Troop 104 went to Camp Emerald Bay in Catalina Island for our 2022 summer camp. We met at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Saturday, July 26th at 5:00am. We took care of some final paperwork, loaded our backpacks into carpool cars, and said goodbye to our families. We were on our way to Berth 86 in San Pedro to wait for our ferry. When we arrived in San Pedro, we parked next to the Battleship USS Iowa. We unloaded our bags and anxiously waited for the ferry.


Once the ferry arrived, all the Scouts grabbed their backpacks and waited to board the ferry. Our backpacks were stacked among all other Troop bags. The ferry ride was for the most part a smooth ride, so Scouts used that time to get some more rest.

When we arrived at Camp Emerald Bay we met Nate, our camp ranger. Camp Emerald Bay names their camp sites by California beaches, our Troop was assigned the Santa Monica site. Nate gave us a rundown of the days schedule and introduced us to five provisional Scouts. A provisional Scout is a Scout that is at camp without a unit. Two of the provisional scouts were from Troop 2000 in Carlsbad, one was from Troop 206 in Menlo Park, and two were from Troop 636 in Rancho Santa Margarita. Our Troop quickly made friends with everyone.

One of the first things everyone had to do was take the BSA swimming test to identify if you are a non-swimmer, beginner, or swimmer. All Scouts successfully completed the 100 yards, and everyone was marked as a swimmer. We were especially proud of our youngest Scout who was nervous at first but he quickly overcame it and jumped into the water.


All the adults attended a Leaders Orientation Meeting and they worked on submitting required forms to the camp. We also had a fire drill and a camp fire hosted by the staff.

Our Senior Patrol Leader worked with all the Scouts to create a waiter schedule. Waiters help set up and clean up for our three meals. Mr. Martinez and Mrs. Rodriguez reviewed the merit badge schedule and class location with all Scouts, so they knew where to go.
We ended our first night and we were excited for a weeklong of merit badge classes and Troop activities.
Monday (Day 2)
The Troop woke up at 6:30am for the daily flag ceremony, morning announcements, and breakfast.
Scouts began their different Merit Badge classes. We had Scouts working on earning Kayaking, Canoeing, Shotgun Shooting, Rifle Shooting, Pioneering, Art, Leatherwork, Nature, Swimming, Geology, Wilderness Survival, and Snorkeling.


Also, Mr. Martinez and Mrs. Rodriguez took some adult leader training classes, but the most interesting one for them was Nap on Safely. Yes, that is right, a training on how to nap safely.

The Scouts played frisbee with other Troops until it was time to head back to our campsite. By the end of the day all the Scouts were tired, but they still had enough energy to play some card games before calling it a night.
Tuesday (day 3)
We started our day by once again waking up at 6:30am. All the Scouts were tired from the day before. Some found a spot outside their tent to get a few more minutes of sleep before starting a new day.

Our Scouts by this time were very familiar with the camp and had made new friends with other Scouts and camp staff.
Scouts continued to work on their merit badges.


The Scouts went snorkeling as a Troop activity. The water was clear, and they even got to see an octopus.


Our Ranger Nate also arranged for our Troop to have our dinner by the beach (waterfront). We cooked hamburgers and enjoyed watching the brown pelicans catching fish. We also met another Troop from Arizona.


Our Scouts returned to our Santa Monica site and we were visited by Ranger Nate and the Troop from Arizona that we had met earlier that night. The Scouts played another card game call Mafia, a card game with role playing.
Wednesday (Day 4)
Scouts continued to work on earning their merit badges.


Once our Troop had free time, all the Scouts went kayaking and enjoyed themselves out in the water. One of our Scouts said that they saw a sting ray swimming under them.


Our second Troop activity for the day was a bike ride to Inspiration Point where we had some great views of the camp, and we got to see the sunset. Our ride to Inspiration Point was a little tough since it was uphill, but our return was so much fun since we were able to ride fast downhill. A ride that everyone should do.


We headed back to our Santa Monica campsite and called it an early night since the next day was going to be full of adventures.
Thursday (Day 5)
War Canoe Day!!!
War Canoe is an overnight program in which all Troops participate in. The Troops race canoes from Emerald Bay to Parson Landing which is about three miles. Each Troop takes their food, water, and some cooking gear in their canoes. Troops cook their lunch and dinner, and then sleep out under the stars at night on the beach.
Our Troop woke up at 5:45am since everyone needed to go with their overnight backpack to be ready by 6:00am. We ate breakfast at Emerald Bay and as soon as we were done, our Troop was assigned a canoe and off we went to Parson Landing.


