A Warm (Cold rather) Welcome from Spectacle Island

Map of Trails

Hi everyone!

Shivering was my first reaction to docking at Spectacle Island on Saturday, October 29, 2016. What really shocked me was how green the entire island appeared to be! I have never seen that much green grass throughout the summer, considering how hot and dry it was. It was a regular, cold Boston day around 50 degrees in the city and 40 on the island with a little drizzle in the forecast. This was the first day I had ever been to the top of the island and came back around and it was also my first hike. The trail was very long and winding but I was excited that I got the chance to go around to the top and see everything from up there. It gave us the perfect view of the city. We also saw a woman flying a kite and children looking for marbles.

Mission Accomplished

As one of the dedicated and special-picked marble holders, I made sure to hide them in obvious but secret places that anyone could find. Before my hike up the island, I placed one inside a hole of a rock at the end of the dock, and when I returned about 45 minutes later it was gone! Lucky person, whoever they are. We took a small family of three with us to go hiking up the mountain and the two children enjoyed finding marbles on our hike. We took the North Drumlin trail to the top and the South Drumlin all the way back down. For some reason the way back felt much quicker than the way there. I was bundled up in layers to keep warm and hiking created some heat for me too. I felt accomplished when we finally reached the top and took a rest for about 15 minutes, gazing in the distance and soaking up the view.

View from the top

Kharliyah Ortiz

All Fall 16

The “Simply Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt

 

Save the Harbor’s “Simply Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt:
Just like Pokemon Go, with real treasure and real flights from JetBlue!

If you find a 1 inch frosted blue marble on one of the Boston Harbor’s public beaches
from Nahant to Nantasket between now and Halloween it could be your lucky day.

Just post a picture of yourself with your marble on the beach @savetheharbor on
Facebook or Twitter and you could win two round trip JetBlue flights to any domestic
destination they serve from Boston’s Logan Airport as part of the 5th Annual “Simply
Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt for JetBlue Flights.*

Save the Harbor interns Jennifer Barrack and Eileen Dalessandro
helped "release" 30 pounds of marbles on the region's public beaches.

The JetBlue “Simply Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt began in 2012 on the beaches of
South Boston with a beach clean up sponsored by JetBlue’s crew members in
partnership with Save the Harbor. In just a few short hours, more than 100 people did 5
weeks worth of work cleaning up the beaches in South Boston. At the end of the day,
the participants released blue marbles on the beach for beach-goers to find, starting a
tradition that continues to bring fun to beach goers and treasure hunters alike.

"Many of JetBlue's crew members volunteer for Save The Harbor/Save The Bay each
year. It's just one way we highlight our commitment to the city of Boston," said Ronda Ivy
McLeod, Manager of Regional Marketing, Northeast, JetBlue. "The Simply Marble-ous
Treasure Hunt is a favorite among crew members. It's a live example of our fun value in
action."

“In the five years since we began this event with our friends and partners at JetBlue,
Save the Harbor and our corporate and community partners have removed more than
150,000 pounds of trash and debris from our beaches,” said Save the Harbor’s
spokesman Bruce Berman. “To celebrate we have “released” 150 pounds of blue
marbles on DCR’s beaches in Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South
Boston, Quincy and Hull, and at Treasure Beach on Spectacle Island. Find one and you
could be this year’s winner.”

According to Berman, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay will be releasing 30 pounds of
blue marbles this year to celebrate Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s 30 th Anniversary at
30 free “Better Beaches” program events that include summer concerts in Lynn, the
sand sculpting festival in Revere, beach festivals in Winthrop, East Boston, South
Boston, Dorchester and Quincy, and at the Harbor Illumination Festival in Hull.

You can download a calendar of this year's events here.

“Like Pokemon, the marbles are not easy to find, but that’s part of the fun,” said Berman. “If you need a hint, ask Mary Read the Pirate or one of our 34 our youth program staffers for help at one of this year’s free beach events. If you still can’t find one, don’t despair. You can buy a
“Virtual Marble” online for just $10 so you can join in the fun.”

*Though the fun is unlimited, some restrictions apply. To find out more about the
“Simply Marble-ous” Treasure Hunt and Save the Harbor and DCR’s Better Beaches
Program, follow @savetheharbor on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or visit their website at www.savetheharbor.org.

Reading at the Beach!

Just last week I attended the event in South Boston with the South Boston Neighborhood House where we enjoyed music, food, reading, and most exciting of all a touch tank with lobster and crabs. It was a great pleasure to see so many people to show up to such a fantastic event. Like many of the other events Save the Harbor attends with touch tanks, the kids enjoyed getting to know the lobsters and learning about the red rock crab and the green crab. 

Several of the kids who were at the event at first were afraid of the creatures that we had there but most of them warmed up to the lobster by the end of the event. It was awesome to see several of these kids overcome an initial fear of something that lives in the water.

