I don’t really remember, but I think I first went to Castle Island two years ago when I caught a random bus in front of my school, wondering where it would take me. I got off the bus when I saw water, figuring, not falsely, that I was somewhere along Boston’s coastline.
What Castle Island stand out from all the other places that I like going to is that it is always full of people.

Castle island, like Deer Island to the north of it, is not a true island. It is a peninsula that juts out from South Boston with an old fort standing on it. The whole island looks like a crescent which surrounds Pleasure Bay. On windy days, as many as twenty kitesurfers flood the bay, and on calm days swim teams challenge themselves to swim from one end to the other. Because Pleasure Bay is alike to many lakes in inland Boston, the island is a favorite spot for many joggers, walkers, and bicyclists. In the summer, families come out there to swim, or eat while watching their children play.

One of my favorite things about Castle Island are the planes that land close by. On most days, planes fly directly overhead much closer than I see them anywhere else before their landing in Logan since one of the airport’s longest runways is directly behind the peninsula. In the future I want to design things that will allow people to fly, and being such, planes have always fascinated me. Whenever I go to the island I am reminded of that dream and can spend a long time just looking up at the sky.

However the planes I see at Castle Island aren't my favorite thing about the place. If I were to paint a picture of Castle Island, my first thought would be to paint myself standing there, with the Boston harbor and its islands behind me, a hint of a rainbow in the background with grey rain clouds, and a plane just overhead taking up a lot of space on the canvas. However a much better picture would be looking over the peninsula at the people who were there exclaiming

‘Look there are two rainbows!’

to each other, which I was able to notice thanks to them, the people who go there on windy days to kitesurf, the joggers, walkers, loiterers, swimmers, and families who come there every day. My favorite thing about the island is that unlike the grim people I see on the trains and busses, who never seem look around them, the people I see at Castle Island are able to take time out of their days and schedules to come there to simply enjoy the view. I am reminded that although they may look grim in the mornings or evenings, each person I meet is living in a dream of their own.