First Day at All Access

Me showing the kids how to determine the sex
of a crab!

Last week was the first day at All Access. This is my second year at Save the Harbor Save the Bay and my second year working at All Access. I enjoyed working here last summer and am very excited to be back at a familiar site. Although there are new people and things are a little different, it was just as fun as it was last year.

The day was a Green Crab gallery galore!

We had lots of people come out to Spectacle Island with us but not as many as we usually get, but it is only the first week and there is a whole lot more families and communities to come. On my first day, we had lunch and then went swimming off the island when we arrived. The water was freezing and welcoming as usual and the view of the city of Boston was amazing. After a dip at the beach we split into two groups and I assisted hosting the fishing club for the rest of the day. Luckily we were able to catch some green crabs which got the kids super excited and happy. Many were brave enough to pet them and even hold them! Hopefully we will catch a lot more this summer.

It's lit

-Khar 

Mayor by the Harbor

Hi everyone,

Not only was last Thursday an excited day for All Access staffs but also for the kids. It was the last day that a lot of summer camps came out with us which was a surprise because I was not expecting that many groups to come out since a lot of the summer camps wrapped up their summer a little early.

As kids and staffs waited at the Pavillion to welcome our Mayor, we had a few activities going on such as fishing, fish printing, crabbing and coloring. We also had a couple of staffs do a beautiful fish print on a white T-Shirt for our Mayor. As all of the kids gathered in the Pavillion to welcome the Mayor, they all screamed "Good morning Mr. Mayor". Thursday morning, everyone tried getting a selfie with the Mayor and I was lucky to have a picture taken with him as he congratulated me as the fishing tournament winner. I had no idea of what was going on when my boss Bruce Berman called me up next to the Mayor in which the Mayor handed me a brand new rod. It was a great morning having the Mayor there to start off our morning. All of the kids were excited and had a great morning before headed out to Spectacle Island.

Until next time,

Andrea Lopes :)0

Spider Crabsss

Hi everyone,

As All Access Boston Harbor is wrapping up the summer this week, it gave families and friends the opportunity to come out to Spectacle island. On Tuesday we had a lot of families that came out with us. Although the attendance went down, it was still fun.

As always, I was fishing with a few groups of families where kids were fighting over rods. When I made the kids understand that there were not enough fishing rods for everyone, fishing got a lot better even though we did not catch anything. Usually I cast out a fishing rod and leave it out there to try to catch something to show the kids. This time just when I thought I had a skate on the line, It turned out to be a huge spider crab. The family that was there at that time also helped me pull up the crab trap in which all that was inside were 10 spider crabs. Throughout this summer, I was waiting to catch some pregnant spider crabs to show kids and families what a pregnant crab looks like. Luckily, four of those crabs were pregnant so I was able to show the kids and families and they were all amazed. That was the highest number of spider crabs we had caught all at once in a trap. I cant wait to see what the last day of the program will be like.

Until next time,

Andrea Lopes :)

Challenging Day

Hi everyone,

So last Monday at Courageous, instead of Grace, we had Kristen join us there for the day. Kristen had no idea of how things at Courageous works because it's a little different from other sites. Every Monday we get a new group of kids. So last Monday when Kristen joined us, she thought we had bait. With that being said, we had no bait to start off the morning with some fishing like usual. As Kristen ran to Tedeschi to grab some bait, Kharlyiah approached me with two girls that wanted to go down the dock to pull up multiple lobster traps that we have there. The four of us put on our life jacket and walked down the ramp to the dock. When we pulled up three of the old traps, one of the girls pointed out a fourth trap that none of us knew existed. Apparently, that fourth lobster trap had not been pulled in atleast two years so now this is when the challenge begins. 

I was not dressed comfortably for that challenge but I did not care. All I worried about was trying to pull up that trap because we were all anxious to see what was in it. When I tried pulling it up alone, I just couldn't because it was extremely heavy. All of the girls decided to help and it still would not come up so we thought it was getting stuck under dock. We kept trying and trying and trying and did not give up. Some of the staffs from Courageous tried helping us and they gave up. Instead of me giving up I came up with an idea of tying a rope. The staffs from Courageous ran to get a rope so Kristen came down the dock and tied the rope to the lobster trap's rope. Now this is when we put all of the kids at work. We threw the rope up across the pier and had atleast 15 people pulling the trap from up there. They were able to pull up most of it but the rope from the lobster trap snapped. Luckily, myself and a staff from Courageous who was still down the dock, were able to save the trap from sinking. Now this is where it gets more challenging. The two of us are holding on to a little bit of rope trying to save the really heavy lobster trap but all you could hear was me screamming for my fingers that was getting scraped off and yelling for some guy staffs to comw help us out because I couldn't hold on to the rope anymore. A guy staff from Courageous came down and tried tying the rope they had to the little bit of rope on the lobster trap that was left and I dont know how he did it but he just did it. So we threw the rope up and across the pier again and had the kids, Sam and Courageous staffs pull it up one more time and that's when the old lobster rope snapped again. This time we were out of luck in saving the trap becausw there really was no rope left to grab. The lobster trap sunk after 45 minutes of trying to pull it up and that's when we all gave up. I could not thank the kids and their staffs enough for the challenge. This was the most fun and productive day we ever had at Courageous.

