Casting 101 at Fishing 101

I ended my second week of the summer at Fishing 101 today outside the Boston Children's Museum. Aside from catching a fantastic spider crab in our lobster trap, the kids passing by the museum stopped by to fish. There were a few kids who had never fished before and casted for the very first time in our very own Fort Point Channel in the Boston Harbor. We did not come up with any fish but the kids got something much better than that. You know the saying: give a kid a fish and you feed him/her for a day. Teach a kid to fish and you feed him/her for life. I can say with confidence that every kid who stopped by the Save the Harbor spot outside the Children's Museum is now a master angler.

Not only did the kids learn the ins and outs of fishing but they learned just how a lobster trap works. Did you ever know there is a parlor in every lobster trap? It is the area that the lobster (or crab) crawls into through one of the two holes on the sides of the trap. From there the lobster climbs up and through a net into the area where the bait is. Once the lobster reaches the bait, it is trapped! All that's left is hauling up the trap and discovering a trap. A truly simple and magnificent device.

-Alex

Family Fun Night

Last night, July 22nd at Carson Beach, there was first Family Fun Night held by the South Boston Neighborhood House. Save the Harbor staff Dan, Carolyn, and Tom Reagan went to teach the youth with the touch tank. Earlier in the day Dan and Carolyn had been lucky enough to catch two lobsters! The kids eyes widened as saw the massive lobsters come out of the tank.

The weather was gorgeous. They really enjoyed the beautiful weather and had a great time. The organizers did a fantastic job. The families even signed a poster thanking Save the Harbor/Save the Bay!

Cassie

South Boston Family Fun Night

Last night's Family Fun Night was a great time! Dan, Carolyn, and I staffed the event, which was over before I even noticed. Time flew by as kid after kid came up to play with the marine creatures we brought in the touch tank. We were lucky enough to bring two lobsters, which Dan and Carolyn caught earlier that day. In a separate tank, we had some periwinkles and Asian shore crabs that we caught right at Carson Beach. The lobsters were definitely the biggest hit. I often saw wide-eyed shocked faces when I would pull up the massive lobster.

The weather was also great making for an all around successful night. The organizers for the event did a fantastic job with everything, even having the families sign

a poster thanking Save the Harbor! I had a lot of fun and am glad I was there.

-Tom Regan

“The cutest thing!!”

Not a panda bear, or a dolphin. Not a clown-fish or a seal. Nope. This comment was exclaimed—and echoed by the Harbor Explorers at Pierce Park this morning when we found—wait for it.... a tunicate colony?

Mostly regarded as pests, these small invasive critters resemble slime-mold more closely than they do a marine mammal or a teddy bear. Tunicates are usually seen as fouling organisms: small animals that attach to moorings, docks and boats—rotting the wood, getting in the way, and even slowing down boats (think about how some runners shave all there hair off before races—every little thing sticking out can slow you down, just a little bit). Hardly cuddly. What’s to love? These little animals are not lonely clumps of slime they appear to be, but actually clusters of hundreds, if not thousands, of individual organisms all related and living “colonially”—basically an enormous family, brothers and sisters clustered together, forming stars and patters imperceptible to most grown ups, but visible and “ADORABLE!” to the sharp-eyed Harbor Explorers at Pierce Park this week. Maybe this proves the truism: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure; As one camper put it, these pesky critters can also be seen as: “una familia grande!!”

~Emily

A Nine Eyed Giant Prehistoric Sea Spider in Quincy!

That's right folks, my buddy Sully from Quincy caught one of those creatures I describe above in the title, right in Blacks Creek. Well, I should clarify, he actually caught a Limulus Polyphemus or as it is more widely known, a horseshoe crab. It is true though that the Limulus Polhemus species is millions of years old; they were alive even before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. When he hauled this ancient relic to shore, many kids mistook it for a crab. However, Limulus Polhemus is more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Each camper got a chance to hold the animal and flip it over so that they could see the underside of Limulus Polhemus. We could spot the gills, the head, and the six legs. What we did not spot however was the nine "eyes" that the Limulus Polyphemus has. I later read that these eyes are compound eyes, much like that of a fruit fly, with two on each side of the head, five on the carapace (shell), and two in front of the mouth. This really was a bizarre and fascinating creature, one I'm sure the campers enjoyed.


Well good night and goodluck,

Conor N

A Crabby Couple of Days!

If you scroll down read my previous post ("Testing the Waters!"), you'll see that the youth staff here at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay is proudly taking part in a large effort of citizen scientists across the Harbor to holistically understand the water, and the species that inhabit it, better. In addition to testing salinity and clarity, we're also counting crabs! At many of our sites, especially the ones with shores to explore, we are taking random samples of the beach and counting what we find within a predetermined dimension. We're recording quantity, gender, and size (we measure the width of the carapace of the crab-- the main part of its body, which doesn't include its legs). Wednesday, our crab counts officially began!



I have to begin by telling you that South Boston is CRAWLING with green crabs and Asian Shore crabs. Put a trap down off the dock, and you'll have a green crab within a few minutes. Overturn any huge rock, down past the swimming beach, and you'll find several Asian Shore crabs frantically scuttling sideways for cover. Look at our friend Emily, elbow deep in a bucket of Asian Shore crabs! They're everywhere!

