Emerald Bay Association

Reunion is Back! Mark your calendars for not one, but TWO nights this year: Labor Day Weekend, September 3-5 2022. https://emeraldbayalumni.org/reunion-2022/

Celebrating the Emerald Bay Campership Program

https://emeraldbayalumni.org/winetasting/

Celebrating the Emerald Bay Campership Program The EBA annual wine tasting event is our opportunity to showcase and support the Emerald Bay Campership Program. This program provides an opportunity for worthy Scouts to experience the character-building environment of Camp Emerald Bay.

Catalina Island eagles Thunder and Akecheta welcome 3 eaglets after several years of loss

Welcome to Catalina, young eaglets!

Catalina Island eagles Thunder and Akecheta welcome 3 eaglets after several years of loss Meet Thunder and Akecheta. They were spotted doting over their three eaglets, which hatched last week on Catalina Island's West End.

Your 2021 Camp and Program Directors are in route to their National Camp School Training to learn all the hints and tricks to best serve you this summer! Wish us luck and be patient as we respond to all your emails and phone calls throughout the week.

Urgent questions about registration, Rugged Programs, and merit badges can be directed to [email protected]

Are you missing camp as much as we’re missing you? Now is your chance to experience Camp Emerald Bay all to yourself! Bidding starts tonight at 7pm

www.campemeraldbay.org/auction

Timeline photos

Happy Father’s Day!

One of most well-known fathers and father figures throughout the Camping Department is John George. His inspiration is timeless and he is one of the most adaptable leaders we have had the pleasure to learn from here . Catch him tonight as he recounts the Legend of Samuel Prentice at our Opening Campfire

Happy Memorial Day. Today we thank all those that have given their life in service to our country.

Scouting with Nick Jonas and Kevin Hart

Clif Stewart

Scouting with Nick Jonas and Kevin Hart Nick Jonas and Kevin Hart explore the great outdoors with a troop of scouts, all while earning merit badges in a quest to get fit in the wilderness. The thir...

Tomorrow is Earth Day and our friends with Emerald Bay Outdoor Academy have some great sustainability tips to share with you! Looking forward to seeing you at 11am tomorrow!

Scouts, Nick Jonas to appear in latest episode of 'Kevin Hart: What The Fit'

Clif Stewart

Scouts, Nick Jonas to appear in latest episode of 'Kevin Hart: What The Fit' In the April 23 episode of the YouTube comedy series "Kevin Hart: What the Fit," the stand-up comedian and movie star will try his hand at Scouting.

Camp Emerald Bay

2020 Staff Applications are due October 15th.

Let us know you want to join our 2020 Summer Staff by filling out our Staff Application Part 1 by October 15th!

https://bsa-la.doubleknot.com/form/takesurvey.aspx?surveyid=69920&orgkey=1912

Gliding our way through the week because we're FIVE days away from our 30th Annual Reunion Weekend. Get your tickets now before the link expires tomorrow night.

Something fishy is going on and we think it's that you haven't gotten your tickets to our 30th annual reunion weekend yet. Don't worry. There's still time! RSVP on the event page and follow the link to purchase your tickets.

The EB Staff are waiting for YOU! Get your tickets to this year's 30th Annual Alumni Weekend!

Emerald Bay Outdoor Academy

Welcome to Emerald Bay Outdoor Academy! We are a non-profit camp located on Catalina Island. We offer residential, outdoor education experiential learning opportunities for grades 5th through 12th. You can choose from 3, 4, or 5-day trips. Our classes have an emphasis in marine sciences, leadership, and ethics. We are proud to support the largest aquarium on Catalina Island, with over 200 species. If you are interested in scheduling a trip, please contact us and we will answer all your questions. We look forward to bringing you out to beautiful Catalina Island! Thanks for visiting!

Dear Friend of Camp Emerald Bay,

The world needs Emerald Bay, and Emerald Bay needs your help.

I was a bit surprised to be asked to write this letter. In past years, I’ve read and reread letters to the EBA from people I consider to be Camp institutions. Many of their names echo across generations of staff. We’ve heard from Camp Directors and people who’ve dedicated their lives to Emerald Bay. We’ve heard from alumni who literally saved Camp from closing in the 80s and 90s. We’ve heard from people who seem as much a part of Camp as the Garibaldi.

I, on the other hand, haven’t actually set foot on Camp in over a decade. Most of you have probably never heard of me, and I’d be the first to say that my four summers on staff were fairly normal. And yet, while time and tide have carried my life far from moonlit nights and crystal waters, there’s a part of me that never left.

That’s because Emerald Bay changes lives, and changed mine for the better.

You see, in 1999, Lee Harrison hired me to be an Emerald Bay Ranger. I was sixteen, and Camp was my first job. I didn’t really know how to do much, but he hired me anyways for what was, as far as these “job” things go, a pretty good one. I led hikes, I paddled canoes, I perfected sharpie tattoos. Ranger stuff. But beneath the hood of the perfect summer gig, there was an amazing opportunity. For two summers, I worked with units to make sure that they got the most out of their time at Camp. I interfaced with adult leaders, I coached youth leaders, I planned, I problem-solved, and most importantly, I received my first opportunities to learn how to lead.

