This July, 211 young people from Somerville’s Mystic Learning center, Somerville YMCA and Somerville High School- Summer Success, Welcome Project and Clarendon Hill Towers set sail to the Boston Harbor Islands on Bay State Cruise Company’s flagship Provincetown II on a free All Access Boston Harbor cruise hosted by Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

The youth and teens enjoyed a day filled with fun, fishing, environmental exploration and songs and stories of the sea.

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s free All Access Boston Harbor program is a series of free day trips that bring local youth organizations out to Spectacle and Georges Island where they have an opportunity to learn the history of Boston Harbor and the harbor cleanup, explore everything the island has to offer, and enjoy Boston’s spectacular urban natural resources.

“What a great way to spend a summer day,” said Tani Marinovich, President of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. “The Harbor Islands are truly Boston’s treasure, and we’re certain that the 230,000 kids and families that have attended these free trips since we began them in 2002 would agree.”

Over the summer Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s free All Access Boston Harbor program will connect more than 10,000 youth and teens from more than 120 youth development and community organizations to the Boston Harbor Island National and State Park.

The day starts with an interactive history of the harbor, complete with storytelling, art and a touch-tank at the Rockland Trust Pavilion. From there, the groups make their way to the dock at the World Trade Center to board the boat and take a short ferry ride out to the islands, where they have the chance to try fishing, hiking, sports and beach exploration with Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s Youth Environmental Education staff. The groups enjoy lunch on the island and return to the docks by early afternoon.

In 2019, Save the Harbor will host 26 free All Access Boston Harbor cruises that will connecting young people from all Boston neighborhoods and 43 cities and towns across the region, to the Boston Harbor Islands State and National Park. For many, these trips are their first opportunity to connect to the harbor islands and experience the marine environment firsthand.

Save the Harbor’s free All Access Boston Harbor cruises are made possible with Leadership Grants from the Cronin Development, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and Bay State Cruise Company.

Save the Harbor is also grateful for Leadership Grants from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, The Boston Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, and Yawkey Foundation

Save the Harbor is grateful for Partnership Grants from Boston Properties – Atlantic Wharf, The Daily Catch Seaport, Davis Family Charitable Foundation, Eastern Salt Company, Inc., Engie, Fan Pier – The Fallon Company, John Hancock Financial Services, The HYM Investment Group, LLC, The Llewellyn Foundation, Massachusetts Environmental Trust, Massachusetts Port Authority, Mass Humanities, National Grid Foundation, P & G Gillette, Lawrence J. and Anne Rubenstein Charitable Foundation, William E. Schrafft & Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, and Vertex.

Save the Harbor also appreciates Stewardship Grants from Anonymous, Forrest Berkeley &, Marcie Tyre Berkley, Camp Harbor View Foundation, Circle Furniture , Comcast, Copeland Family Foundation, The Cricket Foundation, Cruise Industry Charitable Foundation, Davis Family Charitable Foundation, Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Charitable Trust, Enbridge, Tom & Lucinda Foley, Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation, Kershaw, Liberty Bay Credit Union, Lovett Woodsum Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Nicholson Foundation, RMR Real Estate Services, Rockland Trust Pavilion, Clinton H. & Wilma T. Shattuck Charitable Trust, Skanska, and Tishman Speyer.

Save the Harbor would also like to thank their Program Funders Andus Baker & Rowan Murphy Family Fund, MA Attorney General’s Office Healthy Summer and Youths Jobs Program, The Paul and Edith Babson Foundation, Beacon Capital Partners, LLC, Cell Signaling Technology, East Boston Savings Bank, Highland Street Foundation/West End House, Legal Sea Foods, Miss Wallace M. Leonard Foundation, George Lewis – Haven Trust, Pabis Foundation, South Boston Community Development Foundation, Abbot & Dorothy H. Stevens Foundation, and TD Charitable Foundation.

Save the Harbor would also like to extend their gratitude to their Supporters 3A Marine Service, The Bay State Federal Savings Charitable Foundation, Andrew Calamare & Marianne Connolly, Cresset Group, Diversified Automotive, Goulston & Storrs PC, Mass Bay Credit Union, Massachusetts Marine Educational Trust, Randy Peeler & Kate Kellogg, Matthew J. & Gilda F. Strazzula Foundation, UDR, and Kyle & Sara Warwick

Special thanks as well to everyone who joined on the cruise, and the hundreds of individual donors for their generosity and to their partners at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and the YMCA of Greater Boston for their support.

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is a non-profit public-interest environmental advocacy organization for Boston Harbor, whose mission is to restore and protect Boston Harbor, the Boston Harbor Islands, our region’s beaches and the marine environment and share them with the public for everyone to enjoy.

For more information about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, visit their website at www.savetheharbor.org, their blog Sea, Sand & Sky at www.blog.savetheharbor.org or follow their social @savetheharbor.