That being said, when we took our predetermined circle (a bike tire- how's that for citizen science?) and headed down to the intertidal zone in Pleasure Bay... can you guess how many crabs we found in our circle?

When we did the experiment on Wednesday afternoon, at first glance, the answer was zero. NO crabs, in SOUTH BOSTON? It's crab city over there! When we turned over a few of the bigger rocks in our sample area, we finally counted 5 tiny green crabs scurrying about. Each had carapaces under 1 cm in width and were so sneaky that they evaded their capture, so their genders are all still unknown. But what South Boston lacked in crabs during this experiment, it certainly made up for in periwinkles. In just our little sample circle, we found 32!

Today, Thursday, yielded similar results. The tide was slightly higher, which gave us even lower hopes for crabs along the shore-- it was much more likely we would find them in the lower intertidal zone, if we were going to find them at all. And, as expected, each time we threw down our circle, no crabs were found within. I am confident that low tide will expose many more crabs to our analytical fun, but the gray rocky shore at high tide seems less welcoming and far more exposed than what I would personally prefer if I were a crab. So I can't blame them for not coming out when we needed them, because that's science! And no experiment is a failure. Especially not when you're having fun.

Harbor Love,

Michelle

Crab Count 2010

Hello everyone!

I just got back from another eventful day with All Access at Georges Island. All this week David, Thi, Denise, BJ, Tim, and I have been taking almost 200 kids around the island every day. It's been a lot of fun-Tuesday was my birthday so David started singing happy birthday to me during lunch and soon everyone else had joined in! I've spent some days wandering through Fort Warren looking for the Lady in Black and others were spent at the beach looking for crabs, sea glass, and pottery.

One new thing we started on Wednesday was "crab count 2010": this is a project Save the Harbor is working on to perform a small experiment to see how many crabs we can find at our sites throughout the summer. This week, BJ and I were on crab patrol. We started at the edge of the water and decided that our sample area should be 4' 6" wide and 162' long; we measured the space by using our 1'6" dip nets-we're very resourceful :) Despite the large sample area, we only found 2 female crabs: one was 3/4" wide but the other was a good 4 1/2". Interestingly enough, we found a lot of baby crabs that we thought were too small to measure and count. The question we're all asking now is why there are so many baby crabs and few adult ones?




From now one, Wednesday is crab day at All Access, so stay tuned for more fascinating crab updates!!

-Carolyn

Kid-powered science!

Thanks Michelle for the project info--I too am very excited to work with Dr Judy on this citizen science project!

Our refractor seemed to have a bit of a grudge against us today: the line indicating salinity level simply refused to appear –though the kids were happy to pass it around peering in and trying to diagnose the problem (though I think we may need to seek expert advice).

Our secchi disk tests were a bit more successful; The kids were excited to help with a real-world project, and eager to take turns lowering the disk into the water. In fact, the later group got discouraged: why bother measuring the same thing again and again? This frustration turned into an unexpected opportunity to talk about the margin of error, and the power of multiple samples—a concept I wasn’t exposed to until college! But the kids got it instantly: if one of us is exaggerating, or needs glasses, or is impatient and stops too early—we could mess up the data! So having multiple samples helps us check each others accuracy.

The three groups got the following results:

Piers Park

Group 1: 4.5 (lengths)

Group 2: 4 (lengths)

Group 3: 4 (lengths)

Courageous

Group 1: 3.5 (lengths)

Group 2: 3.5 (lengths)

These measurements prompted some great questions: why would water clarity change from day to day? What are the human and environmental factors that influence water quality? Is everything that makes the water murky actually "bad"? I look forward to exploring these any many other questions as we continue with the project throughout the summer.

~Emily

Testing the Waters!

Hello from Week 3! To a Senior Marine Educator such as myself, the third week means that I'm at completely new sites in our biweekly rotation around the Harbor. And I couldn't have asked for a better farewell to my sites last week, nor a better start to the new week!

I wrapped up a phenomenal week at Piers Park with a great group of truly enthusiastic and engaged Harbor Explorers. We caught our first fish, took a field trip to a local pier to see our harbor habitat from a different angle, and really bonded as a group of people excited about the water and what it has to offer. They'll be on my mind for the rest of the summer. Thank you everyone!

At both Piers Park and Courageous Charlestown, we were charged with two special projects during our second week. Dr. Judy Peterson, a great friend of Save the Harbor / Save the Bay, came to us asking us to join a large network of "citizen scientists" across the area in a large-scale effort to better understand the Harbor and how it is changing. Piers Park and Charlestown are specifically measuring the water for clarity - how clear or not clear the water is-- and salinity - the amount of salt in the water. The tests were great hands-on tools for the kids at both locations to consider the water in our Harbor a little differently, and to see how its composition isn't the exact same every single day, for various reasons.

We used a Secchi Disk-- a fairly simple tool, in fact-- to measure the water's clarity. The Secchi Disk consists of a black and white disk on the end of a nylon line, along which little beads are placed every meter. All our citizen scientists (like our very enthusiastic explorers at Piers Park) needed to do was hold on the line and slowly drop the disk deeper and deeper into the water until they cannot see the white part of the disk any longer. However deep the disk is when the white goes out of sight, according to the beads along the line, was our measurement. At both Piers Park and Courageous, our measurements were falling between 3 meters and 4 meters all week, with much higher measurements (more clarity) as the week went on, which also happened to correspond with the rain half way through the week.