The premise of Scouting is to move young members outside of their comfort zones where real instruction can begin. I would argue that few locations are as well suited to this task as Emerald Bay. Each summer, a boat carries thousands of Scouts across the channel towards an experience. They arrive seasick, disoriented, and home sick, and after a wild week of adventure in the capable hands of the Emerald Bay staff, are delivered back to their communities better prepared to make a meaningful contribution. Camp offers an opportunity for young people to learn and grow, but it is an opportunity disguised as an experience.

It is an opportunity that is desperately needed. As demographic trends point to an aging American workforce, opportunities for young men and women to lead are deferred later and later each year. As character seems to be in retreat from public life, there is an ever-growing need for young men and women who understand that their duty to country is to help other people. Youth in America are as capable as any who have come before, but desperately need support and opportunities to cultivate character if they are going to stand at their full height.

Camp was the first platform I had to make a difference, but it was really just a step. Just a short time after my last summer at Camp, I found myself in a familiar situation leaning into a paddle trying to steer an overloaded boat full of dudes. This time, however, I wasn’t navigating the swell around Arrow Point. I was in the swamps of Florida finishing the US Army’s Ranger School. And while knowing how to handle a boat was handy, it was the leadership that I had the opportunity to practice early in life as an Emerald Bay Ranger gave me the stuff I needed to become an Army Ranger.

It is frankly impossible to imagine what my life would be like without the platform that Camp provided, and I feel desperately grateful to the generations who built and maintained Camp before me. I know that most of us feel that way, which is why it is so important that we work to ensure the next generation can take advantage of the opportunities Emerald Bay offers.

The Emerald Bay Association actively supports the ongoing efforts of Camp to produce young women and men of character. Through fellowship events, volunteer support, and financial assistance, the EBA ensures that Camp remains planted like a flag at the center of our community.

Your financial contribution this year is vital to these efforts. In addition to supporting capital projects like the Campfire Circle and the Bike Shop and providing direct support in the form of Camperships that help ensure Emerald Bay’s campers are as diverse as the community we serve, the Emerald Bay Association seeks to support future generations of campers & staffers alike through building its Endowment. The Emerald Bay Association's Endowment Fund provides a bulwark against future uncertainty and ballast to the organization. Emerald Bay is an institution supported by a broad community ready to contribute to its future.

As we close out 2018, I invite you to think back on the impact that Camp Emerald Bay has had on your life, and it is my hope that you will stand with your comrades lasting and, if you haven't done so already, support the Emerald Bay Association and its Endowment so that together we can ensure that Camp produces leaders of character for generations to come.

Donate today -- Donations made on Facebook incur no processing fees, so 100% of your donation will go to the EBA.

In Fellowship,

Loren Crowe
Cambridge, MA
Emerald Bay Staff 1999-2002
US Army 2005-2012

It is with great sadness that we report that Emerald Bay Staff Member John Mendez passed away earlier this week.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help with funeral expenses. The EBA has made a contribution on behalf of all of our members, but any additional contributions would be most welcome.

https://tinyurl.com/JohnathonMendez

--

From The Havasu News:

At 17, he was on the cusp of manhood. In recent years, the Lake Havasu High School junior took on adult responsibilities and had “family man” written all over him.

While Johnathon Mendez was not a father himself, he put his family first above everything else. In many ways, he was a typical lanky teenager. He and his buddy, Jeffrey Azar, liked to hang out, listen to rap music and play video games. Still, he was a serious young man when it came to looking after his mother and siblings. The void he has left will be felt years to come.

John, as his family and friends called him, lost his life early Tuesday morning in a single-vehicle car crash on State Route 95. As the initial shock of their loss gave way to grief on Wednesday afternoon, those who loved John the most remembered their son, friend and Boy Scout.

“He was really helpful to me and so responsible,” said John’s mother, Nina Turner. “He always did things by the book. I can’t believe this has happened.”

She takes a small measure of comfort in knowing that parts of her son were harvested to help others.

“He can keep on giving,” she said, which she believes was so in tune with John’s compassionate nature. In fact, he was waiting to turn 18 so he could donate a kidney to help his grandfather.

John’s compassion reached beyond his family, she said. As a brother to a disabled sister, he tried to help with other disabled people as well. He often volunteered with the Shining Stars program at the high school and would go with the group on field trips to help keep track of everyone.

His father, Ismael Mendez, said his eldest son had a knack for making him laugh. He also appreciated John’s stick-with-it-ness. He had been a member of Boy Scout Troop 25 in Havasu for 10 years.

John enjoyed scouting so much that he took a trip last summer with his troop to Catalina Island where the scouts have a facility, Camp Emerald Bay. The scouting staff was so impressed with John that they hired him to stay on and work at the camp for another month. He was planning to return as an employee in summer 2019.

Former Troop 25 Scoutmaster Doug Esmay said John was “a great kid. The boy did nothing wrong. I wish we’d had 20 or 30 more just like him in the troop. He had a good heart. Family and God was the center of his life, and his family’s life,” Esmay said.

