[Jim in CT]

So every trip to the cape, my now 11-year-old son and I, spend a day on a lobsterboat with a great captain I know. This year, instead of doing the usual tourist excursion (casually hauling 15 traps), the captain asked if my son wanted to do a day's real work, more like what he normally does. My son loved the idea, so we spent 6 hours on his boat, hauled 105 traps. My son did a lot of baiting the traps as the came up, and banded the lobsters that were keepers. And he regularly hosed down the boat.

It would be a huge understatement to say he loved it. We will try to get back to P-town to repeat the experience with this guy. But he really, really wants to do it again, he's truly drawn to it. He can't bear the thought of only doing it once a year.

So if anyone here knows of a lobsterman (anywhere in New England) who might be willing to take us out for a day, we'd get there at any time of day, work hard, listen to instruction, and tell funny stories. We'd work all day for free, and I can throw the captain a few bucks.

I caught my son (11 years old!) searching craigslist ads, looking for lobster boats that need a deckhand. I'm not sure how he was planning to commute to whatever site he lined up for himself, or how he was planning on factoring school into the equation, but he would figure something out. But I'd love to encourage his interest.