To measure salinity, we were privileged to use a portable refractometer provided to us by Dr. Judy. If we place a little drop of water on the lens of the refractometer, it measures the deflection of light through the drop of water, which is affected by the amount salt (measured in parts per thousand, or PPT) in the water. When we did the test at Courageous last week we got readings of 26 PPT on Tuesday (7/13), 27 PPT on Wednesday (7/14), and 21 PPT on Thursday (7/15-- again, after the rain!). Both tests were a great activity for everyone to gather together and do at both sites, not to mention a great effort to be a part of across the Harbor!

Lots of Harbor Love,

Michelle

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

Mark At The Park

Today was a good day for me at Piers Park. I got to know so many new kids. We went down to the dock and fished and used the crab traps. My second group was fun because we drew pictures of everything we caught. I was amazed how good all the kids can draw and to tell the the truth they all can draw better then me. My highlight of the day was the spider crab and I never seen one so big. The best thing about it was seeing the kids faces and how they reacted to it. When they saw it they all came running to try to grab it. After they tried to grab the spider crab we sat it into the bucket and they grabbed their papers and sketched what they saw.

- Mark Rose

Testing Theories: Lobster Discovered

After our visit to the Boston Children's Museum on Monday I started to question the seafloor in the Fort Point Channel. Is it too soft, muddy or is the habitat not optimal for lobsters? Well, first thing this morning Latoya, a young participant and myself had pulled up the lobster trap and behold a lobster! The lobster was above the regulation size of 3 1/4 inches from the eyes to the beginning of the tail (carapace) and could have been taken out of the ocean, but as an educator I prefer to practice catch and release. I was very pleased to have proven my theory

WRONG! There are lobsters, fish, crabs and sessile organisms that live in and around the Fort Point Channel.

After a successful day at the Boston Children's Museum the young boy who helped us bring the lobster in also helped us release the marine organisms back into the Fort Point Channel. Thank you to everyone who participated in Boston Harbor Explorers today. It was a lot of fun.

Jennifer Last

Georges Island: Perfect day.

Georges Island: Perfect day. Sunny, not too hot. Lots of great kids off having lunch with their groups. I sit with my interns having our own lunch at a shady picnic table. It's always interesting to see what comes up for topics of discussion. For example Tim demonstrated for us some kind of new questionable dance move. Enough said on that.

Shortly into our lunch a group of elderly ladies all dressed in purple and red sat at an adjacent table and began to lay out a very nice spread of food complete with table cloth. Now I have a rule that if I can smell someones barbecue I get to have some. This rule has served me quite well. So I amended the rule to; If I see food I get to have some. I call this the Sea Food Diet. I bet B.J. $1.00 that I could get some food from these nice ladies. He went for it giving me three minutes to accomplish the task. I approached the nice ladies, introduced myself and quickly explained what I was trying to do and returned to our table with a bowl of cheese crackers, half a sandwich, a package of peanut butter cookies, cheetos, and a package of cookies. 32 Seconds!!

What's the point you ask? If you make an effort to include people in something fun they will always want to be a part of it. Adults, kids, counselors, campers, doesn't matter. Make it fun, you will have company. A little initial effort and the rewards keep coming. These women waived to me every time they saw me anywhere on the island. Made their day. And it only cost B.J. $1.00.

David.

Winthrop Sand Castle Day!

Winthrop Beach Sand Castle Day was a great success July 10^th weekend at Yirrell Beach! The day began very hot. It was so hot that fellow staffer BJ and I couldn’t even walk on the beach barefoot. But the sun was out so we were happy! We went to check theAll Access Boston Harbor lobster traps and there was a lobster! Now we had a lobster for our touch tank. Winthrop Parks and Recreation announced our fortunate grab to the crowd! Lots of kids came to touch and learn about the lobster. While I helped the kids, BJ explained about the different programs Save the Harbor/Save the Bay offers. It was even low tide so we, the educators, and the kids went to look on the beach for interesting crabs and other sea creatures for the touch tank. Around three o’clock, around the end of the event, the wind picked up and the sky opened. Luckily the day was over and extremely successful!

Michelle

Fun In the Tunnel!

We went to George's Island today, with a bunch of kids. It was my first time on the island! I spent my time with David Coffin and Carolyn up in the wet tunnels, the kids were excited and afraid of the dark hallway. Both boys and girls spent there time shreaking as they entered the room in the middle of the path. Once in there it was pitch black except for a wole in the ceiling providing some sort of relief, but the older kids began moaning "Lady in Black!" Which was the name of a ghost that haunted the island in the Civil war. Older kids chuckled as everyone else screamed, and ran to each side of the tunnel. Going through the tunnel for the first time was really cool, but some little children were not up to walking through the tunnel. Once we began descending some kids decided to have a friendly race to a tree. Off they went running to the best of there ability. I was at the finish line when they came jetting through. After the sprint we all headed down to the beach where most were skipping rocks or playing with the crabs that they found previous to our arrival. When day ended the kids reluctantly returned to the boat. The boat putted back to where they arrived, and the kids went home with a smile on their face!

-Tim Grogan

CRABapalooza!