Another part of this beach event that everybody enjoyed was searching for blue marbles in the sand. Anyone who finds a marble earns a chance to win 40,000 points for JetBlue Airlines, which can be used on any flight to go anywhere. If you happen to find one while on the beach, send a photo with you and the marble to info@savetheharbor.org, or post it to Save the Harbor's Facebook page!

Feeling a little crabby?

The intrepid explorers at Black's Creek in Quincy have been off to a great start this summer!  So far the group has found an abundance of crabs, hermit crabs, periwinkles, and minnows, and the kids have had a great time learning about sea creatures, learning how to fish, and getting just a little bit messy.

Jack makes a new friend.

Caroline and Rachel get a little muddy.

Over at Camp Harbor View, Shell Beach has been a big hit.  Campers have begun to learn about all that the harbor has to offer, and that it's not just for fun and fishing (although it's great for those things, too).  The kids are learning just what it takes to make a living as a lobsterman, and just how much effort and hand work it takes.  While we haven't caught any lobsters yet, we've had an abundance of rock crab and spider crab.  Here's hoping to catch some of Larry the Lobster's cousins very soon.

Our marble hunt has also been a big hit with campers.  Whoever finds one of the many orange marbles we've scattered across Shell Beach will be entered into a lottery for the chance to win a lobster dinner for four!  The kids have searched high and low, and after only two days we've had several campers find some marbles.   

Shades is feeling good about his marble.

See you on the beach!

Andrew Bauld

Simply Marble-ous Beach Cleanup Kicks off Summer-Long Treasure Hunt

Help us find our marbles!

When 100 JetBlue Airways crew members and volunteers from Save the Harbor hit the beaches of South Boston on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, not only did they help the Department of Conservation and Recreation remove trash, weeds, stray sand and debris from the shore, they also left something special behind for beachgoers to enhance their summer fun.

  Find a marble on the beach this summer and you could win
40,000 TrueBlue points for travel on JetBlue Airways

During the clean-up, each of the 100 participants "released" a single blue Save the Harbor / Save the Bay 25th Anniversary marble in the sand at the water's edge, kicking off a summer-long treasure hunt for the marbles and a chance for five lucky winners to receive 40,000 TrueBlue points each. Through JetBlue’s TrueBlue loyalty program, roundtrip award flights start at just 10,000 points (a).

 

More than 100 JetBlue Airways and Save the Harbor staff and volunteers
began their cleanup at the McCormack Bathouse in South Boston.

"Jet Blue Airways is a terrific partner," said Bruce Berman, of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay. "They care about their customers and our communities, and they are tons of fun to work with."

"We have a long-standing relationship with Save the Harbor and with the community in Boston, home to our 2,000 crewmembers, who mirror the company’s philanthropic efforts with their own volunteer work locally," said JetBlue’s Regional Marketing Manager Ronda Ivy McLeod. "A beach-clean-up and treasure hunt is right in line with our fun value as well as our commitment to the city that chooses JetBlue more than any other airline out of Logan." 

 DCR's horticulturalist and a damp but enthusiastic team
from Jet Blue Airways pull weeds and plant flowers along the beach

JetBlue’s crewmembers began their cleanup at the Edward McCormack bathhouse on Carson Beach and finished up at Pleasure Bay, picking up trash, planting flowers, and clearing paths and sidewalks along the way. DCR District Manager Kevin Hollenbeck pointed out that 100 volunteers "can do five weeks worth of work in just 2 hours, and that means a lot."

 "DCR does great work on the region's public beaches," said Bruce Berman of Save the Harbor Save the Bay. "But they are always happy to have a little help."

Berman was quick to point out that the one-inch tempered blue glass marbles "released" on the beaches were both beautiful and environmentally friendly. They are made of recycled glass, which was made from sand. "What a great way to encourage people to take a fresh look at these great beaches, which are now among the cleanest urban beaches in America."

In addition to the 100 marbles "released" in South Boston, the group will also release 100 additional marbles on the region's public beaches in Nahant, Lynn, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull. "Find one on any of our great public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket this summer, and you could be a winner" said Berman.

Together we did 5 weeks of work in just a few hours.

 

To enter the contest, which runs through Labor Day, simply send Save the Harbor a photograph of you holding one of the marbles on the beach where you found it. In August, the group will hold a drawing to select five lucky winners, who will each receive 40,000 TrueBlue points that can be used for award flight redemption on JetBlue Airways to any of the 45 nonstop destinations the airline serves from Boston’s Logan International Airport.

 Send us a photo of you with your marble and you could be a winner!

To enter the contest,  just post a picture of you with your marble at the beach where you found it on Save the Harbor's Facebook page, email it to info@savetheharbor.org , or send it by snail mail to our office on the Fish Pier. Please be sure to include your contact information, so we can notify the winners.

See you on the beach!