Brooklyn Bridge Park visitor Bella Spina, 6, held the seashell to her ear and listened for the ocean, her face collapsing into wonder when she heard the gourd sweetly hum.
Nearby, 6-year-old Jazmine Bacchus of Canarsie was excited to make marine arts and crafts, and later watched staff from the park’s conservation group toss a 30-foot net into the East River to catch, identify and release fish, and other ecological urchins, to celebrate the element that makes us and our world tick.
Water unleashed its star power on Saturday when the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance held its third annual City of Water Day, featuring free entertainment, education and adventure for the whole family underneath the Manhattan Bridge, including free boat tours, children’s activities, fishing, rides and just about everything associated with H2O.
The morning kicked off with water-themed arts and crafts, a water-on-the-go presentation by the Department of Environmental Protection, and a talk-tour about the sustainable design of Pier 1 at the foot of Old Fulton Street in DUMBO.
At lunchtime, the crowd feasted on a Rove the Cove guided trek to learn about the ecology of the park inlet, ending the afternoon with a Greenlandic kayak demonstration by members of QajaqUSA, who showed a variety of rolling techniques developed to recover from life-threatening situations that seal and walrus hunters encounter, such as injured hands and arms, loss of a paddle and entanglement in harpoon lines.
Storytelling by Mikhail Smirnov, a presentation by the Brighton Ballet Theater Company and music by Liova and the Kontraband capped the salute to Adam’s ale.