Our Troop was the first to arrive at Parson Landing, clearly overtaking the rest of canoes.
Once the canoes arrived at Parson Landing, all the canoes were moved towards the back of the beach. This meant everyone needed to help lift and move the canoes.
We were assigned our sleeping site and we began taking our gear, food, and drinks to our site. Everyone took a break since Scouts were tired from the canoe ride and lifting the canoes. However, soon after we had just started our break, the morning Troop activities were open. The Troop had the choice of hiking, snorkeling, or swimming. It was quickly decided by the Scouts that a hike was not going to be done so they discussed the other options and decided to go swimming.
Once Scouts got in the water, they quickly forgot that they were tired as they swam and just had fun.

The morning Troop activities were called to a close and Troops were asked to head back to their sleeping site to make lunch. Our lunch was going to be simple, ham sandwiches. We cut some tomatoes and prepped the meat, cheese and bread to create an assembly line so everyone could make their sandwich the way they liked it. We also had some green apples and granola bars for dessert.
Two of our Scouts as part of their requirement for earning the Wilderness Survival merit badge needed to build a shelter. The two Scouts got to work finding things they could use and built their shelter.

The afternoon Troop activities were open and this time we only had the option to either go snorkeling or swimming. The Troop had so much fun swimming that it was selected again. The Scouts spent about 3 hours swimming and playing games in the water.


Once the afternoon Troop activities came to an end, we headed back to our site to start cooking our dinner. Our dinner for the night was a Dutch oven beef stew. The Scouts started by first lighting up the coals, and letting them burn while they prepared the meal. All the Scouts helped cut vegetables and placed the vegetables and meat in the Dutch oven. The Dutch oven was placed over coals and some coals were placed on top of the Dutch oven. Our food now needed to cook for one hour. We cleaned our knifes and plates and then started making our dessert. Our dessert was a Dutch oven peach cobbler. The Scouts remembered how Mr. Nizamian cooked the peach cobbler and they easily set it up and started cooking it by placing it on top of our beef stew and adding coals on the lid so it can cook for 30 minutes.
The Dutch oven beef stew was a hit! All the Scouts had several servings until the pot was empty. It was time for dessert. Our peach cobbler was a hit. The pot was left empty, and we even had some Scouts scraping for crumbs. We think that part of the reason everything just tasted so good was us sitting together, laughing, hearing the waves, and watching the sunset.


Before we knew it, it was time to call it a night since we needed to get up at 4:30am. At first all the Scouts found their individual spots to sleep on but slowly and little by little they all found themselves setting up their sleeping bags next to each other.


We had a clear night and could see so many starts as we fell asleep.
Friday (Day 6)
Everyone woke up at 4:30am. We had a good night, and the weather was perfect. The best part was that no one was cold. We started our day by gathering our belongings and we slowly made our way back to the canoes. Our Troop was picked to lead the canoes back to Camp Emerald Bay.
Once we arrived at camp everyone helped store the canoes.


Once we finished storing the canoes, everyone hurried back to camp to get ready for our last day of merit badges. The Scouts worked on
their last requirements.
While the Scouts were in their merit badge classes, Mr. Martinez and Mrs. Rodriguez competed in an adult leader Dutch oven peach cobbler cookoff, although they didn’t win they still think their cobbler was the best.
Aquacade is a competition in the water with other Troops. Our Troop competed in the relay that required canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and running.


After Aquacade, we returned back to camp to play a card game and relax till it was time for dinner. After dinner Scouts just had a good time by playing football, frisbee, and corn hole.
We attended the last campfire of the week and started reflecting on what a great time we had been having. We returned to our campsite and started to pack.
Saturday (Day 7)
We got up at 6:00am and packed all our items. We circled up around our newest friends and talked about the great memories and friends we had made. Many of our Scouts talked about how they would like to return as volunteer staff.
We had breakfast and soon after the boat arrived. Although we were happy that we were going home we were all little sad to leave as well. Until our next camping adventure…..
You can view more of our photos of our 2022 Camp Emerald Bay trip on our Photo Gallery.