Celebrating Winter Solstice

Today is one of the best days of the year. Starting with tomorrow's sunrise (and yes, the sun will rise finally without snow clouds!), we'll see more daylight each day as we ease our way towards spring. It may not feel that springlike, especially not after all of that shoveling, but trust us... it's right around the corner....

In the meantime, the Merrimack River sure is beautiful as the ice forms and ebbs and flows with the tide. After the holidays, we'll be at the boathouse more regularly, so feel free to stop in and gaze out at the great view of the harbor, while staying warm!

New View!

We've got a new view! We are very excited to announce that we're expanding our boathouse learning center into the adjoining former Hilton's tackle shop. This nearly doubles our classroom size.... and that means a whole lot more room for arts and crafts, games and fun (and maybe another saltwater tank or two.....).

We'll be open more regularly starting in late January, but feel free to stop in any time for a sneak peak!

Lobster feng shui?

The other day, after an especially busy morning of young visitors at the touch tank, our assortment of shellfish were scattered everywhere along the tank--scallops, oysters, quohogs, mahoganys and steamer clams.

The next morning, to my surprise, all of the bivalves had been gathered together in a neat and orderly pile. I asked Ellen if she had been in after hours to visit, and thought perhaps her children might have made order out of disorder.

"Not us," she replied.

I asked Capt. Rob if he had been messing about at the tank.

"Not me," he replied. After a long pause, he said, "It's lobster feng shui."

What?

According to Capt. Rob, female lobsters are sometimes known to make order out of disorder, and, in this case, the young miss lobster in the tank likely got to work afterhours and gathered all of the shellfish together into a lovely little pile.

This morning, we noticed the sea star had eased on into her spread and was cozied up to a tasty mussel, while miss lobster watched.

Wonder what she thinks about THAT?

Our One Year Anniversary!

Today we celebrated our first anniversary of BOAT CAMP Inc. by attending the Ocean Literacy Summit in Boston. It was really energizing to be among friends who share our passion for educating others about the sea, and we are full of excitement and new ideas for 2009 programming.

Upon our return home, we were greeted with a great surprise--two bucket loads of new critters for our touch tank. If you haven't been by to visit lately, you won't want to miss these new guest animals!

NEXT Sunday at 11 a.m. we'll host another "Coffee & Critters with Capt. Rob." Join us!

2009 Here we come!

Ok, soooooooo we didn't do the best job at keeping up with our summer blog....summer was crazy and very fun. We're very excited about the great momentum we have carrying us into 2009. We are busy planning all of our programs--starting on January 26--and will have more details to announce soon....

It's finally July!

Yikes! Where did the weeks go? Since our last post, we have been very busy finishing up the spring afterschool program and diving head-first into summer camp programming. During the week of June 23rd, by special request we ran a four-day camp that was a lot of fun. We painted t-shirts and caught a ton of mackerel and flounder, and dodged ALL of the rain and thundershowers.

We've had great luck with the sandeel net, and have been using the bait to catch more flounder and striped bass. Last week, we spent our days with a great group of kids from the Amesbury-based Jumpstart Program. Their week aboard was paid in full through the exceptional generosity of the Newburyport Bank.

And did we mention the fun we're having with our BOAT CAMP by-the-sea kids? On Monday mornings we're exploring tidepool animals with our class of 2 to 4 year-olds, and it has been fantastic. This week--all about crustaceans!

Our summer camp aboard the Erica Lee continues Monday. We do have a few spots left the week of July 28th, so spend your Yankee Homecoming week on the water with us!

Flounder mackerel?

What a day we had yesterday! With only crew onboard, we started out at 7: 30 a.m. and towed the sandeeling skiff to Plum Island Basin in search of more sandeels. After two sets, it all fell apart--too many wind driven snafus--so we abandoned that project and came back to the dock with hopes for better luck next time....and no wind!

In the afternoon, we loaded up with a dozen kids and parents--and a grandparent!--and went out afterschool in search of flounder. Quite by accident, we started catching mackerel! All switched their gear to mackerel and we finished the day with a very dirty boat and very happy faces.

At night, we filled the boathouse with adults participating in our "Boating on the Merrimack River" class... lots of good conversation and questions! It's always good to see people who who share the waterway wanting to learn best how to do it safely and smartly.

We still have a few spots left all around in a variety of our programs, so give us a call if you'd like to know more!

This weekend the Erica Lee is going fishing...all day deep-sea on Saturday and a half-day bass trip Sunday, a great Father's Day treat!