Thi here again!
We went to George's Island to enlighten the minds of many who never went to this supposedly haunted island, cursed with the Lady in Black. While David, Linnea, Tim, and Carolyn (the birthday girl!) stayed at the Dark Tunnel, I was on "beach duty" with BJ. BJ kept most of the kids and I went with two kids from DOTS to catch crabs. I educated these two about the Asian Shore crabs, or the "fighter" crabs, the Green crabs, which are much more timid and tends to hide, periwinkles, and the boundless sea glass.
Off the wrack line, we caught a huge red rock crab that was dead and two more red rock crabs that were well and fighting. We placed them all in a dip net and after thirty minutes of walking by the wrack line, we went back to BJ to show off all the crabs. But when we put the crabs in the bucket, there was a SEA WORM! I've never seen one before and was surprised to see one besides the ones from last year that were bought from a bait shop. After the crabs started to grab the sea worm and tear it apart, swarming with kids screaming, "fight! fight! fight!" Hahahaha :) I had so much fun and can't wait for tomorrow!

Thi Tran

Revere Sand Sculptures

On Saturday I spent my day at the Revere sand sculpture event showcasing a lobster to any interested bystanders. Things did not start off well on the day, but we put that aside and focused on doing what we went there to do. The sculptures were all amazing, each one better than the other. Before heading for revere in the morning, our awesome marine educator, Aaron Becker, anticipated that we would not be able to catch any lobsters at the beach and so we decided we should buy one. We placed our purchased lobster in a touch tank and waited. It did not take long before we got our first group of visitors. They were then followed by waves and waves of other interested people, both children and adults, even seniors. We were kept busy the entire day. We had a blast at Revere, it was the most fun I have had at a beach for a while now; looking forward to the next beach event already!!

~Cesc

Why do I come back to Save the Harbor?

During the school year I am a high school Biology teacher that is confined to the classroom walls (at least the majority of the time) and come Spring I am ready to stand at the docks of the sail centers in and around Boston. I was reminded yesterday by the youth staff at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and the children who participated in fishing 101 at the Boston Children's Museum why I enjoy working at the docks during the summer.

Although pictures can say a thousand words, I will leave you with a few from my experience at the Boston Children's Museum. All within in a minute a young boy from outside of Boston, whom was enjoying his visit at the Boston Children's Museum, put bait on a hook, cast the line out, and reeled in a cunner, small fish that lives by the pier. Watching the young boy take on all the responsibilities of fishing in front of his brother and parents was a exciting and on top of it asked to put the fish back to keep it alive. I was impressed!

Throughout the morning I watched the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay staff walk through tasks they have not done before. For example, Latoya, Michelle and I are not too excited to be cutting worms and baiting them, using clams, mussels, and fish is not a problem for us, but by the end of the morning we had all taken strides with our worm dilemma. Hooks were baited, worms were cut and we were all proud to overcome this minor anxiety of worms squirming after we cut and hooked them.

Throughout the summer I have witnessed many 'firsts' for the staff and children who participate in the youth programs. From fishing, visiting the harbor islands, boat trips, teaching, and becoming mentors to the children of Boston it is something I am proud to be apart of every summer, especially when the people around me experience it for the first time.

The memories I keep from my summers at Save the Harbor are all created by you! You are the ones who participate, teach and show us all how to have fun in the summer. THANK YOU!

Jen Last

Youth Program Coordinator

Boston Children's Museum

Yesterday at the Boston Children's Museum, my team and I were teaching the children how to fish and put the bait on the hooks. It was my first time I put a sea worm on the hook. I was so terrified because I thought it would bite me with it's two pincher's. It surprised me that the kids just picked them up without any problem. Some wanted to put the bait on the hook themselves, so I let them. At first I was staring at the sea worm to study how it moves, and how it sticks it's stomach out to try to bite something. Finally, I fought my fear by picking the worm up and putting it on the hook myself. Michelle and Jen looked at me and laughed because of my facial expressions. I finally did it.

Overall, the kids fished very well. They caught two small fish and some crabs. I was shocked at how some did not need help casting the line into the water. They knew how to cast beautifully. It was a great morning.

LaToya

Strange Catch at the Children's Museum

I have been having so much fun working in front of the Children's Museum. Their staff has been extremely helpful, which is great because it makes our job a lot easier and more efficient. Yesterday, we continued our success at both fishing and crabbing! Kids loving playing with the crabs and other creatures in the touch tank, its always a big hit. The best part about fishing in the Channel is we are always at least getting bites. I am always so impressed by how quickly some of the kids learn to fish. Even though we were using large striped bass hooks, the kids still managed to hook two small cunners. We still haven't caught a bass but I hope it will be soon. One of the more enthusiastic anglers, Matthew, even caught a small piece of white siding for a house! It was a very strange find! We were able to look closely at the object to find all kinds of marine organisms growing on it like sea squirts, sea weed, mussels, and orange tunicates. We got the added satisfaction of being able to remove one piece of junk from the water. The kids always love playing with the crabs and other creatures in the touch tank, its always a big hit. Overall it was a fun and interesting day, I can't wait to get back there and see what we catch on Wednesday!

-Tom Regan

Lobstah!

