Sunday July 24th - We boarded the boat and was on our way to explore George's (our first stop) and Lovell's island. George's island is dominated by a civil war era historic fort - Fort Warren which is reputable for its ghost - The Lady in Black. Upon arrival at George's island, we grouped together for a briefing of the day's development and what we were to expect for the day. We then proceeded for a tour of that island but not before listening to the story of the Lady in Black by one of the Rangers. It was now time to test our nerves by visiting the "Black Hole". By golly! need I say more. That passage is pitch Black and it was a relief to get out of it and into the open. We walked around the grounds and could see some other islands, one which was very conspicuous because of the unique white egg like tanks that stood next to each other. That was Deer Island a waste treatment plant and it treats 350 million gallons of sewage per day. That plant separates solids and liquid waste through an outfall pipe which empties the treated water into the Bay.

We arrived at Lovell's island about 11:40 a.m. ready to search the tide pools. Ranger Red gave us a short briefing on what to expect and we were on our way. The tide was low coming in and it was perfect for exploring. I found lots of periwinkles all over the place. Among the findings also were Asian shore crabs, blue mussels, green crabs, Hermit crabs and Lady Slippers. There were also rock barnacles, which looked smaller than those found at the dock, kelp, seaweed that was green with fine, hairy like structures called green sea fern and rockweed. The blade of the rockweed is broad and flat with a strong mid-rib dividing into y-shaped forks. It has pea shaped air bladders which pop when you step on them.

After our lunch break we went looking for snails. We found two on the same tree. They had different colors but the same stripe on the shell. That was the beginning of our snail hunt. A group of four were found huddled together paying no attention to the chatter we had going around them. From then on we were spotting them easier, - look one, and here is another one.

The sides of the path were strewn with black berries but they were not ready for eating. Maybe the weather has hampered their ability to be ripe at this time of year. We trudged back to the docks after a day filled with fulfilled expectations and took the ferry back to Boston. It was a very fun filled, interesting day.