Willow is a pirate?

"Let us introduce you to the crew of the sloop Providence. This is our youngest member, Willow. She is Captain J.C.'s daughter, and she is a pirate."

"Like the pirates that were on this boat for the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie?" one of our campers asked. We have our last session of BayCamp this week, and it is based out of our Providence Bay Center. Due to a funded grant that the sloop's director put together, we were able to offer our camper's this opportunity aboard Providence at no extra charge to our campers. We were also able to take out our Americorps run camp for the Crossroads RI program this week.

"Well, that's not exactly right," the sloop's crew member John interjected. The sloop Providence, Rhode Island's state vessel, was indeed in the 2nd and 3rd installments of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, but not as a pirateering boat. It was represented as a British sloop of war (which is actually the opposite of it's real life history- it was actually the most successful sloop in the Revolutionary war against the British) and a Turkish fishing vessel.

Pirates and movies aside, it was a great trip aboard the Providence. It was a fun and unique experience for our Save the Bay staff members, as we don't usually get to work on sails. We took the opportunity to teach about navigation, and to let the campers learn their knots, line coiling, and some sea shanties ("Heave away, Haul away!" is still in my head). The crew of the sloop was also of great help, and it was impressive to watch them bounce around the ship barefoot, all acting together like a well oiled machine.

We may not be pirates, but I think we still gave the sloop Providence a good wear today!

For more information on the sloop Providence, visit their home website at http://www.sloopprovidenceonline.org/

For lyrics to "Cape Cod Girls" visit http://www.jsward.com/shanty/codfish/jesse.html

Young people, big dreams

"I would love to be a marine biologist when I grow up. I am like a little shark."

"Not me. I do enjoy field biology, but marine science isn't really my thing. I want to be an ornithologist."

This is a real conversation between two of our campers this week. We are offering a week of camp for grades 6-9, and the questions are tough! The excitement is high! That is, as long as there is some competition involved.

Despite requests for wiffleball, kickball, and ultimate frisbee, we have also managed to incorporate the campers' competitive natures into our camp this week. We have played 1) the try to find as many unique animals as you can game, 2) the jeopardy style habitat game, and 3) the split into 3 teams and identify that sandy beached up shell/body part game. The latter of these was the favorite of all, with tails of horseshoe crabs, claws of blue crabs, and (most challenging) the center spiral of a whelk shell all possible clues.

Sometimes all it takes is a little friendly competition to want to learn more!

Seaglass Plea

"Can you help me find seaglass? I really want to bring some home for my parents."

It's as if this camper read my mind, as that is always what I am looking for on the shores here.

It doesn't count as exploring the biota of Narragansett Bay, but when out on Rose Island, it's really difficult to not get absorbed into this hunt. Rose Island, that little island that you can see off to the south when going over the Newport Bridge, makes their own seaglass for their visitors to find. In the wintertime, they break all colors and shapes of glass and ceramic so that the softened treasures will wash up on their shores. And when bringing a group of campers out to the island, it's sometimes difficult to distract them from this task!

Many of the campers from our Newport BayCamp out of Ft. Adams were on this same mission while exploring the shoreline. The best finds were an extremely smooth piece of light violet, a really thick and smooth piece of light aqua, and the bottom of a bottle that was smoothed, but the letters "EER" could still be made out. It's like solving a little piece of a mystery (some stories slightly more difficult to figure out that the bottle I just mentioned), but it's also a reminder that even though some man-made products pollute the environment around them, some products, when shaped by the sea, can turn beautiful and almost seem to be a natural part of their new environment.

For more information on Rose Island, visit http://www.roseislandlighthouse.org/

We also run winter seal watch trips with Rose Island http://www.quahog.org/attractions/index.php?id=1043

Jenny's Creek Spa

Jenny's Creek out on Prudence Island is my favorite Salt Marsh that I've been to in the state of Rhode Island, and I've been to a lot of them. There is not much development out around the creek, so when walking through it, you can feel a sense of what much of coastal Rhode Island looked like when it was still teeming with salt marshes. About 90% of downtown Providence used to be salt marsh before development took over, so to see a pristine salt marsh still in its near natural state is refreshing.

It is also refreshing to have a camp full of middle school girls who enjoy being outside in different marine habitats every day and aren't afraid of getting muddy and salty while learning! There is a path along the outside edge through the Spartina of Jenny's Creek salt marsh, that houses many fiddler crabs, snails, oysters, and pickleweed that we had our campers actually taste. It leads you down to a small floating bridge, where, just past high tide, there is enough water to scoot your way into the tidal creek, and take advantage of an outgoing tide. The creek winds around and eventually opens up on the west side of the island on a rocky/partially sandy shore. The ride is much like a lazy river at a water park, but in an all natural setting. Below your feet you can feel the decomposing peat and every now and then get a good whiff of the sulfur contained in it, both signs of the health of the area. Salt marshes are the most productive habitat on earth, even moreso than a rainforest. There is diversity of life everywhere, as many animals use salt marshes as a breeding and nursery ground for their young.

Because of this productivity and the absorbancy of the peat, the soil also has an incredible amount of nutrients contained in it. Humans often use this to fertilize their gardens, but the finest spas around the world also use this for mud baths! Much of the sediment was suspended in the water with each time someone touched the bottom, so we were submersed our natural mud baths for about 30 minutes. The next day, all of the girls told me how smooth and soft their skin felt. Most were very excited to get the most expensive spa treatments in such a beautiful setting, with many new friends, and for free!

For more information on Jenny's Creek, read the article http://www.prudenceconservancy.org/Images/PressReleases/News.20070406.BlountOpenSpaceGrant.pdf

Save the Bay Swim 2007

What a day for Save the Bay's Annual Swim! Last Saturday marked the 31st annual Save the Bay swim from Newport to Jamestown. It is always an amazing site to behold!

This year posed extra and new obstacles for everyone that was on the water. There was a wind of about 10-15 knots out of the west (northwest) (yes, right where the swimmers were swimming into) and quite a bit of chop in the water, probably a little over a foot. Just under 450 people were in the water swimming, a new record for Save the Bay, and many of them had kayakers assisting them. Many swimmers had difficulty with the wind and the chop, and many of the kayakers had difficulty with wind pushing their kayaks around. It was a little nerve wracking for Captain Rob and I to watch all of this from our vessel Swift, knowing that if anyone had too much trouble with the conditions we would be the ones to pull them out. We followed the lead swimmers to the finish line, while Captain Eric and crew member Dave were aboard our other larger vessel Alletta Morris following up behind the swimmers.

Conditions made it difficult for everyone involved. Even the winner of the Swim finished about 4 minutes past his usual time. In all, about 16 swimmers were escorted out of the water by us or the Coast Guard, and about 12 kayakers required asssistance. But everyone remained in good spirits for an excellent feel-good cause of the day, and everyone else crossed the finish line without problems!

There are too many individual motivational stories to give justice to each person's reason for wanting to do this swim, but they range from people overcoming overwhelming physical disabilities (from cancer to being paraplegic), to reaching milestones in their lives (just turning 30, just turning 70, just having a baby), to people just wanting to prove that they can swim 1.7 miles. It is always an inspiring day. So inspiring that I personally am hoping to swim next year instead of working!

How can you not be inspired by so many motivated people, all swimming for the better health of themselves and for Narragansett Bay?

For more information on this year's Swim event, visit http://www.savebay.org/news_06swim_final.asp?&pid=202&srcid=183