Marine Life on the Harbor

Hi everyone,

This was our first full week at the Save the Harbor sites, and we were busy! On Monday, we started the day at Courageous Sailing Center, where we pulled up some lobster traps and took a look at what was inside. We caught our first lobster, and the kids were very excited to hold the lobster and get a closer look. We made sure to put rubber bands on its claws before we took it out to show the kids. We also caught several green crabs, a rock crab, some starfish, and two tiny fish. The kids spent a lot of time looking through the lobster trap to see what we caught, naming the animals, and taking pictures of them.

Holding a lobster and starfish that we caught in the trap

Later that day, we went to Community Boating on the Esplanade. Here, we help out with an environmental science class, where students learn about the history of the harbor and how we can keep the Charles River clean and healthy. After talking with the students about the harbor and the river, we went out to the lagoon to go fishing. At the end of the day, I saw a kid catch a fish for the first time! It was a great reward to have caught a fish after spending so much time fishing over the past week and not catching anything. He caught a small sunfish.

Our first catch at Community Boating!

On Tuesday at Community Boating, we talked to the kids about the history of the Harbor Islands, and many didn’t know that at one point, Spectacle Island was used as a landfill for trash. We also talked about how long different types of trash (paper, aluminum, plastic, and Styrofoam) take to decompose and about the importance of recycling. To finish the afternoon, we went kayaking in the lagoons along the Charles River, and we found a baby painted turtle sitting on a lily pad. We also told the kids to keep an eye out for trash, and are planning to do a trash-pickup in the river next time we go kayaking.

On Wednesday, I went to Carson Beach, and I had a ton of fun playing with campers on the beach. When the tide was low, the kids and I had a great time looking for snails and hermit crabs in the ocean. The kids engineered a tide pool and waterway to house the animals they caught. Overall, it was a great day, and we were all excited to get a closer look at the wildlife at Carson Beach.

Until next time,

Grace

Luck of a Fishmerman

We are three days in and I've almost gotten every new Harbor Explorer's name down! Last week we planned ahead and wanted to use the flounder (from fish prints) as crab/lobster trap bait. Little did we know, the smell of a dead fish exponentially worsens without ice in a cooler. On Monday when Sean took out the cooler with the flounder, every inch of his face indicated that what he was carrying towards us some wicked funky fish. I volunteered to fillet that flounder and it was not one of my best decisions. When I tell you ladies and gents that my hand smelled gross, I mean no amount of soap throughout the various trips to the bathroom that day made a difference. With that said lunch was a blast!

Within these past three days I had my first experience kayaking and sailing at Pier's Park! Our Harbor Explorers love to search along the edges of the rocks for periwinkles and any other sea creatures! I don't know how, but somehow after I went kayaking I came back to two moon jellies and two star fish in a cooler.

                         

Now you're probably wondering why this post is titled the "Luck of a Fisherman", well I actually dropped a whole mackerel off the docks and into the water. This was one of those "I just messed up so hard" moments. I quickly batted my eyes around for some device to make he best of the situation, and found myself an unused crab trap. In my head the chances of me getting that mackerel back was almost zero, but a guy has to try anyway! In the worst case scenario, I would end up with a mackerel at the bottom of the waters, with a crab trap on top of it. Not exactly the best way to catch crabs/ nor is it the ended set up of the crab trap, but you can only do so much. After a few minutes I checked the trap to see if I could grab any more crabs, and what I pulled up left my baffled. A feet or two from the surfacing, the crab trap had an outline of a fish in it! I RECOVERED THE MACKEREL!!! That's why you should always try and give everything your best effort! Your odds are never zero unless you don't try. Thanks for reading my posts as of so far!

By Raymond Chai

Hey everyone,

I'm Isabella in the picture on the left with sunglasses on and that's Khar on the right, if you did not know, and I'm here to share my inner thoughts on some things I think about.  Have you ever seen those cartoons with animals that talk? Well, what if fish could talk? What if every time they're flapping when we reel them up they're really talking to us. You know how some animals are able to communicate, what if one day you could communicate with them? What would you do? What would you say? Well one thing I would say to them is that they are very fascinating the way their scales shimmer in the light. I would say: "Hey! Mr. Fish, how's the water down there?" (Hahaha, good one Isabella.)

