A Bountiful Day

Monday was a day marked by landmark catches at both of my program sites. 

At Blacks Creek one of the campers was surprised to pull up a net full of sea weed and find what he believed to be an American eel, a species that our Blacks Creek Explorers have become very familiar with. When he brought the contents over to me to help him remove the slender creature, I was thrilled to see that, instead of the an eel it was a common pipefish. This was the first time that the kids or myself had encountered one of these interesting cousins to seahorses at Blacks Creek. The kids, as usual, were thrilled to have found something new and were interested to hear about the mating habits of the species.

Taking the pipefish from the observation bucket for release

Our luck at Blacks Creek carried over to fishing club at Camp Harbor View. The bluefish that are beginning to show up in Boston Harbor graced our rods with a few nibbles and one of the campers was lucky enough to hook up. While it was just a small one, the camper who caught it was still proud of his first fish. Hopefully we can get some bigger ones to bite before the summer closes out.

A fisherman with his catch.

Close up of a toothy maw.

Additionally, the small minnow trap that we have hanging off of the side of CHV's dock managed to capture the smallest flounder that I have ever seen. While both of our catches during club-time were diminutive in size, they both served to excite the kids in the club for the prospect of catching more fish and for the upcoming fishing trip that we will be taking with them. 

Flounder (reduced to reflect actual size)

- Hoping for good times and tight lines, Tom Rebula

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

Fishing Tournament

Delilah and I on the boat cooling off while we wait for the fish



This is the rear view of our boat, us leaving the dock to go find some fish

This event was a first time thing for me. I have never really went fishing. I have been around people that fish but I never really learned how to fish until I came to this event. I was excited to do this event because I was going to learn how to fish but also I was with someone I am not usually paired with. I was paired with Delilah and Ahmed. We really had a great time on our speed boat. I dont remember the name of the boat but our boat looked like it had a jucuzzi behind the driver seat. Delilah and I were on the chairs that turn and are facing toward the water and Ahmed was facing the front of the boat on this long bench. He said he was getting soaked on the bench but Delilah and I were feeling majority of the motions of the boat going over the waves. It didnt hit me until after we settled down that the littlest boats feel the most motion. I never felt "sea sick" until I got on that speed boat. We went so far out that we passed Spectacle Island, Long Island, and Thompson Island. We even passed the Long Island Bridge and went to the Hull Peninsula. It was an event that I had never done before so it was a new experience that I enjoyed a lot. After this event I plan to go fishing with my mom's boyfriend more often.                                                                         

                                                                                                     By: Brianna Charles



Our boat in full speed action with the city behind us