Friday was my last day at Camp Harbor View (at least for the next few weeks). I was sad to say goodbye to the place, especially the campers. The loyal members of the fishing club were good sports in the heat, but when invited to tromp down to the floating dock to help me haul a lobster trap (which had so far attracted nothing more exciting than a few small Asian Shore Crabs), only two die-hards volunteered. We bundled life-vests on-top of already-sweaty T-shirts, and tromped down the long ramp, while the remaining campers lingered on the dock, teasing us: “give it up, man—we’re never gonna get a real lobster in there”. The three of us pulled the line up, up, up—and then we saw it! As soon as we got the trap out of the water there was a bit of redish brown, not quite the right shape for a crab. Then we started shouting: "we got one!! We got one!! You’ll never believe it WE GOT ONE!!" When we opened the trap, we discovered that we had caught not just one, but TWO American Lobsters (aka “Maine Lobster”)—a medium-sized adult, and a six-inch baby! We brought the whole trap up to the pier to show off our catch, and immediately the kids were propelled out of the heat haze, running towards the trap, learning how to hold them and then transferring them to the big tubberware we use as a touch tank.

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITH THEM NOW?" The kids wanted to know. “What do you think we should do with them?” I have to admit I already had a plan in mind: juveniles are required by law to be released, but I wanted to keep both long enough to show the other groups for the rest of the afternoon. The kids were right on the same track—we should throw the baby back, they said thoughtfully. How come? After a few minutes they arrived at the same conclusion it took regulators decades to decide on: "because he needs to grow up!" Because they need to have babies, so there will be more lobsters to catch next year. And also: because everybody should get a chance to grow up and spend some time in the seaJ

Emily

Saturday Afternoon Children Concert

The Friends of Lynn & Nahant Beach will host its first ever Children's Concert this Saturday, July 24 from 1-3 p.m. at Red Rock Park on the beach. Activities begin at 1 p.m., including the Northeastern University. Marine Science Center's Traveling Aquarium, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay's Marine Touch Tank, balloon animals by Drew's Balloons and face painting. The Toe Jam Puppet Band will perform with interactive songs and activities. Spread the news, bring your children, grandchildren, any other children to Red Rock Park this Saturday, July 24!

- Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach

Camp Harbor View

Camp Harbor View is unlike any other site I have been to. All I'd heard about it was that there was a larger than life, ancient bridge leading out to an island that was home to an insane asylum. Upon my arrival to the camp, however,I was shocked. This was not your casual, waterfront sailing center. Camp Harbor View is a full blown operation. There are several buildings, the largest of which is self-sustained by hundreds of solar panels on the roof. It is home to basketball courts, a swimming pool, a rope course and rock-climbing wall, as well as several firelds for football, soccer, and baseball. Not simply a place for recreational and waterfront activities, the camp provides music and art classes, as well as other educational endeavors. More learning, a young child's summer nightmare. However, not once did I hear anyone complain. The camp has a way of making things fun. Lunch is not just a time to eat but also a time to blast and dance to music. We, at Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, are proud to be a part of all the great things that happen at the camp, including recreational activites, scientific presentations, bike rides, swimming and sailing lessons, etc.

Though our Boston Harbor Explorers program is just one of the many great activities at Camp Harbor View, I can say with confidence that we provide one of the best experiences at the camp. Everyday there are new children who are eager to cast a line for the first time. Last friday, in between all of the kids' playing with the BC football team, who had come to volunteer, they would stop by to see the adult and baby lobster, as well as giant snail we had caught. Many of these young kids had never seen a live lobster before. Together with all of the wonderful experiences that the camp provides, Save the Harbor is able to present an incredible hands-on environment on the Boston Harbor.

-Dan Kenary

Saturday Sandcastle Sculptures

Hello everyone!

So after wrapping up my second week with Save the Harbor at All Access, I was ready for a nice relaxing weekend...until I remembered that I was going with Save the Harbor to Revere Beach on Saturday for the Sandcastle Contest.

The Sandcastle Contest is very famous, and thousands of people from all over the world come to Revere to see all the different sandcastles. Sand sculptures might be a better name for them-they are so amazing to see, and it was cool to see the artists at work building their masterpieces.

Once I met up with Aaron, Aruna, and Thi, we found a shady spot under the pavilion and set up a touch tank with a lobster who was named Sarah by one of the many young visitors wanting to know if they could pet the lobster. Despite the heat, the kids all had a blast and a lot of people wanted to learn more about the other children's programs that we run throughout the summer.

Another great day with Save the Harbor! I'll report back on Tuesday after All Access...

-Carolyn

Fishing on the Sugar Bowl

Friday at South Boston was a great day of fishing. The kids enjoyed walking out to the midpoint of the Sugar Bowl, which is a prime fishing spot. All the kids were very happy to be out fishing on such a nice day. We were even lucky enough to have sea worms as bait. We were about to pack it in for the day but then suddenly one of the kids reeled up a small choggie! It was her first fish and she was so excited! I have been thrilled so far this summer with how many fish we have caught. I can't wait to get back to that spot this week to see how much more we can catch. I am really hoping for a bass soon. This summer has been even better than I could have expected and I never want it to end.