In this photo on the left here is Sarah(standing on the right holding a crab) a very enthusiastic co-worker and friend. And in this very moment we were joking around with the crabs as Khar was talking about why don't villains stroke their crabs as villainy as Sara did. Although it was both corny and funny the crab did not enjoy it and almost snipped Sarah. She then placed it back in the bucket where I am standing. If I could talk to a crab I would say: "Hey! Mr. Crab, why are you so crabbbby? Hahaha!

Talk to you soon!

~ Bella

Getting Pinched By A Crab :(

Hey everyone,

Well this was a fascinating week. On Tuesday I was at Courageous Sailing Center and Community Boating which was pretty interesting.

At Courageous we were placed in Step 2 and there was one girl specifically who stood out to me. Her name was Valerie and she was so brave. When we brought out the Green Crabs she was the first one who touched them, and she picked them up like a pro. It was hilarious because we're supposed to teach them how to hold the crabs, but she taught me a couple things I didn't know.

P.S. While Grace and I were pulling up the Lobster Traps, there was a Green Crab caught and I tried to be the brave one and tell the kids that it wouldn't pinch me. But the worst was yet to come... I was pinched, and that's when I knew I shouldn't have lied. But in the end I knew it was bound to happen evevntually.

My Friend Valerie Holding the Male and Female Green Crabs

Later on that day, we were at Community Boating and I didn't know what age group we were going to be working with, but it ended up being a group of 10-14 year-olds. It was fun because I went kayaking the first time with Sam. We kept making jokes and two of the boys kept trying to race us and splash us when we were racing. I was so happy because I was enjoying myself and taking risks of meeting new people and trying new things.

Henry and Raj waiting to catch a Fish 

Till next time everyone, when you hear about the crazy adventures that are to come!

- Nieomi

Stingray?

Hey everyone it's Jahari once again! This week has been going pretty smooth and relaxed. We haven't had as many kids as we did last week but that's probably due to the weather. It has been really hot and we have gotten about twenty kids to come up to us everyday, whereas last week we got about fifty kids come up to fish and look at the crabs.

Our team stays hydrated in the heat.

Skate or Stingray?

But yesterday was a pretty exciting day for me because I caught another very interesting sea creature called a skate! Last week on the first day I caught an American Eel. So yesterday I had hooked the Skate with my fishing pole and it took me a long time trying to reel it up. I could tell the Skate was fighting as hard as it could to get away. I had to have a random person help me pull it up over the dock. But we didn't keep it for long, just like the eel, because the whole time we had it we were trying to get the hook out of its side. At first I thought the Skate was a Stingray because it looks exactly like one. I think the difference between a Skate and Stingrays is that Skates have spikes on their tails and Stingrays don't plus they can sting you. After that experience I have hope to see many more interesting sea creatures in the Harbor for when we go fishing. And hopefully we get to see more kids the rest of this week and going forward.

Sam the Lobster

Monday and Tuesday of our second week on the job were just as successful as the first week. In the morning, I traveled to the Charlestown Navy Yard to interact with the children at the courageous sailing center. On day 1 we pulled up some traps we had set, which had some crabs, starfish, and lobsters waiting for us. The kids decided to name the lobster Sam after their favorite Save the Harbor JPA (okay maybe I’m making that part up but they really did name it Sam). On day 2 we pulled up the same trap and had more crabs and starfish! The kids loved this pet of the day, they couldn't wait to hold the animals!

Sam the Lobster!

The second half of the day I found myself at Community Boating. The session started out with some environmental science lesson from a teacher at CBI. After which, we explained how Save the Harbor helped decrease the pollution in the waters and so on. After what the kids thought was probably the longest 10 minutes of the day we finally got them outside and holding fishing rods. We were fishing in the lagoon, which on day 2 we got to kayak on, and the water was so shallow we could literally see the fish! The kids were getting so frustrated because the fish kept outsmarting them! They would nibble on the bait then swim away really quick! One kid, Caleb, caught a sunfish. The next day we caught 2 sunfish in the eel traps we had set out just before we left kayak. Kayaking was an adventure in and of itself. Without many other kayakers out on the water we had the space to race. Some of the older boys in the group beat us by a few feet (They cheated though! They used splashing as a technique to distract us!) but all in all it was a pretty fun day.

