Troop 5 – Bronxville, NY

DAY 1: Today is the day we set sail. Our troop enjoyed a wonderful French toast breakfast. We then spent the next hour in the pool refreshing our scuba skills. The group packed up our stuff and loaded the vans to set out for the dock. The boat that I boarded on was called the Endeavor, and was sailed by Captain Kelly, and her husband led the other boat, Silent Harmony. Our first dive was at a site called Hens n’ Chicks, the coral site was named after the formation, which resembled a hen being followed by its chicks. Our depth for the dive was a round 25 feet. It had very low visibility and little marine activity. The second dive was at the same site and the outcome was no different. For dinner, Mr. Magnani, made us bratwurst and mac n’ cheese. For sleeping arrangements, I slept on the bow deck of the boat, while both Chris and Mr. Magnani and Chris Miller slept in the cockpit. Brian and Owen slept in the sleeping quarters below deck.

DAY 2: As the crew of the Endeavor slowly woke up we were all noticeably drowsy, due to the Bonnie we all had taken the previous night. For Breakfast, we had cereal, Pop Tarts and Fruit. The first dive sight was called Pickles after the cargo of a ship that was lost here. Our depth ranged from 6 feet to 30 feet. Visibility was perfect and tropical fish were in abundance. On the second dive the site was called “French”. Depth was 15-30 feet deep. One of our weights had fallen into a trench underneath the boat and was irretrievable. Some notable fish were eels as well as Balloon fish. The third dive was at a site named the “Benwood” after a ship that had sunken there. Our depth was 30-45 feet deep. The highlight of the dive was that Chris and I spotted a 7-foot long eel roaming about the deck. For dinner that night we had hamburgers with some mac n’ cheese. We then did a night dive on the same site and Chris and I spotted Goliath Grouper, which lucky for us, was asleep.

DAY 3: Waking up around 8:15 made our crew almost not have time for breakfast, but we enjoyed eggs with ham and pop tarts. Our first activity was a snorkeling adventure, in which we saw a ray as well as a nurse shark.  Our first dive site of the day was called “Conch Reef “at a depth of 10 to 30 feet. The highlights of the dive included seeing a nurse shark, ray and large sea Turtle. Our second dive at a site called  “Davy Crockers” at a depth of 20 to 40 feet, which was a big coarl head with fish in abundance. The last dive of the day was at a site called “Buddha”, at a depth of 25 feet, named after a memorial statue that was sunken their. A small fish named “Sparky” guards the statue and if your hand gets too close to the statue, he will nibble it.  That night, we docked on shore and had a great dinner at a nearby restaurant called “Chille-Willies” which had great food and fun games. We all had to sleep below deck to avoid getting eaten by all the bugs on shore.

DAY 4: Today was the one-day that we were all able to sleep in and it felt great. For breakfast we had sausages and pancakes. Everyone showered and we sailed back out to sea. We dove at site “Davis”, with a depth of 20 feet, which was over populated with small fish and Buddha, which the entire dive we spent messing with sparky the fish. The last day dive of the day was a site called “Rocky Top”, at a depth of 15 feet, which was similar to the others. Then on the boat when did something called “Fender Rodeo” which you jump in the water from the boat with a fender between your legs and see if you can balance it. Keith made it look easy but it was hard. That night we night dove at “Rocky Top” and spotted some big Hermit Crabs. It was so dark people tended to bunch up and people kept knocking other peoples regulators out of their mouths.

DAY 6: Today for breakfast, we enjoyed good tasting breakfast burritos and pop tarts. Today is the Fourth of July and our captain was acting very festive. Our first dive was at a site called “Aquarium”, at a depth of 20 feet, which had a big spotted eagle ray. The crew of my boat decided to skip the second dive to get some much-needed rest. The third dive of the day was at a site called “Grumpy Captain” at a shallow depth of 15 feet, which had some blow fish and an eel. We then came close to shore and went under a raising bridge to stop for the night and watch the fireworks.

DAY 7: Today is the last day of diving for the trip. We went back out to sea and dove the site pickles again, which had a very large sea turtle swimming around. The last dive of the day was at Hens n’ Chicks, which was murky as before, and Keith handed us our Seabase Badges to us underwater. We then hopped back on the boat, docked on shore, unloaded, took showers and loaded up the vans that brought us back to Seabase. That night, our troop took part in a competitive game of volleyball against a troop from Texas, in which we won. We all went to bed marking the end of a great trip.

Early on a cold Saturday morning on March 31, about 25 scouts and some dads headed out to the private shooting club in upstate New York called the Tamarack Shooting Reserve.  It took about an hour to get to the reserve, so we arrived around 9 a.m. and split up into 6 groups of 4 to 5 scouts.

