for most of the race and when I needed 1 more crab it felt like forever because Daniel had 28 crabs and I had 29. The moment Daniel caught his 29th I caught my 30th, at first I was really happy then I realized I just beat a little kid and then I felt bad. But Daniel was a good sport and we congratulated one another and we crowned our self's as the "Crab Kings".

The Kids Looking at All Crabs We Caught

Jazeel Mendes- Chao

The Crustacean Craze!

Hello again fellow explorers!
       

"No I don't want to leave, there's free food here!"

        Last week at Courageous Sailing center we had an explosion of crabs in our lobster traps! We discovered that bait such as crushed mussels and dead fish were a favorite snack for the hungry crabs. As a result, just about every trap we pulled up was teeming with crustaceans scurrying around the inside. Taking a look inside the bait bags, just about everything was picked clean, leaving behind only fish bones and the shells of mussels.


        After we wrangled all the crabs into our touch tank, we counted 50 total crabs! Ranging from green crabs, rock crabs, and Asian shore crabs. All those crabs in one tank provided ample entertainment for the extended day kids at Courageous. Crab races were by far a favorite for the kids, and while the crabs didn't want to cooperate, they're random scurrying along the dock kept everyone entertained. We even took advantage of the opportunity to get a group picture of everyone holding a crab in each hand! Overall the crab craze at Courageous was a great opportunity for any and all to experience holding a crab and have a good time.

Everybody say "crustacean!"

Until next time, keep on exploring!
     -Luke

My New Friend- Crabs!

   Crabs.
   
       Crabs were not my favorite animal, but now they have become my friends. I was scared before to touch the crab and to hold the crab. Now I know that crabs do not hurt if you hold them in the right way and I learn how to hold the crab. Last week we caught 50 crabs at Courageous Sailing Center it was fun to see a lot of crabs. The kids were happy and enjoyed playing with crab. Also the kids try to figure out if the crabs are male or female.
 

Crabs!

     
It was the best day because I grabbed a crab and held it in my hand. I never thought that crabs would become my friend, but me and the crabs are friends now.

Me and my crab friend!

See you on the water,
Filmawit

  

Holy Crab!

I had a great time at Courageous Sailing Center today. During my time there I taught these two kids how to fish. I can tell that they really enjoyed it. They were interested in fishing because they normally see fish when they are sailing during the day, but they were never able to take the time to actually try and catch fish. It was their first time fishing and it was a success! One of the kids caught a green crab. The crab was on the end of his line trying to eat his bait.

We always tell the kids to watch out when handling crabs, because their claws hurt if they pinch you. Although we tell them this, they often don't believe us. After a long debate of whether or not crabs pincers actually hurt or not, I decided to take it into my own hands. I decided to get pinched on purpose by a crab. It was a learning experience for both the kids and myself. At the end of the day we all learned that crab pincers are nothing to play with.   

See you next time, 

Preston

The Children's Museum

Each time we go to the children's  museum, the children are always excited to go fishing and touch some of the crabs and fish we catch. Most of the kids have gone fishing before so they are kind of experts.  Some of the younger kids are scared to touch the crabs, so we have to hold the claws so they can touch them.  It's really fun hanging out with those kids, and they get really excited when we catch something.  The other day we caught a huge striped bass! After the kids saw it and touch it we threw the fish back in the water. I have fun every time we go fishing there.

kids holding crabs 

Satisfaction Guaranteed

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

A Normal Day

     A normal day for me consists of fishing, crabbing, and kids.  Fishing is my favorite because it takes patience.  A lot of the kids at the Children's Museum do not have patience, and that is why they do not often catch anything.  On the other hand, I can wait on a fish for hours, I know they are out there, and I'm waiting to catch one.  After I fish, I like to crab.  Crabbing is fun and easy for the kids because they can just pull the net up and there are some crabs.

Spider Crab

     The kids are the most important part of the day.  Sometimes they come in bunches and sometimes they come one by one. It is hard when there are days when you only catch four or five crabs and seven kids want to hold them..  No matter how many there are, I am always ready to help whether it be ten or 1.

The Beautiful Camp Harbor View

Camp Harbor View is absolutely phenomenal.  Where was this day camp when I was growing up?  As stated in my last blog post, Monday was filled with visiting Blacks Creek and Camp Harbor View (CHV).  I had never been out to CHV and I all knew about the site was that it was the furthest point on Long Island.  As I started my trek from Blacks Creek (with a short stop for a turkey sandwich, Slim Jims and bottle of water) I couldn't help but admire the beautiful scenery along the Quincy shoreline.  Thank goodness no one was driving behind me as I drove by the love shack and over the bridge because I was driving about 10 mph looking out at the amazing views of the harbor.

Beautiful view on the way to Camp Harbor View

As I arrived at the camp I was mesmerized.  This camp had everything to offer; swimming pool, a nude beach, rock climbing, fishing, "mess hall", ropes course, sailing, and much more.  It vaguely reminded me of Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts" - probably because I showed up during lunch time.  As a Boston Public School teacher, I could not believe I hadn't heard about this camp before.  Kids between the ages of 11-14 (perfect for the middle school students I teach) sign up for 4 weeks at the camp and only pay $5 with transportation included.  How awesome is that!?

As soon as lunch ended the kids were directed to find their "afternoon activity group" which meant game on for fishing club.  We quickly gathered up our 12 kids and walked to the pier.  This afternoon session was only an hour but the kids searched for crabs on the beach and fished off the pier using the gummy crabs as bait. It's always great to see kid's reactions when they lift a rock from the beach and see five crabs scurry away.  There's always the loud, "Wow" or "Oh my goodness" but these kids were fearless and picked up tons of crabs to show off and put in the bucket.

Looking for crabs on the beach

Once our bucket was full of crabs, Asian Shore Crabs that is, we headed back to the pier for some fishing!  Most of the kids were already pros at fishing while other needed some help.  Will.i.Am, Clark Kent and the Junior Program Assistants sprang into action baiting hook and teaching kids how to cast their line.  I worked with a few kids but mostly played photographer to caputre these great moments!

Manny and Will helping out some campers

I cannot wait to go back and visit Camp Harbor View again! Maybe they will even let me climb the rock wall - fingers crossed!.....But probably they shouldn't because I'm a klutz.

- Bridget