Just Keep Swimming!
Sam

Spectacle's Spider.....Crabs!

     This week on AABH we made our maiden voyage out to Spectacle Island. One of the first activates we begin once we get off the boat is setting up the crab traps. As Kharliyah and Andrea were going to bait and throw the crab traps in they saw some thing very interesting…one of our crab traps from last summer! Andrea quickly called me over to help pull the trap up. The line was slimy and smelly and the trap itself weighed a ton. When we finally pulled it to the pier it was covered in tunicates. Tunicates are also called sea squirts because they will squirt out water when you touch them. Hidden inside our tunicate treasure were a few more creatures. We had three rock gunnel, two of which managed to push themselves off the side of the pier before we could get them in a bucket of water. The best part of the trap was all the spider crabs left inside.

     I think spider crabs are one of the coolest animals you can catch in Boston Harbor. They are truly a very unique crab with a very special adaptation. Spider crabs have a glue like spit that they stick all over their body. Algae grow all over the crab’s body as a form of camouflage. It was fun teaching kids as they got off the boat about the spider crab; really cool way to start the day!

     The other half of my day I spent up in the saddle playing kickball with a group from the East Boston YMCA. There was one girl on my team who did not know how to play the game and would get upset when she did not hit the ball foul or get out. We explained the rules to her and were all good sportsmen and let her kick multiple times until she got the feel for the game. By the end she had a couple of good kicks in.

     Spectacle does not offer much in shade but you can swim there! Even though I only dipped my toes, it was great to see everyone celebrate our first day on Spectacle with a cold plunge into the water!

Looking forward to my next few days at Spectacle!

Nora D.

Moon Jelly's and Patrick Star's!

Pier's Park was a day of discovery today! After having a week of catching red crabs, green crabs, and spider crabs all day, today we caught some very exciting things. After playing the morning games of "Capture The Flag" and "Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean" we took all of the kids down to the dock for some fishing, kayaking, and capturing crabs in the traps. After catching some cool spider crabs and red crabs from a distance you could hear kids yelling "We got something!" All the other kids on the dock quickly rushed to the edge to look at what possibly it could be that this kid on the kayak was holding. "We caught a Starfish!"

"We Need More Crabs!"

Hey guys, its Preston again. I had an amazing day today with the groups of kids that came to the beach. I played can jam, played a little football, and I even helped make a homeless shelter for hermit crabs. Yeah that's right, a homeless shelter for hermit crabs. Or, as I heard it called,a "sanctuary" for crabs! Joe and I helped them make a huge hole, that was then followed by an even bigger trail back to the shoreline. We left it up to the kids to go find hermit crabs, and periwinkles, to bring them to their new little home. Bucket after bucket, hermit crab after hermit crab. The shelter finally became a success. "We need more crabs" was the phrase of the day. Even fifteen crabs weren't enough for the determined children. They just needed more. Soon enough, there was more than one crab shelter on the beach. Each sanctuary (if you will) was filled with more and more crabs. You just can't beat playing in the sand with kids. Til next time, Preston.

First Time at the Children's Museum and Spectacle Island

Hello, Monday I went to the Children's Museum. It was my first time going to that site. I'm not going to lie, I liked it! I enjoyed the Messy Monday and showing the crabs to the kids. I also drew a crab for the first time in my life. It wasn't all that but you could tell it was a crab. It was also fun learning and teaching the kids how to fish and how to hold a crab the correct way. For the first time in my life, I held a crab. It was a fun to hold it, it was also fun watching the faces of the kids when we showed them the crabs and the smiles on their faces when they were touching and holding them.