There were 6 or 7 instructors that taught us how to shoot 22 caliber rifles and shotguns and how to handle them safely.  The instructors also launched the clays for the shotgun shooting and reloaded the rifles for us.  There were many different shotgun stations, one rifle station and one archery station.  In the afternoon the club provided lunch for us in the fancy dining room.

After lunch the groups split up again and completed those stations that they hadn’t visited in the morning.  When we were finished with shooting for the day we hiked to our campsite to set up for the night.  The hike was just about a mile and a little muddy.  After we set up our tents, some of the troop went for a nature walk, while the other half of the troop finished up their shotgun and rifle shooting merit badge with Mr. Crinieri.   As the sun was setting after dinner some boys played man-hunt and some tried to start a fire for roasting marshmallows.  We all sat around the campfire and told bad jokes and had s’mores until bedtime.

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed up all of the tents and our gear and hiked back to the club again.  We picked up where we left off the day before and shot until lunch.  Tamarack was lots of fun and many of us think it is one of the best trips.

Anthony Crinieri

On Friday, April 30, right after school, about thirty Scouts and ten dads packed up their gear in the Reformed Church parking lot and headed out to West Point.

West Point is in upstate New York, along the Hudson River, about an hour away from Bronxville.  We arrived at 4:30 because we got lost trying to find the campsite.  There were about 6,000 Scouts attending this Camporee.  We took a lot of time to set up camp because we were using our new two man tents that looked sharp!

We went to bed fairly early because we had PT (physical training) in the morning which was led by a West Point cadet who took us for a mile run and made us do lots of push-ups and sit-ups.  After PT the cooks made breakfast and then we split up into two teams of about fifteen people for the troop competition.

There were sixteen challenges, consisting of such things as pistol shooting, memory games, wilderness survival, and First Aid.  For all of the challenges, we needed leadership, memory, and strength.  At about 3:00 p.m. we were finished with our challenges and handed in our scorecards to see which Scout troops won.  At 5:00 p.m. we all had dinner and then around 8:00 p.m, we went to a big bonfire/party.  The party had a DJ and did not end until around midnight.

We got up on Sunday morning, had breakfast, and then packed for the trek out.  Once we were done packing, we went to the giant parade field dressed in our Class A uniforms and listened to the announcements of the winners of the different challenges.  Troop 5 got first place in one challenge (First Aid) and second place in two challenges (Zodiac boat race and Personal Fitness).  After the winners were announced, all the troops marched with their units around the field.  When that was over, we went back to our campsite, got our gear, and took a three-mile hike back to the cars.

Overall, the camporee was a great trip; everyone had a fun time and many Scouts want to go back next year.

Anthony Crinieri

In December, a bunch of scouts and their dads went out on the Geocaching trip to find five different caches at the Sprain Ridge Park.  Each was hard to find, some more than others, and some had funny names, such as, “Dog Bait,” which was on a fire hydrant.  We had a lot of fun, and some 2^nd year Webelos even showed up. I think the Webelos had a good time and it showed them what being a Boy Scout is like. This trip is definitely one to go on next year.

By Jason Cushman

On Friday night 18 boys and 7 dads took a five hour drive up to Camp Read.  This time it was not to go for summer camp, it was to ski!  We all stayed on the camp grounds in the handy-craft room – a little cramped, but we managed.   The next morning we had to get up at six-thirty to get ready to go skiing.  Before we went on the road to get to the mountain we went to a farmhouse a mile away to get breakfast from chef Joe(the chef from Camp Read).   After all of that, it was about eight-thirty, time to get on the road.   We had to drive 45 minutes just to get to the mountain so we arrived at nine-fifteen.  When we all got our skis and boots, we all met up to get some of the drills done for the winter snow-sports merit badge.   Then some of us spilt into groups and some of us went to take a lesson.  We skied and snowboarded for a long time and then at twelve o’clock we all met up to have bagged lunches that were packed for us by chef Joe.  When we were all finished, we spilt back up into groups and skied and snowboarded some more.   The really advanced group even went on the 2^nd steepest trail on the east coast called Lies.  We were going to go on the steepest trail on the east coast, but it was too icy so it was closed.

Gore Mountain has the biggest vertical slope on the east coast.  We skied and snowboarded long and hard that day and didn’t leave the mountain until three o’clock in the afternoon.  We then got back to the cabin at about four o’clock where we showered, got dressed, and got ready for dinner.  We drove to the farmhouse and ate dinner there.  Later , we watched the movie Anchorman, and had ice-cream sundaes before hitting the hay at 10:00.

On Sunday morning we got up at 6:30 and started packing up all of our stuff, so we could leave immediately after we went skiing.  After we finished our morning’s merit badge requirements, we split up again into groups. We skied until twelve o’clock and then returned all of our rental gear and headed home. Overall I think it was one of the most fun trips of the year.

By Anthony Crinieri