Sand eels and striped bass are here!

The afterschool program this week had some luck with striped bass... but boy was that Northeast wind cold...and boy was it HOT on the beach today! We gave the sand eel net a workout, and ended up with several gallons of bait for summer... should keep the mackerel and striped bass happy! We'll have lots more fun with the net this summer during BOAT CAMP...but the kids will do the hauling then! ;)

First Family BOAT CAMP eco-trip!

Could the weather have been more beautiful? Quite a bit breezy this morning, but we had a good time hauling lobster traps and doing two tows with the otter trawl. The second tow turned up dozens of sand dollars, four juvenile flounder, some hermit crabs and a shrimp bearing thousands of eggs. In the afternoon, we tried to capture the elusive Atlantic mackerel, and while there were more than a few schools who swarmed under the boat, none were hungry--not even a nibble!

Oh well... more fun this week with some after school trips and nice weather. We'll be doing our next family BOAT CAMP day on August 10, with a trip to the Isles of Shoals. If you've never been there--it's a must visit!

A very good day on Jeffreys Ledge

All day deep-sea fishing..11 guys...60 fish...one 65-pounder and a few 45-pounders....

Ground Fishing: First trip out was May 3 with John Dernley's group. They've been going out with me since before I could cut fish. They helped teach me. We tried the inside stuff-- big ones aren't there yet. Then we headed to the curl. It was a little cold, choppy and overcast. Lot's of small fish. Screaming tide cuz of the new moon. And tons and tons of bait in the water. What self respecting groundfish would want a frozen clam with all that fresh stuff floating around? We managed 20 keepers for the day. Good part was that our keepers didn't need to be measured. Nice size haddock and cod. Got blown out last weekend, so we're gonna try again tomorrow.

Teachers: Our first class was May 4 with wind and rain. Our class was held in the boat house for a majority of the day, due to conditions. We talked about the geography of the area, upwelling and the numerous critters in the touch tank. Then we went for a river cruise, pointing out the cormorants, gulls and seals in the river. At the mouth, we witnessed the reason the Merrimack is the most dangerous river entrance on the eastern seaboard-- low tide, NE winds made for some huge, breaking swells at the mouth. For the second class, we talked about tides, then collected clams, mussels and seaworms on the mudflats and finished off the day by completing a beach profile.

Kids: Our first trip out! We talked about the animals in the tank (new addition, a yellow sea raven), then went for a river cruise to look at the fat seals, schools of stripers, and the Coast Guard doing drills in the mouth. Not bad for two hours!

What's in the tank? Stone crabs, hermit crabs and green crabs. Sea urchins, sea stars (one is ten armed), sea anemones, periwinkles, dog whelks, steamer clams, blue mussels and some sand worms. Oh yeah, the sea raven, too!

We're almost ready... are you?

Are YOU ready? No really, after this winter it's a good question to ask. Acres of snow. Long, windy nights. Soaring fuel prices--$4+ a gallon for diesel these days...... But she slid into the slings this afternoon, and that's where she'll spend the night, her bow facing the Merrimack. She's ready. Lots of fresh paint. New head deck. New electronic toys. I have a shake down cruise next Sunday. Me and some friends go ground fishing for fun. Just once. Then I have charters almost every weekend till June, then the season really gets rocking. Right now, sounds like the fleet has their up and down days, so we're not missing too much.

I don't know when high water is, but it's gotta be mid-afternoon or so. That means I'll have a week to get my fishing gear together. Gotta get to Surfland and bug Kay about a few things. Boat's ready. I'm almost ready. Are you? See you out there.

Rob

Global Warming??????????

What a winter! Ice, snow, rain, ice, more snow, the flu and maybe a little snow. Miss the days of floating out on Jefferys, catching some fish and ducking from the burning sun. February 17. It's cold today, gonna monsoon on us tomorrow, and then freeze up for a couple of days. But it's all right. Got the wood stove burning, the boats wrapped up tight, and I got a few winter projects underway. New configuration on the anchor hauler. New deck in the cabin head. The toilet will be a little lower for us vertically challenged people. And soon, if all goes well, we'll all be in the water, sending our hooks to the bottom in search of cod and haddock (maybe a few cusk, too). So stay warm, fellow mariners, the warm summer sun can't be far away.

Oh yeah, we've got 20 trips booked so far. Never had so many so early. If you want to book with us, better do it soon!