Drawing the crab at Children Museum 

Tuesday was my first time going to Spectacle Island. 292 kids were so exited about swimming and finishing.  Only a couple of kids wanted to play sport, and only a few wanted to play. Some wanted to play soccer and others wanted to play kick ball. More kids wanted to play kick ball than soccer so we decided to play kick ball. Although my team lost, it was a great and fun game. It was so hot that all that was in my mind was the water from the beach. After finishing the game I was so excited that I was finally going to get in it. It is always fun to swim during the hot day. When I first put my feet in the water, I though about not putting my whole body in because it was really cold.When I saw Dave coming my way I said to myself "do it or he is gonna throw you in it." After swimming for about 30 minutes I decided to get out and start to get ready to go back to the boat.

Me and my team getting ready to kick 

I really enjoyed being in these places and I really like that the city decided to clean the islands so we can go there and have an unforgettable experience.

- Cristian Berlioz

A Very Happy Birthday Indeed

Hi everyone!

My last week at Blacks Creek has been nothing short of fantastic. We have had around 30 to 40 kids there every day. These kids just can't seem to get enough of our fishing, nature walks, cheesy ocean jokes, and games, for most of them return day after day. In fact, some of them enjoy our program enough to join us on their own birthday! Meet my friends Jonathan (left, AKA Birthday Boy) and Luke.

 

We were flattered to have them both on Jonathan's birthday, and even welcomed Jonathan with a hearty "Happy Birthday" song sung by 40 of his newest friends.

These two brothers have made quite the progress since joining us on Monday of this week. To begin, they were too shy to leave their grown up's side at drop off, and too shy to play Simon Says with the group (I empathize with them all too well, I too was a very shy child and am still a shy adult). However! This is not the time nor the place to be shy! Instead, we are to embrace what is around us and engulf ourselves in what the harbor has to offer us. And thankfully, Jonathan, Luke, and myself have caught onto that very quickly. Since Monday, they have both become champs at the game Museum, they continue to ask tons of questions about our lessons, and to chime in when they have an important point to add. I am so proud of their progress and their unyielding curiosity, and I am only reinforced in my love and faith for what these programs can do for kiddos like these guys.

Until next time!
Jessie

New Site

I'm back, hey it's me D reporting now from Piers Park in East Boston. On that wonderful Friday I spent the day with some fantastic and happy kids. In the morning we gathered all the kids around and played a game of Museum and a fun game of Charades. The kids had to act out a sea turtle, jellyfish, and starfish, mostly things that live in the sea. Some were very easy to guess and some were hard, but watching the kids put their acting skills to use was very entertaining. In the afternoon we took all the kids down to the dock and we had fishing, kayaking, and two touch tanks going on. In the touch tanks we had red crabs, green crabs and a LARGE spider crab. They told me that's the biggest spider crab they had caught since they been at Piers Park this year. I was so happy because on the day I happened to be there they caught a big spider crab, and when I mean big I mean very BIG. I was so excited and mostly creeped out but I had a big smile on my face along with the kids. Toward the end of the day we played 2 games of Capture the Flag, which was two competitive games with 6-8 year olds believe it or not. It was really fun to play & watch. The kids also went to the park and got wet in the sprinklers and made a waterslide. This was a great week with STHSTB and a trip to Piers Park was a great way to end the week.


- D

                                                                           

Why don't more movie villains have crabs to stroke?

Why don't more movie villains have crabs to stroke?

At the Boston Children's Museum, we have a few things set up for children to try: some fishing rods, a crab trap, a felt fishing games for the little ones, and a touch tank (usually filled with crabs).

Kharliyah adding some art to our sign.

In my first week here, I have learned several things about crabs, such as how to identify a green crab vs. a spider crab, how to tell a boy vs. a girl crab, and how to properly pick up a crab (though this skill took much longer than the others). And Tuesday of this week, I finally picked one up! It's not that I was worried about being pinched. The legs freaked me out (they still do, to an extent). Struggling crabs feel so weird.

The catalyst for me picking up the crab was a group of children that came over eager to see some crabs. No one else was by the crab tank, so I reached in, found a lone crab with no claws (I know, a little bit cheating) and picked her up. 

