Goodbye STHSTB

What a summer! For the past eight weeks I've been at Piers Park in East Boston. We've had a great summer playing games, going kayaking, catching crabs, fishing, and learning about marine life and the Boston Harbor. I saw smiling faces everyday this summer, by both kids and staff, and am happy that I was a part of something so special. Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay has allowed me to help our Harbor Explorers create some unforgettable memories, and learn some pretty cool stuff along the way.

Everyday at Piers Park, we spend a few hours on the dock, where we've caught a number of different sea critters. As the summer has gone by, I've noticed the changing ecosystem in the cove where our dock floats. At the beginning of the season, we discovered a ton of giant crabs! Both spider and rock crabs came in enormous sizes. Some of them wouldn't even fit into the bucket! Since then, the crabs have gotten smaller by the day and the spider crabs have disappeared completely. We also found a ton of Moon Jellyfish at the beginning of the summer. We'd glide by them on our kayaks and pick them up with our bare hands! Don't worry, these jellyfish don't sting, and the campers raved about this activity.

At the end of July, the fish began to swim into our area. We caught a variety of different species in our crab traps; mostly tautogs, but also some flounder, pogies, black sea bass, and also a striped bass. None of these were big enough to keep, but taste aside, it was amazing being able to see them interact in such a real context. We showed the kids how to identify these fish based on their color, patterns, and body type. The flounder were especially interesting to observe because of their unusual swimming technique. Unlike most fish, the flounder swim horizontally along the ocean's floor.

Recently, we've seen more schools of small fish swim by, which we've been able to catch with dipping nets. A highlight of our summer also happened recently, when we caught two lobsters! One was premature, but the other was big, even large enough for us to bring home and eat if we wanted to. We let them both back into their natural habitats, but before we did, we learned a lot of cool things about lobsters. If you want to see what we witnessed, check out some of my previous blogs.

Today was my last day at Piers Park, and I tried to take in as much as I could: the beautiful view that allows us to see the city's skyline, the great people who have become my friends, the unbelievable opportunity that I was given, and even the feeling of the cold and salty water that I've been working on all summer. Believe it or not, but not once did I go swimming at Piers Park this summer. Even on the ninety degree days, we never took a leap. Well, because the summer was officially over, today, myself and a few other STHSTB staff went for a swim. It was the cherry on top of a terrific summer. I can't imagine saying goodbye in a better way; well, maybe reeling in a monster bass would have surpassed.

I did countless things this summer that I'd never tried before, from teaching a child how to properly hold a crab, to flue fishing at the Fan Pier Tournament. It was a summer of adventure and new experiences. Thanks again to Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay for a summer that I will never forget.

-SEAN

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.

Advantageous

A well picked team if i do say so myself

The best part about winning sometimes is not the victory but the path to glory. Despite my kickball teams continuous victory no matter the site placement.


As stated in previous blogs we, the save the harbor crew, pride ourselves in the work we do. Hey, sometimes I may awake annoyed due to my alarms ignorant blaring at seven in the morning to get me up but at the same time that frown turns upside down shortly after remembrance of the endless possibilities the day may hold for us.

Safety First

Blacks Creek is a blast this year. The key has been many of the returning campers. Some of the newer campers become excited when they see how happy the returners are and instantly become wrapped up in whatever the group is doing. We have even received many "Thank You's" and "What are you'll doing different this year" alongside many uplifting smiles. Truthfully, I do my job in one manner, lead. Whether its by example or teaching my goal is to improve the quality of our children's daily life. But as I teach and lead I am also learning. For example, Nate has taught that you can go knee deep into the water and still come out and play kickball as if nothing had happened. (Despite getting a cut after sliding he still went home happy!) Or even simply learning that when a child does not want to do something with the group giving them that one on one attention is better than letting them do whatever they'd like.

These little parts of our day have been very advantageous towards the enormous progression seen in our summer. Becoming enlightened by more than the suns super hot rays we are growing. August is around the corner and we shall try to do more, not settle for augustitis, and be better. On AABH we have a saying I believe it goes "No Gum, No Running, No Jumping", but at our other sites I like to implement "Safety and Leadership First, Everything else second".

Until Next Time

-Ahmed Hassan

Fridays at Carson Beach

     Spending the beautiful day at Carson Beach was fun and exciting. From getting everyone involved in a traditional game of four sqaure to playing volleyball on the summer sand. A friendly game of four square began off of my initiative skills to get the staff involved and awake early. I don't bow down from competition so as the game began to get more amped up and serious, the more I started flow with it... As well as everyone else. After the game(s), we had a photo-shoot for Bruce- which consisted of an amazing sand sculpture created along the shore of Carson Beach.

Once the shoot was over, boy did I feel like a ESPN model! But that was thes slightest of my good times. Teams were created (Lindsay & Richard VS Me & Andy) and the volleyball rivalry began.. As athletic as I am I found out that volleyball is actually harder than it looks,Ii struggled but my team got a few wins. Later Preston joined our team and D and Antonio joined the other side. It was now a game of 3 against 4. Confidence was built as we won a game! We felt invincible but then lost the next 2. Playing volleyball was a great experience for me not only because I played with my friends and had fun but because I learned something new and tried something different, which is always exciting. 

     On the other end of the beach, where the girls played soccer with kids, we were more concerned with Ruth's leg power to not drill the ball too hard. I mean... It is kids we're playing with! Another group of kids looked for people to go out and kayak with them. "Indeed I'll go" said I to the kids. We clipped up our life jackets and off into the Harbor we went. 

     Once out in the water we raced and splashed and raced and splashed!! The kids really enjoyed themselves out there and were not afraid of the waves at all.  A group of fearless individuals who enjoyed their friday. I hope to see them again at a different sight or at Carson again. 

Sea you on the Harbor 

-Dex