The children teetered and tottered across the shoreline, over the smooth, scattered stones off the Planting Island causeway on Saturday.
They looked under cold, wet rocks, beneath seaweed, and in the crevasses of the rocks for shells, crabs, starfish, and other treasures under the watchful eyes of the adults who were more concerned with the cold than were the children.
Most people in the Tri-Town region stepped outside that morning, pleased with the unseasonable mildness of the late December air, and perhaps decided to leave their gloves and scarves at home that morning. However, most of the participants of the Buzzard’s Bay Coalition-sponsored event were taken by surprise when they arrived at the Planting Island causeway in Marion and were met by a driving, relentless ocean wind that brought a chill that was almost overwhelming to the senses.
After the six participating children were bundled up a bit more warmly, the two BBC volunteers, Colleen Hamilton and Gracie Mullen-Thompson, handed them paper necklaces made of different shapes as a three-dimensional list of sorts to guide the children through the scavenger hunt.
The search for objects shaped like squares, triangles, circles, and stars was hastened by the biting cold wind, with parents and guardians ushering the kids along the beach a little faster than anticipated, unsettled by the cold, which seemed to be of little concern to the kids who were engrossed in their hunt for treasures.
The treasure hunters gathered up conch shells, pebbles, and small bits of seashells – to be made later into an ocean-themed mobile in the comfort of their warm homes – and dropped them into wind-blown plastic bags.
The wind proved to be an obstacle, but the children were determined to accomplish what they had set out to do, and the smiles on their red-cheeked faces were proof that no one was discouraged.
The adults shivered and continued remarking on the shocking cold while the kids shouted out, “Look what I found!” and “Ooh, look at that one!”
Claire Barn, age 10, found everything on the scavenger hunt list and headed back to the parking area to retrieve her kit, complete with twine and bamboo sticks, to make her mobile when she went home.
“It was really, really cool,” said Claire about the treasure hunt, no pun intended.
The December 28 event was one of two ‘Family Discovery Days’ offered by the BBC as part of their Bay Discovery programs which are “designed for explorers of all ages to get outside and discover Buzzards Bay.”
More information about upcoming Coalition events can be found at their website www.savebuzzardsbay.org/BayAdventures.
By Jean Perry