-Tom

chnaging scenes...to the dock we go!

so its me again and im back with more news from yet another good week. Piers Park i must admit was fun, but nothing tops the new dock we discovered at piers park. due to some some difficulties at piers park we took a walk to another dock in the area and we had a blast. I was in charge of a small group of girls and and worked with the crab traps. Many of the crab traps were tangled, so together with the girls we worked together and fixed the crab traps. after fixing the crab traps me and my new found friends from the site , marissa, alyssa, and cameilla,were able to catch a crab. this was not their first time catching a crab, but they were so excited because it was their work and effort fixing the traps that allowed them to do so, but of course when there's a dock there must be some fishing so the girls did some fishing to. boy oh boy was this a good week. cant wait to see what next week brings

heading to the docks, catch you later
~shaunae

Taking the Pulse of Nature's Rhythm

Today was, I’m sad to report, my last afternoon (for the next few weeks, at least) at the Harry McDonough Sailing Center in South Boston. While I had originally meant to write a blog entry about how much I loved getting to know the kids at the site, I find myself writing an entry about how much I’m going to miss exploring Pleasure Bay with Sean, Olivia, Julia, and the rest of our gang of anglers and crab-catchers.

Pleasure Bay is an especially great place to observe the effects of the tides—because there are only a few channels through which tidal currents can enter and leave the harbor, the tide tends to rise and fall faster in the main harbor than in the enclosed bay. As a result, there’s almost ways a difference between the water level in Boston Harbor and Pleasure Bay; this difference produces a strong, rushing current. Along most of the coast, the tides rise and fall too slowly to produce forces this dramatic—but at South Boston, the effects of the sun and moon’s gravitational tug-of-war are not only visible, they’re almost impossible to ignore.

The tides move more than just water at South Boston. The level of the tide determines which sea creatures you can expect to catch or trap, and also where you can find them. Low tide, for example, is a prime time to venture to the rocky shore past the swimming beach. Green Crabs and Asian Shore Crabs virtually swarm out from under every rock you turn over, scuttling frantically for any shelter—even the shadow under your shoes! Our Boston Harbor Explorers quickly learned that catching crabs at low tide is, if you’ll excuse my pun, child’s play!

At high tide, however, crabs venture into deeper water. While hunting for bait at high tide, we hardly found any crabs at all, even though we left no stone unturned. High tide, on the other hand, is the perfect time to go fishing. The water beneath the fishing pier at Castle Island is too shallow during low tide, but it’s an excellent place to cast a rod while the tide is high. Exploring the harbor at Pleasure Bay was a crash course in learning to plan our activities around the natural rhythm of the tides, for us instructors as well as our young Boston Harbor Explorers.

Aaron

The MLK Program

This morning today I attended the MLK Scholars Program. This was my second time attending and I have met all kinds of people. We watched a video of Martin Luther Kings speech "I have a dream" and it inspired almost everyone that was there. We have guest speakers that come out and talk about achieving your goals and applying ourselves to our dreams. They bring encouragement and leadership to everyone.

One speaker today told us a story about him playing basketball with Michael Jordan. He said that he loved to play basketball just like him, but basketball did not define who he truly was. He motivated us to set our goals high and to succeed in everything we do. We also had group activities, where we circle up and the director would ask us a question, and tell us to discuss the answer with a partner. This was a way to get to know each other. One question was, " What is your main goal you want to achieve and why?" When we were answering the questions I realized that we may all be different, but we want the same things in life. For example, the people that shared their answers all said that they wanted to graduate from college. We all have something in common and we are all one big family.

This program is an icebreaker because some people share personal thoughts that they may not want to express to others. We become more open to conversations and not shy to express how we feel. Having over three hundred teens in one room making connections is more than one step going towards change in our communities and peoples hearts.

LaToya Glass

MLK SUMMER PROGRAM

Today was my second Friday at the MLK summer program. I really like this program and I like the stuff we talk about. Its a place where you get to meet other people and talk about how you feel. Today we discussed our futures, life goals and how goals are important in life. Goals are important because everybody needs something to work towards in order to have success.

MLK is also a place where we can talk about our feelings and our communities and what we can do to make it better. I feel like education and oppurtunity is the key to success and bringing everyone together making this world a safe and better place. The MLK youth program brings alot of kids together and shows us that you can do and be anything you want as long as you put your mind to it.

- The One And Only

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

SKATE in the Harbor!

Yesterday afternoon I went fishing with the kids at Camp Harbor View. They were very excited about fishing and could not wait to see what they might catch in the harbor. I have not had much of a fishing experience, but I still taught the kids what I knew about exploring the harbor from dockside. For example, I was telling them how to hold the fishing rod, teaching them how to cast and at the same time I was getting just as much of a learning experience as the participants where! With teaching them how to cast, I was getting better at casting myself.

While I was on the dock I was training myself how to fish correctly. I cast the rod in the perfect spot and I would tug on the line to make it seem like the bait was alive. Before I knew it something pulled my line and I quickly reeled it in. At first I was scared and happy because it was my first fish, but then again I did not know how to get the hook out of it's mouth correctly as everyone one else was manning the lobster trap and I was solo!
When I pulled up the line I thought it was a sting ray, but Tom told me it was a skate. It had a mouth at the bottom of it's body and it looked like the tail had a stinger. Emily was so amazed that I caught a fish for the first time. I ran down the dock to get the bucket of water while she tried to get the hook out of its mouth. When the kids came back on the dock they were thrilled to know I caught a skate. They asked me many questions about it and they were eager to pick it up, touch it, and try to feed it. This was the best time of the day and also for the kids. This will be something I will never forget.

