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

Creek Side, The New Inititative

On our way to meet Iron Boot!

Rules!

This year we are seeing rapid growth in our Quincy location, Blacks Creek. We can accredit that to numerous things but I like to believe it was part of having a quincy native, Danny O'Hara, working with us. Maybe even Carolyn's impeccable warm-up games but we cannot give her too much credit too early (Your Awesome, Carolyn.) Who knows, the point is the numbers are growing exponentially. We started off our first day of programming with nineteen children and the numbers have seen heights like never before. All these numbers just get me excited for our infamous Save the Harbor kickball games.

Creativity

After our early monday rules ritual, an awesome new initiative part of our mornings thanks to Carolyn, we sought after the waters of Quincy. A few of the girls, Jocelyn, Mary-Kate, and more created their own little ecosystems. They created a colosseum styled environment where they captured species of their interests and relocated them to their own aquarium. It was amazing to watch their creativity first hand and the level of teamwork each omitted. They respectfully recreated a replica of what they saw as the "original" environment and even gave some of the hermit crabs cool names. Unfortunately "Smitty" was not one. I was hoping they would name the hermit crab smitty, thats a cool name. Shortly after our snacktime I led the children up the hill and introduced them to a good friend of mine. His name is Iron Boot.

Iron Boot is a three year all access kickball phenom, you'll hear more about him later in the week!

Until next time!

-Ahmed Hassan

Dorchester's Finest: Carson Beach

Yoga, to stretch out those limbs!

           Hi everyone! Carson Beach is the newest site of the Save the Harbor Save the Bay sites. It can endure blazing heat and pouring rain. In the morning America Scores, a soccer program, stays with us in the morning and we enjoy the harbor and the great sport of soccer. There are so many games and drills during the morning that there is never a resting moment and always a blast. I especially enjoyed playing games with new kids and developing my soccer skills for the next championship at my school. We meet some great kids today and their endurance despite the heat was phenomenal. One of the campers had such amazing endurance, she beat Preston Powell at Pacers, a endurance running exercise that gets progressively more difficult. Her standing record is 47 laps. I prefer to swim than run so I only did 17 before I threw in the towel. In the afternoon, Mother Nature decided to give us a nice cooling shower which was greatly accepted by some (ME) and rejected by others.

A game of Soccer 

           Carson Beach is a really cool site. It keeps everyone excited with interesting discoveries at low tide and nice wading water at high tide. We are here all day and would welcome anybody who wants to come down and enjoy the sea, sand and sun. It's a great experience! Just do NOT forget your sunscreen and water. You always want to protect your skin and stay hydrated. Headaches, dizziness and nausea are common signs of dehydration and should not be taken lightly. If you are at Carson or one of our other sites do not skimp on water or sunscreen. This summer is as hot as the winter is cold. Protect yourself from the elements but have fun!
Excited as always,
Ruth Scott

Who Am I?

Macqueripe Beach 

Hello everybody! It's been a while! My name is Ruth Scott and I'm a rising junior at Boston Trinity Academy.This is my second exciting year at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and it's off to a great start! I am 16 years old and live in Dorchester with my siblings and parents. I am a competitive swimmer for Dolphin Swim Club and the Flaherty Dolphins and I also dabble in varsity soccer. Marine biology has always been an interest of mine with all of the contact I have with water and such so it's great to be back out on the harbor this year gaining more knowledge about my home, Boston. I also got the chance during February break to see some marine animals in the Caribbean. Since my mother is from Trinidad we traveled down to enjoy some sun and get away from Boston's brutal winter. I had a great time hanging out with the animals of the sea and enjoying the warm water. (It is really unbelievable how warm the water is in Trinidad, it's bathing temperature!) If anyone wants to take a trip to the Caribbean, I recommend Trinidad and Tobago. It's a beautiful island paradise with so many cultures mixing together.

Squantum, Quincy (2015)

            We started off the summer with an orientation trip to George's Island (one of my favorites!) It was great to return and see some of my old haunts. Including the infamous David Coffin, I did not go flying at this meeting although it did cross his mind. The parade ground was completely goose free which was mind blowing, that field ALWAYS has geese. We also saw some new passages that I wasn't able to explore last year. Orientation went so well that there are no doubts in how this summer will turn out: FANTASTIC!
           I cannot wait to get to my site and start all the fun. The kids of Boston and the surrounding areas will not know what hit them! Save the Harbor/Save the Bay 2k15 will be AMAZING!
Super excited,
Ruth Scott

the Parade Ground at George's Island, FREE of goose poop!

George For...Ahmed ?

Occassionally, you would not trust a person like me on a grill. To be honest, I thought I was going to burn myself, and honestly it was one of the best experiences of my life. I need to fix up my act, and understand that black is not cooked, BUT, it was a good time. To feed champs, like, our staff, we need cooked not tossed food!

Despite the sudden rampage in this blog, I really enjoyed our day out on spectacle. Most would ask, Ahmed aren't you on All Access? Spectacle shouldn't be that special. But, that's what a "No Access" as we call them say. It was great having the opportunity to spend time with more than just my daily crew on the harbor islands. The kickball game was good. I left a few minutes early, but my team, Team All Access, Won! We knew the outcome before we faced our opponents, but it was all love and everyone showed up and played well.


Before I log off, I would like to give my superiors, Bruce, Patty, and Bridgett alongside all the SHE's a shoutout. You guys are really amazing, and a special shoutout to Iris Ayala, simply because, YOU LOST! It was a great day guys and you will all be hearing from me more, this week, until a later day in the week, peace!

-Ahmed Hassan

Time To Chef It Up Sea Food Style !

Hey everyone manny here! Just wanted to show you guys a picture of this huge pollock me, Will Clark, and Tom Rebula cheffed up for the kids in fishing club at camp harbor view. I also want to give a big thanks to Bruce Berman because if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have this beautiful pollock to chef up. Also I would like to say that not only myself but the kids of camp harbor view got a lot of good knowledge of the pollock fish itself and the best way to both clean and prepare the fish as to just cutting it and throwing it on the grill. It takes a lot of close concentration as to where specifically we need to cut the fish. For example I explained to some of the kids that not all seafood is the safest to consume. some can actually be quite hazardous or poisonous and can put your body in danger. For example the blowfish or shellfish can hold poisons such as Ciguatera poisoning, Scombroid poisoning and various shellfish poisonings. But luckily I told them pollock stands out, and not to be worried we're trained professionals in this kinda stuff we would know which types of fish are deadly and which are not. But I can assure you that after that discussion and the pollock was ready to eat, kids certainly enjoyed it as much as the discussion haha but heres to another awesome day of fun in the sun with the Camp Harbor View family.