Until the next challenge,

- Andrea Lopes :)

Skates in Georges?

Hi everyone,

I am back once again. This week, All Access Boston Harbor is out on Georges island once again for the second time this summer. The first week at Georges was great because we did something very new that we had never done before. We caught some striped bass. This week though, it has been a little different. On Tuesday, we did not catch anything and fishing didn't really go as planned because everyone wanted to fish and there was just not enough time for everyone to fish.

Tuesday was a little hectic but with the help of some of the JPAs, we were able to slow things down.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was our second day on the island. Fishing went really smooth because this time I made sure that it was more organized. I only let the groups who signed up for a time slot for fishing, fish and this time we had five different groups. I made fishing a first come first serve basis just to make it fair for every other group and myself as well so I wouldn't have a chaotic fishing moment. Many other groups that wanted to fish, could not fish because all time slots were already taken. When we got to Georges island, I casted a fishing rod which I call my especial rod and in five minutes I had already caught a skate. I was really excited to catch that skate because in all of my three summers working here, no one has ever caught a skate in Georges. It was not a fish but it was something cool and interesting for the kids. Unfortunately, the skate ended up escaping from the hook as I yelled out for a picture from Kharliya. Guess what though? It's cool because when I casted out one more rod, I ended up catching another skate and this time kids were around so I asked one of the kids to help me reel it in. We were able to bring the skate on to the dock when one of our JPAs whose name is Chris helped me take out the hook from its mouth. I was really shocked that we actually caught two skates out in Georges. We have not been lucky with the fishes at all but we have been very lucky with the skates every where we go. I am really looking forward into catching some more striped bass in Georges sometime tomorrow, next week or by the end of the summer. Fishing is becoming a hobby and I am loving it, especially knowing that I run fishing for All Access Boston Harbor.

Keep on fishing !!!

- Andrea Lopes

First Day Back with Stripers in Georges Island

Hello everyone,

This past Wednesday was our first day back on the islands. Even with the hot and sunny day, I was still getting chills as I was at the Blue Hills Pavilion welcoming the groups of kids and counselors from different summer camps and programs. After gathering every single groups into the big tent, I was shocked to know that we had 345 kids and staffs in total that came out with us on our first day back on the island. YES, I SAID 345! Ain't that amazing? Well I thought it was because I was not expecting that many people to come out with us on the first day. As we walked over to the Common Wealth Pier to get on the Provincetown II boat, I could see the excitement in the faces of many of these kids. After getting on the boat and walking around interacting with the kids, almost all of the Save the Harbor staffs started a game of 'quack-a-dilly oh my quack quack quack' with the kids. Most of the kids fell in love with the game because not many of them had played it before.

Playing 'Quack-a-dilly Oh My Quack Quack Quack' with the kids from
the Bruce School on the Provincetown II

Meanwhile they were playing, I decided to go around the boat and signing up groups for fishing and I remember every single counselor that I approached tell me that "Its too hot we are going to skip fishing for today." So after we got to the island, every group including the Save the Harbor staffs except myself went off to have lunch. I decided to stay on the pier with 5 fishing rods fishing all alone and all of a sudden, there were a group of lucky kids from the Bruce School that came down the pier to fish. I baited all 5 rods and casted them for the kids. As they held the rods, I had a girl that started yelling "Miss, Miss, Miss, I caught something." So I ran down to her and helped her reel in the fish when on the other side I had another little boy yelling "Miss, Miss I got a fish." After helping the girl rail in the fish, we all seen that it was a big striper and unfortunately, it snapped the line. When I ran to the other boy to help him, another striper had snapped the line. Although we were unable to bring the fish out on the dock, they were all excited to see both stripers that were on the line. What made them and their counselor more excited was the fact that I told them that in the past 3 summers, we have not caught a fish there. 