A big part of scouting is learning and doing and meeting challenges. Esmay recalled one such incident that happened on Lake Havasu with John and his younger brother Ismael.

“Now you have to remember that these two boys had never been in a canoe before. So they go out on the lake together, but they keep paddling around in circles. Then the wind comes up and pushes them farther away from the shore. I’m sure it had to be scary for them.

“We finally got them back to shore and John hopped off the canoe. ‘I never want to do that again!’ John said. And I told them, ‘If you let me teach you how to do it right, I think you’ll like it’,” Esmay said.

The Mendez brothers accepted Esmay’s instructions and learned to control the boat.

“After they figured it out, we couldn’t get those boys off the canoe all day,” Esmay chuckled.

Havasu High sophomore Jeffrey Azar will miss John’s friendship. He will remember that John told great jokes, he loved playing basketball, his favorite meal was homemade spaghetti and meatballs and that John was very devoted to his girlfriend of four years, Abby Lovel.

He also spoke of John’s love for his family.

“With him, it was family first. He always stuck with them, no matter what,” said the teen.

The two had been friends since second grade. There’s also another thing about John he’ll never forget.

“I never actually saw him wear shoes. With him, it was always socks and sandals. Even when he was playing basketball down at State Beach, there John would be, running around the court in socks and sandals.”

The Mendez family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for John’s burial in Fallbrook, California.

The page can be found at https://tinyurl.com/JohnathonMendez

Tomorrow is - and Facebook and Paypal will be matching up to $7 million in donations. The matching period starts at 5am on Tuesday, so if you get up early tomorrow and donate then, there's a good chance you'll double your donation to the EBA!

We also pay no processing fees, so 100% of your donation goes to support our organization and Camp Emerald Bay.

Please plan on supporting the EBA tomorrow, by making a donation through Facebook! 😍

https://www.facebook.com/donate/2252166461735396/

Camp Emerald Bay

Camp Emerald Bay is hiring. Info below.

Camp Emerald Bay

Since Camp Emerald Bay's first year of operation in 1925, the "big eucalyptus tree" has welcomed generations of visitors from the foot of our waterfront pier. It is with great sadness that we announce the iconic tree fell last night. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. To commemorate our fallen landmark, please post any pictures you may have of the tree and tag Camp Emerald Bay.

Rest in Peace ....Big Eucalyptus

Camp Emerald Bay

Camp Emerald Bay

We fancy! New Spinnaker for the Beneteau. Did you take a picture or video during your visit to camp? We would love for you to share them with us. Visit https://woobox.com/gayvix

Blast from the past! This is the director photo from 1990, how many of these guys do you think you can spot at the annual Emerald Bay Alumni Weekend this weekend? Come join us!

Camp Emerald Bay

We welcomed our very first female Cub Scout to camp this week. What was your first Emerald Bay experience?

Camp Emerald Bay

We're back! Week one, day one!
@ Camp Emerald Bay

Camp Emerald Bay

Tiana (K-46), our bald eagle friend who made a brief appearance around Emerald Bay last winter, is back with a brand new look just in time for the . Born in a nest at the far end of the island in 2014 and now approaching her 4th birthday, she has developed nearly all of her mature plumage. In other words, she's almost completely bald 😬👴🏻

Camp Emerald Bay

New year, new edition of
For years, the Catalina Island Conservancy has carried out surveys to estimate the population size of the endemic Santa Catalina Island Fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae). In the late 90's, those surveys helped the Conservancy discover that the population was crashing with only 150 foxes left. After a substantial recovery effort spanning two decades, the most recent survey estimates the fox population at 2,048 foxes, the highest number in recent history!

Help build the new EBA Bike Shop!

Donate today to the new EBA Bike Shop in Honor of John George - and maximize your 2017 tax deduction!*

* The EBA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Please consult your tax advisor.

mailchi.mp The new bike shop will be conveniently located adjacent to the Isthmus Road, atop the old Monterey Campsite. Please make a year-end contribution today, and help us build the new EBA bike shop tomorrow!

Help us build a new Bike Shop for Camp Emerald Bay!

The new shop will be approximately 800 sq. ft and will be located adjacent to the Isthmus Road, atop the old Monterey Campsite. The scouts will be on the road right from the start of their journeys and will no longer need to raise a dust storm in Camp.

The EBA asks for your assistance in raising the $60,000 needed to build and outfit this great new addition to the Camp Program. Please go here to donate: http://emeraldbayalumni.org/bikeshop/

Get the Fall 2017 Chronicle Here! - Emerald Bay Association

Extra, extra! Get your Fall Chronicle here!

emeraldbayalumni.org The Fall 2017 Chronicle is now available!

Forbes 30 Under 30 In Energy 2018: Fueling A More Sustainable Future

Congratulations Amber Jackson! Check out the goodness one of our own alumni is doing!

forbes.com The seventh installment of our annual list might be the best yet.

Camp Emerald Bay

to those summer sunsets in the bay
📸: Dean Prophet

Camp Emerald Bay

Hoping the sun is setting on this crazy heat wave...
📸:Thad Springer