Search Results

On a cool day last spring, Coalition Outdoor Exploration Coordinator Rebecca Vasa stood in front of a group of New Bedford fourth graders at the Sea Lab Marine Science Center and asked a seemingly simple question: “Who here has visited Buzzards Bay before?”

Without fail, whenever Vasa asks her Sea Lab students this question, only one or two students raise their hands. The fact is, most of these students have been to many locations around Buzzards Bay — but they have never truly connected their local beach, pond, or stream with Buzzards Bay, or with the marine ecosystem right in their backyards.

Monument Beach Marina in Bourne provides a one-stop destination for boaters to explore the harbors and shores of upper Buzzards Bay. This town-owned marina lies next to a beach, a public boat ramp, and a community boating center, making it a perfect launching point for all types of on-the-water fun.

Find yourself immersed in nature along Fairhaven’s LeRoy L. Wood School Trail, designed to engage young explorers’ curiosity. This short path through rich woods leads you past a vernal pool and along the edge of a bird-filled salt marsh on Priests Cove.

Sun-dappled forest surrounds six still ponds at Simmons Mill Pond Management Area in Little Compton, maintained for hunting by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Known for its hand-lettered educational signs, Simmons Mill is also popular among hikers, paddlers, and young explorers curious about the natural world.

Samantha Ladd has explored all over the world by paddle: from Colorado’s white waters to the aqua blue of the Caribbean, across the Atlantic in Greece, Portugal, and Croatia, and along the West Coast from Mexico to Washington state. Yet Ladd, the co-founder of Osprey Sea Kayak Adventures, decided to put down roots in Westport, where she spends her days exploring and guiding paddlers among the rivers, harbors, salt marshes, and exposed shores of Buzzards Bay.

“We are so lucky here, truly,” Ladd says. “We have so much to explore. It’s more of a question of, where can’t I go?”