Marine Science Specialty Week

Enjoy our hands-on, educational programming lead by our uniquely qualified and experienced team of naturalists and biologists

Have Fun and Learn At Camp

Fresh and saltwater ecology, a lobster boat excursion, a marine lab with touch tanks and a shark dissection

Marine Science Specialty Week

The Marine Science Specialty Week offers campers the exciting opportunity to enjoy our hands-on, educational programming lead by our uniquely qualified and experienced team of naturalists and biologists.  Class offerings will include fresh and saltwater ecology, a lobster boat excursion, a marine lab with touch tanks and a shark dissection, and much more. All this is offered in addition to the awesome activities for which Bournedale has long been known.
Freshwater Ecology Hands-on Training

The freshwater program involves a thorough examinations of Great Herring Pond, the largest of 376 freshwater bodies located in Plymouth, MA.  These will include analysis of the chemistry of this glacial lake, viewing the flora and fauna, and the dynamics of the herring run, which in the Spring has alewife come from the Cape Cod Canal to spawn in the pond.

Ocean & Tidelands Training 

The saltwater class visits Ellisville State Harbor, which hosts several unique ecosystems: a barrier beach, saltmarsh estuary, upland fields, and a deciduous forest. While enjoying the spectacular view from Plymouth Bay to Provincetown, students will explore these habitats and learn about the abundant marine life and the value the area has to the world around them.

Go Lobstering!

Captain Paul Quintal turns his “Lobster Tales” boat into a floating classroom for Camp Bournedale.  With over 25 years of commercial fishing experience, Capt. Paul teaches about the resource of lobsters from a viewpoint of it’s viability as a resource, as well as the biology and life cycle of the crustacean. Campers will become deckhands, rolling up their sleeves and hauling traps, sizing and banding lobsters, all while on a tour of historic Plymouth Harbor.

Onsite Marine Lab

Our in-house Marine Lab boasts a touch tank teeming with local sea life, an exoskeleton and shell table, authentic fossils of prehistoric marine life, and the actual shark dissection. The dissection is of the spiny dogfish a 27” shark, and students are encouraged take part in the dissection by making cuts and handling organs.  The anatomy is also compared and contrasted to that of the human body and systems.

Whale Watching Trip

A highlight of the program will be a whale watch on the Captain John Boats. With a marine biologist onboard, the trip will visit the Stellwagen Banks feeding sites for humpback and finback whales. It is not unusual to view a pod of 6 to 10 whales coming close to the bat.

The Marine Science Specialty Week is an exciting programming addition to all the thrilling activities already available on a daily basis at Camp Bournedale!

Enjoy Everything the Camp Has To Offer

All Camp sessions also include 57 different Camp activities including, water-sports on out beautiful lake, arts & crafts, tennis, basketball, soccer, street hockey, football, waterskiing, tubing, wake-boarding, sailing, kayaking, marine science, rocketry and more!

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