Profile: Black's Creek

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s Black’s Creek location offers a unique and fun way to explore the harbor. The program is connected to the Quincy Recreation Department. Through the Quincy Recreation Department, children (ages 8-16) can learn about all kinds of sailing and boating in the scenic Merrymount Park. Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay’s program gives kids the option to explore before or after participating in sailing and boating. When the children arrive for the hour and a half long programs at 8:30 and 10:00, the smiles of anticipation say it all.

First, the group gathers in a field above the water to play a name game, and then a game of harbor themed renditions of tag. These include “crab tag” and “captain crab”. Between the two games, kids learn that crabs can regrow their claws (when they are tagged in crab tag they “lose a claw”), and they have a chance to pose as seaweed swaying in the ocean tide (when they are tagged in captain crab).

The games end abruptly with a loud “Yeaaaah!” when the kids are asked if they are ready to explore the beach. They then wade in the water searching for hermit crabs, mussels, and any other exciting finds. After getting their hands muddy from mussel digging, they strap on life vests and go out on the dock where their mussels are used for bait in their fishing lesson.

With an hour and a half of fun and learning under their belts, the kids leave with the same beaming smiles with which they arrived. Below are harbor explorers Noah and Lucy. Lucy held a crab for the first time and Noah pulled up a crab onto the dock with his fishing bait!

-Alyssa and Bridget

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