Me desperately trying to look evil
by stroking a crab.

Crabs, it turns out, are really fun to stroke. Green crabs (the most common species we've found) have very smooth shells, and it's rather relaxing. So that got me thinking: why don't more villains stroke crabs? It's a bit of a movie cliché for a villain to be backlit and stroking a white cat. Why not have a crab? Or a tank of crabs to casually reach into, pull out a crab, and start stroking while speaking. Crabs are certainly more menacing than cats, at least in my opinion. Though it is easier to train a cat than a crab.

What I learned from picking up a crab this week was not to overthink things. Sometimes I have a tendency to over-analyze situations and see the worst-case scenario possible. I didn’t really think before I picked the crab up for the first time: I just did it. Thinking things through isn’t necessary a bad thing, but sometimes it’s better to just do.

Staying hydrated with Bella and Jahari.

Sarah M

Piers Park: The Field

Piers Park is an awesome place for summer fun! It has a ton of features that we utilize to the fullest for our games and activities. One of these attractions is the field! Outside of the sailing center, there is a huge, grassy yard that we play games on. The favorite game of our Harbor Explorers has been capture the flag. Everyone, Save the Harbor staff included, go's all out attempting to snag the other team's flag for victory. The competition has never been better at Piers Park; this week we've had three consecutive ties! 

All of the other games that we've played were unknown to me until I joined Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay, but I've had a great time learning them all with the help of the Harbor Explorers'. My new favorite game is an elimination game called Quack a Dilly Oh My. This game is a mixture of hot potato and musical chairs. We all sit in a circle and sing the Quack a Dilly Oh My song. As the song goes, we rotate around the circle giving each other high-fives. When the song ends, its a battle of reflexes between two players, as one tries to lightly slap the dodging hand of the person next to them. Quickness and concentration are key in this game, and everyone must be on their toes and ready for the moment when they will have to make a move. Win or lose, everyone enjoys singing the traditional song and is eager to see who the winner will be. We play a ton of other games on the Piers Park grass, like 'Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean', 'Drip, Drip, Drench', and 'Ride that Pony.' 

After a hard day of running and playing, the field is also a comfortable place to lie down, catch your breath, and get ready for the next game! 

Piers Park has a few more spots like the field that we take advantage of, and I'll be mentioning them in my next blog posts. Ge ready to hear about the dock and the one of a kind playground on site at Piers Park! 

-SEAN

The Harbor Cleaners

Hey Guys,

One of the things that the kids beg me to do is to take them out on Kayaks. The kids love to paddle and love to be on the harbor. They constantly ask multiple questions, some of which are unanswerable. But the one thing that these kids love to do is to clean up the trash that is in the harbor. I will be paddling the kids back to the dock and I hear one of them yell "TRASH!" and suddenly the four kids that are in the kayak with me are overpowering my paddle and turning us around trying to get all of the trash that they can. Because at Piers Park they are called the Harbor Explorers, one brilliant young girl named Sophia exclaimed that they were not the Harbor Explorers, but they were the Harbor Cleaners.

It was even more amazing because on the Kayak, we had gone into a corner with a lot of trash, and one of the girls said something which really touched my heart. She stated that it does not make any sense that people throw the trash into the harbor because it makes it dirty and it is not good for the environment. It's really inspirational to me that at such a young age, these kids are more aware of the environmental impact of trash, and are more inspired to do something about it than a lot of other people in this world.  

Amanda 

Star Fish and Moon Jellies

Today was a pretty interesting day at Piers Park. While some kids were on the dock catching crabs or fishing, others were taken out on kayaks. I stayed upon the dock with the kids that wanted to pull up the crab traps. All of a sudden, from a far I hear kids yelling "we got a jellyfish, we got a jellyfish." I got up and made my way to the edge of the dock. It was a moon jelly. I took the moon jelly and put it in its own little touch tank. The kids were so fascinated and curious. They asked questions like, "Can't jellyfish sting you?" "How do you know if it is a girl or boy?" and "How do they eat?" I was glad to answer their questions, even though for some of the questions; google was my helper. Roughly 15 minutes later, I peeped Sean going into the water and I was wondering what he was doing. Turns out that Paula and him found some starfish. Never before while I have been working with Save the Harbor have we had a starfish or even two in a touch tank. We got two moon jellies and two starfish. Excited to see what else this summer has planned for me.