Lovely LaToya

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

A Minor Speedbump

Monday morning proved to be an interesting one. Upon reading and rereading the directions on how to get to the Black's Creek site, I was not quite sure what I'd signed up for. I had attempted to drive to the site. However, once I discovered that those directions simply brought me to the destination of "Quincy, Massachusetts," I deduced that I should follow the walking directions from the North Quincy T Station, thinking they would be just slightly more specific. Little did I know that this would prove to be a Discovery-Channel-esque experience. I was directed down a little narrow street which would more accurately be described as a driveway and was then instructed to, "once the 'driveway' begins to turn back on itself, continue walking straight." I attempted to do just that. I truly wonder if the person who provided these instructions was aware that this meant directing me into a bush. Thinking that there was no other possible way that these directions could be interpreted, I simply walked; walked through the bush until my feet started sinking into a marsh.

I, of course, thought, "Eureka, Black's Creek!" I then allowed my mind to retreat a moment and concluded that, certainly by this point there would be people around. But no, not the faintest sign of one. So I walked, aimlessly through this marsh field with my feet submersed, stubbornly holding on to my masculine sense of direction and refusing to call for assistance. I crossed this field into a new wooded forest with several forking paths. Thinking by this point I had to have been lost, I heard my first sign of human life: a few kids fighting over a sail boat. I followed the voices and then the 'site' finally came into 'sight.' The only thing was that there was a body of water separating yours truly from where I should have been. I proceeded to call Emily, who, no doubt, could only have been speculating as to my location given I had called her long ago saying I was close. She then told me I should most likely go back to my car and somehow find my way to where she was, with the sole clue that "there is a baseball field near it." I would take that bone and soon enough I made it. I'll never know how but somehow I managed to beat all of the kids there so overall it was a success. The day then proceeded to go smoothly. My afternoon was spent at Camp Harborview and my first reaction to that place is for another time. Until then, I hope someone, be it I or a colleague, rectifies this little hiccup in the directions. I was more than obliged to be the guinea pig.

Dan Kenary

Off To The Races

Today Courageous Sailing Center in Dorchester's dock was converted into a race track. Using simple crab traps with muscles as bait we caught an absurd number of green crabs during the course of an hour and a half. When it came time to head back to land we knew we would have to let the crabs free back into the harbor. We decided to do this in the most enjoyable and exciting manner possible.

How To Have a Crab Race:

Step 1: Set up a crab trap or two using extra line (depending on depth of water)

Step 2: Grab some muscles off the submerged side of a dock or pier

Step 3: Hook up the muscles as bait to the trap using a zip-tie

Step 4: Drop the baited crab trap to the harbor until it reaches the ocean floor

Step 5: Tie up the line to something on the dock or just hold onto it so it does not fall in

Step 6: Wait for a few minutes

Step 7: Pull up trap and hopefully gather the crabs you caught

Step 8: Place each crab equidistant from the edge of the deck

Step 9: Yell GO!

Step 10: Cheer for your crab to get into the water first

Try it yourself.

-Alex

BazooKITE

Hello everyone! This is Thi :)
I just came back from the All Access Boston Harbor trip out to Spectacle Island today. Denise, Carolyn, David, Linnea, and I went out with about 180 kids from the Inner City to explore this interesting island, which is the highest island out on Boston Harbor. While David told the history of Spectacle Island, many kids were amazed to learn that the piles of trash that was dumped on the island burned for ten years straight!

As always, I met many new people, such as Steven, James, Angela, and much, much more. After Denise, Linnea (David's daughter), and Carolyn figured out the ingredients in V7F1 (aka V8 with the tomatoes, which is a fruit), we hiked up the highest drumlin to fly kites!
Near the end of this wonderful kite flying - which left two female tourists speechless (they never saw people fly kites successfully) - we quickly walked down the hill, careful to not touch the grass and trees, which carry asbestos and cancer-carrying agents, towards the water. Because this morning was quite foggy and looked like rain all day, I didn't bring my swimming suit and just waded in the water up to my mid-thigh. It was so nice and refreshing!
On the boat trip back to the Bank Of America Pavilion, I talked to James more and found out that I was his girlfriend - only because I was a girl and I was his friend. I laughed so much during that 25 minutes! :) I can't wait for my next adventure!

- Thi Tran

Flounder in Lobster Trap!!

On Tuesday at Courageous, we pulled up a lobster trap expecting to find, well a lobster. However, to everyone's surprise, we found a flounder hanging around in the trap. How and why it got in there was anyone's guess, but the excitement on everyone's face was as clear as day. We also caught some crabs in the "lobster" trap, as well as a sea star and mussels; we seemed to catch everything in the lobster trap, except for the creature that it was designed to catch. Nevertheless, the kids enjoyed themselves. And even though we did not catch any fish with the fishing rods at courageous, the kids still had a blast trying.

~Cesc

South Boston Neighborhood House Presents...

South Boston Neighborhood House

Family Fun Night on the Beach Events...

Thursday, July 22nd - Ready, Set, SCHOOL!

Thursday, August 12th - Adventures at Sea

Time: 6:00 pm -7:30 pm

Where: Carson Beach @ The McCormack Bathhouse

Join us for a Night of Family Fun!

A book to take home for families, refreshments for all participants, fun family activities

T-shirts for children, music and dancing for all.

