Invasives at Courageous!

This week at Courageous Sailing Center, the Step Green boats learned about invasive species, and more the specifically, those in Boston Harbor.

Many of the young sailors had no idea that the green crabs they caught that week were introduced to North America from Europe in the early 1800s! Similarly, they were unaware that the club tunicates they enjoyed prodding on lobster traps were originally from Japan! On the other hand, the sailors were pleased that their favorite crab, the red rock crab, was a local native.

An interesting discussion opened up about the transportation and introduction of invasive species. The kids at courageous were baffled at the ways critters could be introduced to Boston Harbor: traveling around the world attached to hulls of ships, floating in ballast waters or even being as released pets.

We will be on the lookout at Courageous for the new invaders!

Hide and SEEK

Today Blacks Creek in Quincy was transformed into a scavenger hunt map and the first objective was to find the biggest mussel imaginable. We journeyed down into the muddiest, marshiest area of Blacks Creek to seek out the shelled treasure. In the process of searching for gigantic mussels we found our just how Blacks Creek got its name, the mud. Under the tall grass along the water was the darkest mud I have ever lain my eyes upon. But beneath the ominous ground is fantastic treasures. All it takes is some steadfast digging and complete disregard for getting very muddy. By the end of it, Dylan came up with a huge mussel, bigger than any others'. However, if you do ever decide to venture into the depths of the black mud at Blacks Creek, beware, for you might get stuck. Afterwards, we searched for the biggest hermit crabs we could find. Within minutes it seemed like we had hundreds of little hermit crabs crawling around our bucket. We did get some really big ones, but the coolest thing was watching a hermit crab find a new shell. It slowly creeped out of its previous home. It then wandered around the bucket naked for several minutes before finding a new shell to live in. Finally, it backed into the shell and curled itself up inside of it. We also found a plethora of periwinkle snails and regular crabs too. And best of all, all we used to catch these amazing sea creatures was our bare hands and some dip nets.

-Alex

End of Week Two!!

Yesterday was my last day working at Piers Park and CSC, for the next few weeks at least. When we arrived at Piers Park in the morning, the dock was unavailable to us and as a result, we had to locate a new spot for the time being. One of the staffers took us to another pier just a short walk from the dock. From there, we casted our lines and tried to catch some fish. In one particular corner of the pier, there was a very elusive fish that kept eating everyone's bait and avoided being hooked. The campers got very excited about this and they all wanted to try their luck. But as the end of the day approached, we had to rap up and wait another day.

We made our way back to the dock, where we pulled up the lobster traps and discovered a red-rock crab. The kids were happy to pick up the crab and check to see whether it was a male or female. As we were waiting for our ride to CSC, Conor and I played soccer with some of the kids that were still hanging around, along with some of the staffers. It was the perfect way to end a great week of harbor exploring!

~Cesc

Week 2 at Camp Harbor View

I have to say that Camp Harbor View is amazon I really enjoyed fishing off the dock and going on the nature walks. I did not know there would be so many kids just running around having lots of fun. Connecting with the kids was so much fun and excitement i really wish i can stay another week but it looks like I am off to Piers Park next week hope i have lots of fun with you guys.


The One And Only

Mark