 til next time,

-Ary 

Ooey Gooey Slime

I took a group clam digging on Tuesday. They were all so excited to go and see what lives under the sand. I passed out all of the sand rakes and smaller tools for clam digging, and we started walking down to the water.  The kids got to the edge of the sand and instinctively started asking questions. What was the muck that the low tide uncovered? I told them about the mud, and the creatures that lived in it. They were interested in what I was saying maybe for a moment before they ran off to dig and stomp around.

They splashed and dug. They all ran through the muck, searching for clams, crabs and worms. They seemed to always be asking questions, always wondering out loud and wanting answers. That is what I learned about kids this week, kids are really curious. They want to know everything. And even if no answer can be given, they are still going to ask. With enormous smiles on their faces, they never seemed to mind when I didn't have the answers. They just picked up their materials, thought for a moment and asked me the next question that popped into their head. This was my favorite part of the week so far; the children's never-ending curiosity. Always wondering, always questioning, never giving up!

Till next time-joe

Beating the Heat at Children's Museum

Hello again fellow adventurers!

Today at the Children's Museum we got our first taste of a summer heat wave! Even though the sun was beaming down upon us, we loaded up on sunscreen and baited the hooks for another day of fishing.

Fishing Station: Activated

Look at all those fish!

When the heat became too unbearable, some of the kids took a break by fishing in the shade. You might think fishing with velcro at the end of your pole would be futile, but not when the "fish" you're trying to catch are made out of felt! Our friends at the Children's Museum donated some of their time to create a pond of felt fish for us to add to our program, and so far its been a fan favourite! It is the perfect alternative for some of our younger harbor explorers who are a little too young to cast the bigger rods over the railing in front of the museum, and they're almost always guaranteed a catch! This little girl did not want to put the pole down, and every time she caught a fish, she very generously gave them to me for me to hold on to.

First time touching a crab!

The rest of the day was highlighted mostly by the crabs that we caught in our crab trap. Today we were pleasantly surprised by catching a spider crab! Although they may fall into the "creepy-crawley" category in the eyes of most of the kids, I think they are so cool to handle. After much convincing, I finally got a group of kids to touch a crab for the first time ever! The combination of excitement and utter fear on their faces was so fun to watch, and even more exciting was the swagger they displayed after, feeling accomplished that they had finally touched a crab. While we did not catch a monster striper, or a massive rock crab, the experiences I had today were the epitome of how awesome it is to work at Save the Harbor. Watching these kids experience things they've never been able to do before and seeing the pure joy and excitement on their faces makes this job that much better.

Until next time, keep on exploring!
-Luke

Harbor Stories

Me taking advantage of "Messy Monday"

My favorite part of being outside the Children's Museum is observing all the different folks who use the board walk: business-people and interns from the Finance District on their lunch breaks, joggers and dog walkers, tourists speaking in an array of languages and accents, and of course families or caretakers visiting BCM with their kids. I like to imagine their stories, and sometimes people take the time to stop and tell me little tidbits of their lives. Today, for example, a well-dressed man who works in one of the skyscrapers across Fort Point Channel spent several minutes leaning against the railing and reminiscing about his own experience of the Boston Harbor as a child of eleven or twelve. Back then, he said, the water was too dirty to yield anything edible, but he fished just the same, with fifty-cent three-pronged hooks that he bought with his weekly allowance and tied to the end of a stick with whatever line was available. He didn't use bait, just waited for schools of fish to swim by under the surface and cast his makeshift rod in their midst. Anything he caught he tossed up onto nearby docks for the gulls, with the exception of eels, which, he told me, tangled in the line and had to be cut loose (an annoying waste of twine) or allowed to unwind themselves. I thought of the eel we reeled in last week, wriggling as we tried to set it free, and felt the bond of shared experience reaching across years and generations. The man, in his suit shirt and tie, pressed slacks and shiny black shoes, smiled as he thought back on hours spent on the harbor. He lingered there for a while before turning reluctantly back toward his office.