Reeling in "Bruce" the Stripe Bass

Later on around 1 PM, they decided to go to the fort so I stayed fishing alone. I had casted 2 fishing rods and at about 1:35 that same group came back and a few of them started asking "Miss, can I fish ... Miss I want to fish" and I had told them no that we are done fishing because it was almost time to get back on the boat. As that one kid Kevin kept asking frequently, I told Sam to give him a rod that I had casted and 2 minutes later guess what? WE CAUGHT A STRIPER and the kids named it Bruce. This time I was able to reel in the fish 5 minutes before getting on the boat and the kids were finally able to see the fish from a closer angle. One of their counselors helped me take out the hook from the fish's mouth and sent it back to the ocean. Running fishing was the best decision that I had made. Having 3 stripers on the first day for the first time in 3 years at Georges island made me feel very accomplished and good about myself because I had promised the kids that we were going to catch at least one fish and guess what happened? WE DID IT! Overall, Georges island was great and now I am looking forward to a spectacular week this upcoming week at Spectacle island.

Kevin, Andrea and the "Bruce" Stripe Bass

Until next time,

- Andrea Lopes 

Birthday Well Spent At Carson

This past sunny and hot Friday was nothing but fun. It was my birthday and I couldn't have spent it better anywhere else but Carson beach with the BASE kids. The morning started with some arts and crafts, soccer, and football. I was doing arts and crafts with a few girls from the BASE camp. They were pretty engaging and really smart young girls.

              Preston and Cynthia 

As they sat next to me coloring and drawing the different types of sea animals, Cynthia and I got engaged in a conversation. We became best friends for the entire day. So Cynthia and I started talking about birthdays and she was telling me how her birthday was July 26th and I told her that my birthday was July 31st. As a gift from me to her, I colored a striped Bass and decorated the entire sheet for her. 

          My gift from Me to Cynthia

As we move on to a massive game of soccer, Cynthia wanted to be on my team so I couldn't resist not having her play with me. She did a pretty good job being the goal keeper even though we lost. After the soccer game, she told me that she wanted to go kayaking with me but she couldn't because she had to go get lunch with her group. I went kayaking by myself after teaching the YMCA kids how to cast a rod. As I was returning from kayaking, guess who I see? Well it was Cynthia! She was kayaking with her friend and she told me to go stay next to them to help push them because the pedals were too big and she was so tiny.

Spending the day with Cynthia and Carson doing different types of activities really made my birthday worth spending it there. She is a really bright little girl who acts and talks much like a grown up. If I could replay Friday with her, I definitely would. 

Hoping to see you soon,

- Andrea Lopes

New Faces

Second week new kids ! It's good and awesome making new bonds with new kids. There's a lot more of them, so it's a little more work. It's never boring at Piers Park from kayaking to fishing, there's always something fun going on. These new kids have a huge thing with calling me Corbin Blue! It's getting annoying but still funny that they constantly want me to sing, and oh god you don't want me to sing!! 

To wrap up, the kids are great. The activities always keep us occupied and the kids. We all have fun with them and there is never a dull moment! 

Till next time , Mauricio Andrade

Fun in the Sun

Blacks Creek is filled with exciting , energetic and intellectual children. These three attributes were certainly worked out on a hot day here at the Creek. The kids there decided that they would do things by the beach today instead of the field. They were creating huge sand castles and using their imagination to create different but very unique styles of different parts of the sand castles. Some kids decided to create a big four square in the sand and play. That was pretty fun to join in on considering they were really good at the game! They even knew a few tricks I had no idea about. Learning is always fun after all.  A few kids and I created a crab arena in which they were supposed to fight. We had about 10 huge crabs inside of this pit looking hole in the sand, but instead of fighting they just walked all over each other. It was still fun to make some pretty cool and interesting things in the sand.

- Chemar D

A Normal Day

     A normal day for me consists of fishing, crabbing, and kids.  Fishing is my favorite because it takes patience.  A lot of the kids at the Children's Museum do not have patience, and that is why they do not often catch anything.  On the other hand, I can wait on a fish for hours, I know they are out there, and I'm waiting to catch one.  After I fish, I like to crab.  Crabbing is fun and easy for the kids because they can just pull the net up and there are some crabs.

Spider Crab

     The kids are the most important part of the day.  Sometimes they come in bunches and sometimes they come one by one. It is hard when there are days when you only catch four or five crabs and seven kids want to hold them..  No matter how many there are, I am always ready to help whether it be ten or 1.