If you require accommodations to participate fully

in our events or would like more information

contact Chris Kane at (617) 268-1619 x503, Kathy Lafferty x201 or Cheryl Itri x205

Sponsored by: Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and South Boston Hope & Recovery

Special Thanks to:

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), South Boston Child Care Cluster, Read Boston, Boston Children’s Museum, Boston Public Schools, Countdown to Kindergarten and Welcome Services

Kite Flying 101

Hey everyone,

So this week I'm supposed to be working on All Access and taking trips to Spectacle Island with historian extraordinaire David. I was a little nervous on the first day because it was my first time on All Access, but thanks to David, B.J., and Thi I soon felt much more comfortable. I also got to meet another new co-worker, Tim!

Yesterday after a quick lunch, I went up to the top of Spectacle to fly kites with David, Thi, and a bunch of awesome kite fliers from the Jordan Boys and Girls Club. It was a lot of fun for the kids and on the hike up (and the hike down!) they kept me busy asking questions about the island and the harbor. In the afternoon I got to spend some time cooling down at the beach before we packed up the boat to head back to Boston.

Today, the less-than-stellar weather forced us to cancel All Access for the day :( Conor and I had the task of checking the lobster trap down by the dock (we found one!) and then we headed over to the Children's Museum with Lindsay and Caitlin to set up a crap traps and a touch tank for all the curious kids. Despite the rain, we had another great turnout!

Weather permitting, I'll be back at All Access tomorrow-I can't wait :)

-Carolyn

One Fish, TWO Fish

For those of you who don't know, there's been a little talk of a competition around the SH/SB water cooler. The competition you may ask? The quest to see who can catch and net the most fish. So far BJ and Tom have been mocking my fishing skills after they both caught numerous fish this past week. This malicious slander can finally be put to rest after we caught two fish yesterday. We are officially on the board after McKenzie in Eastie caught what we believe to be a Carolina Hake and a flounder was netted in our lobster pot at the Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown.

McKenzie's angling brought great excitment to the whole Piers Park site. Using mussles as bait, she dropped the line on the quiet side of the dock and patiently waited. I was standing next to her as she reeled in the 7 inch fish with ease. After placing it in a bucket of water, we turned to the guidebook to figure out what time of fish this could be. One camper Ali stated that it was a type of Hake, which is a relative of the Cod. We came to the conclusion that it was a Carolina Hake because of its brown color and the pale splotches it had on its scales. It was a great catch by McKenzie and everyone is pumped to catch the next one.


Sincerely,

Newman, Conor

Little Cupid is starting young!

Today was even better than before, it was pretty hot at first but then after the boat ride I was alot calmer. I was mostly impressed with the free servings on the boat to spectacular.Since we were employed by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay I gotta say they took very good care of us. They were great and very entertaining people. Even the kids were wiling out after BJ doing his crazy dances and his insane jokes. David the most funniest man there bumped his head on the ceiling of the boat trying to pass by the goodies bar. I found it so funny because that's one guy that I always try to get revenge on, after David and Thi, whispering my name on the top of the boat while I was looking towards to water behind me thinking I was hearing a ghost. In my mind I'm like "No im not going crazy, just relax".Then I peep both of them on the top just laughing at me and I felt so dumb and slow. It was funny though but the kids loved all of us today, Me,Thi,BJ,Tim,Carolyn and David at Spectacular Island. BJ and I swam almost all the way to the ropes at the end of the water while kids cheering for us. While swimming back I was ahead of BJ and all you hear is young little girls like "Yeah that's what I'm talking about,Girl Power!"... But I gotta give it to BJ because with the kids support as well I was begged to get in the water completely. However I had alot of fun. The kids were asking about how to Blog, so I had to make sure they new exactly what to do so they could see their pictures and become part of us even though they are, but I was craving for them to be more connected to us. Then best of all I see two little cute love birds running out of the cold water holding hands and Tim is yelling at me "Take a picture of that" I missed it the first time but the second time they ran out of the water, I caught both of them together holding hands. It was the cutest thing ever. There were too many memories today, and I gotta stop writing or else Im never gonna stop.:-)

-Denise

AABH Spectacle Island

Today was my first day on the job! All Access was great. I met a lot of new people including my co-workers such as Thi, B.J., David Coffin, Denise, and Carolyn. We started out in front of the boats with a touch tank with a gigantic lobster! The kids were staring, but were afraid to touch until they finally touched it. During the Lobster many kids were drawing, and had a very good time filling in the marine animals with crayon and colored pencil. Once we got on to Spectacle, kids sprinted towards the water, and the snack bar. We had a short, lunch then I headed to the beach. I didn't have any trunks, but still managed to have a great time teaching kids how to skip rocks, and helping building forts in the sand. I stayed at the beach for the whole time, and had a lot of fun! This was my first every working for money, and it was definitely an experience. Today was a great start to the fun of Save the Harbor Save the Bay!! :)

-Tim Grogan

Spectacle Island

Today was the first day of Summer 2010 that we went out to Spectacle Island. The kids were very excited to get on the boat and take the trip out the island. Many of them were ready to go swimming and learn about the beautiful Boston Harbor. It was so fun to see all of the enthusiastic kids having fun on the island. On the island the kids were able to fly kites, go on a hike, play in the fields, play on the beach and go swimming. Many kids found beach glass and crab claws 0n the beach. All of the beach glass was given to the Spectacle Island Visitors Center and added to their massive collection. In my opinion today's trip out to Spectacle Island was very fun and the kids loved spending time on the island. At the end of the day all I could see were smiles on all the kids faces.

-BJ Clark