Kids as well as adults tell stories of crabbing excursions and fishing trips they've been on, and I continue to be amazed at all of the rich opportunities provided by the harbor. Then there are the kids who have always wanted to try fishing, and are now getting their first chance. I watch as they make new stories for themselves, and cheer when they pull up their line to find a crab clinging to the bait or a sea squirt dripping on the hook. I especially enjoy getting to know kids who return day after day, like the enthusiastic boy who has become steward of our crab trap and was excited to haul in over two dozen crustaceans, including a baby Spider Crab (pictured above). 

These are the memories created on slow, hot days, and I'm looking forward to uncovering more stories as the summer goes on.

Until next time!

~Emily

Stuck in Muck

Our week on Carson Beach started out very messy .. and I mean that in the best way possible. When our first group of kids came to the beach, the tide was extremely low. Now, I know that many of you have been to Carson beach before. But have you really seen what lies there at low tide? Sand, you ask? Nope. The only word I can possibly use to describe it accurately is muck. Grayish, goopy, squishy muck. The stuff that makes a "plop!" sound when you step in it. Anyways, so there we were: a group of kids from the South Boston Boys and Girls Club, a couple of harbor explorers, and a vast expanse of muck. Heck, a bunch of muck never hurt anybody!


We grabbed our clamming tools and all headed right in. We might have sunk ankle-deep into this muck, but we used our tools and hands to really get on in there. We found tons of periwinkles on the surface, some hermit crabs, and some clams. The kids LOVED discovering and learning about these different sea creatures. However, that was not the most astonishing part for me. I was surprised, thrilled, and so proud of the fact that these kids were FEARLESS. I heard camp counselors in passing say things like "this stuff is gross," and "Yeah I am not walking in that, I'll watch you from here." And then you have the children: not a care in the world about this clay-like substance that is now taking over most of their exposed skin. They looked like a pottery class gone bad. It was amazing. Overall, I had as much fun as (if not more than) the kids we worked with. What's wrong with a little muck now and then anyways?

A recent survivor of a mucky Monday,

Bridget

MVP for the Day!!!

Hi everyone,


Yesterday, I did something I have never done before. For all of these past three summers here working for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, I have never been to Courageous Sailing Center out in Charlestown until yesterday. When I got off at North Station, I got lost walking as I was following my GPS because it was directing me to the longer way. Somehow, I ended up finding my way there after 10 minutes of being lost. When I got there, Neiomi, Abdi, Sam, Grace and myself helped out the kids with some fishing. After we got them set up with fishing, Grace went down the dock to pull up a lobster trap and I ran down the dock as soon as I learned she was there because lobster traps are my favorite. I helped her pull up the lobster trap and we found a little lobster along with a few crabs and a starfish. I had no idea we had lobster traps out there so when I put the lobster, crabs and starfish in the bucket, I brought it to the kids and that is when they all got distracted from their fishing rods. The lobster that we caught was female and somehow the kids ended up naming her after our Save the Harbor staff, Sam. It was the funniest thing ever because all of the kids started yelling "Sam we named the lobster after you" and Sam's response was "awe, I feel so loved". A few minutes later, the kids ended up releasing the lobster and went back about their fishing rods.

Amus and "Sam" the lobster

Later on, Grace and I took a different group of kids down the dock to pull up another lobster trap. This time we didn't find any lobster but we found a very tiny eel and a couple of smaller starfish.The kids were so into the lobster trap to see what else they would find in it. This was our second lobster trap. After that we moved on to our THIRD lobster trap that was not pulled up in a while and this is when I had to face some challenges. The lobster trap was EXTREMELY HEAVY. I was not able to pull it up by myself so with the help of Grace, and two counselors, we were able to pull it up. The lobster trap and the rope itself was all covered with sea squirts and mussels and inside the lobster trap was a massive amount of black and moisty mud which was another reason why the trap was really heavy. As I opened the trap, there we a few crabs that were covered in mud and It stank really bad. A few kids helped me remove some of the mussels from the trap and the sea squirts as well in which they found really fun to squirt each other with. Cleaning up the trap and taking all that mud out was the hardest part so when I put on the gloves, that was when the real work started. It took quite some time for me to clean up the trap and the dock because it was also covered in black mood. I grabbed one of our white buckets and started throwing water on the dock and the trap to remove most of the mud. After a while, I was able to clean up the trap and throwing it back into the ocean. As soon as I looked at my jeans, I was not too happy because it was wet and covered in mud which means I had to go buy a new pair of jeans and throw the one I had on away. I can tell you guys for sure that pulling up that last lobster trap and cleaning it up was a workout for me. This was how I got my "MVP for the day" title from Grace and Neiomi. Although it was a tough Monday, I was glad that I was able to clean up the trap. Overall, the experience at Courageous was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Keep on exploring!!!!

- Andrea Lopes :)

Mondays

Everyone hates Mondays but today was probably the funnest Monday I've ever had. I got to play games at work, like how cool is that? I got to build a mini tower with a door with blocks and shaving cream. Emily got a little messy and grew white eyebrows, mustache, and a beard. I enjoyed hula hooping and drawing to attract attention to our touch tank and fishing area. I drew all types crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms on the board. Bella and I drew the Save the Harbor Save the Bay logo in chalk in front of our touch tank which was later noticed by Patty.

In our touch tank we caught lots of green crabs and one baby black sea bass. It was small and shy and didn't move much. We caught plenty of male crabs who were all crazy aggressive. As soon as you picked them up they'd open up they're pinches ready to snap at any second. You know how they say, "curiosity killed the cat?" I was interested in knowing if crabs can pinch really hard. So I held out my finger and it did pinch me kinda hard so I dropped it in the water immediately. Then I stayed away from all the male crabs and only picked up the nicer female ones.

On Tuesday we traveled to Spectacle Island with roughly 300 people and we had a great time swimming. The water was extremely cold and deep. There were lots of huge rocks that hurt to walk on and I forgot my swimming shoes so it hurt trying to walk back to my towel. Dave enjoyed "accidentally" splashing us and throwing seaweed. When I got out the water to change into dry clothes my face had so much salt on it. It was my favorite part of the day to finally get to cool off and then go home.

-Kharliyah O.

Blacks Creek

     Save The Harbor Save The Bay #1

This year at Save the Harbor Save the Bay I was placed at Blacks Creek which was the first time I have ever gone there. Everything was new to me, including the kids and the activities. Some of the activities we did were taking the kids out for a wild walk or just exploring the nature that lives inside our ocean systems. We also played kickball and other games at the fields. Being part of Blacks Creek is actually very exciting. We get to explore more each day that we are there. Blacks Creek is a place where freshwater and saltwater meet, creating brackish water. Being on this site was not what I really expected. I thought the name its self said it all, “Blacks Creek.” I thought there wasn’t going to be any “life” at the site, but I was wrong. The minute I saw the area I realized right away that I was at the right site. This site brings us closer to nature because we learn about nature and how it works. This is very important not only for us but for the kids and anyone who has curiosity about the harbor's wildlife. One tip for having a good day at any of the sites or islands is to just be yourself and have fun like never before and you’ll soon see the kids happy and amazed begging their parents to stay because of how “lively” the class was. We make sure that everyone that arrives at Blacks Creek has fun no matter what mood they come in with. We don’t want to hear that the Harbor crew is “boring," we want to hear great things. This week at Blacks Creek we took the kids down to the dock to set down the crab trap. We checked it the next day because I knew we weren’t going to catch anything in only one day. After that we brought the kids down to the river. Some of them caught hermit crabs, red crabs, and two or three fishes, one medium sized and two small. We played a couple of games such as free tag or Uncle Sam and Sharks and Minows which turned out great with the kids. They enjoyed plenty of fun. I’m glad I returned to Save the Harbor Save the Bay for many reasons. The main one is because I get to be a kid again and interact with the kids and meet new ones each day.

-Edward Calderon