This morning it was chilly in the cabin. We had kept most of the windows open and the temperature has dropped overnight. After breakfast, we hauled anchor and went over to Westport Marina to pumpout and buy some ice. By 9:30, we were on our way. It was another sunny day with absolutely no wind. We motored to the Vermont side of the lake into Otter Creek. Then slowly traveled 7 miles through the narrow winding creek to the town of Vergennes. They love boaters to visit and have built two docks with free power and water for the boaters. In addition, they've recently added free wifi to the docks. It is another free dock with a 48 hour max stay limit (donations accepted). When we arrived, there was only one sailboat on the dock. Monica (said with a French accent), from the sailboat, caught our lines and gave us the scoop on where everything was in town. Soon a group of three French Canadian powerboats arrived. Later, other boats came and the docks were full. Monica said that if the docks get full, people raft up with each other, even if you don't know them. We chatted a bit with our Canadian neighbor who could speak English, John Mark. He is part of a group of 3 boats (8 people) traveling together and is the only English speaker in the group. It was the first day of their holiday period and they started partying at noon. This location might be one of the most scenic "anchorages" that we have ever stayed in. Today's back porch view are of three 30ft waterfalls. At 13:00, Matt and I decided to take a walk into town. Of course, town was a mile up a steep hill. We checked out the local businesses on Main St. then we went to the local ice cream shop, the Main Scoop. We ordered a dish of ice cream to share (ice cream #28). The serving portion was very generous and the ice cream was yummy. Our next stop was to Shaw's to pick up a few grocery items. We were running low on some of the staples ...OJ, cereal, chicken and cheez-its. We carried our groceries the 1.5 miles back to the boat. At the town dock, John Mark and his friends were still partying hard. We decided to get a pizza for dinner. I called Luigi's Pizza and asked to have it delivered. After three telephone calls, we got the pizza. Luigi's didn't know where the town boat dock was and I didn't know the address of the boat dock, but the pizza delivery driver did manage to find us. We ate the pizza on our back deck while we viewed the waterfalls. Another boater from Florida came over to chat. Phil was a retired college professor from Florida and is sailing solo on his pocket sailboat which he trailered up here. It was now 8:30pm and our Canadian friends showed no sign of stopping. They were singing, dancing and having a grand time. They were fun to watch and kept us amused. As it began to get dark, colored lights lit up the waterfalls. At 9:00pm, another boater, who was staying at the town dock on the other side of the creek, started yelling at the partying Canadians to turn off the music and to be quiet. That boater and John Mark were yelling at each across the creek. The boater was threatening to call the police. The Canadians ended up going into one of the boats with a/c and partying there. I'm curious to see what kind of shape they'll be in tomorrow morning. We plan to spend another day here in Vergennes. Trip Log-Day 88: 12nm, 2.25 hours, Trip Total: 1748 nm, 285 hours, 439 gal diesel. Going up Otter Creek. A solar farm The colorful waterfalls at night.
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We woke up to another beautiful day after a restful night. The temperature last night was perfect for sleeping. We had breakfast on the back porch and then spent some time reading and surfing the internet. In the afternoon, we took the dinghy to Westport Marina's dinghy dock. We had heard that they charge a minimum fee to dock, but they didn't charge us. Once we were tied up, we did a walk-about of the town. Westport is an old lake resort community. Tonight is their weekly Thursday night music at Ballard Park event. Since Ballard Park is adjacent to the anchorage, maybe we'll be able to hear it on the boat. After our walk, we were very hot and there was no ice cream to be found. So we took our new pool chairs out of the box and blew them up. Lounging in the lake was a great way to cool off. We were in the water at least a half hour and never got cold, so I don't think the water is nearly as chilly as the official temperature indicates. After happy hour, Matt barbecued chicken for dinner. After dinner, we enjoyed the serenity of the lake at sunset with a glass wine. Tomorrow, we move on to Vergennes. A walk-about in Westport.
At 7:30, it was time for the boys at the summer camp to wake up. First they blew a train whistle, then 10 minutes later, another train whistle, then five minutes later a cannon fired and a bugle played.
It was a very foggy morning. We could see Cole Island next too us, but it was too foggy to see the summer camp on shore. After we had breakfast, I read our new cruising guide. Not only does it describe the various anchorages, it outlines the history that has taken place on the lake. At 10:30, we decided to leave Cole Bay. The anchor came up with only clay on it...no weeds and no tree limbs. We crossed the lake to the Vermont side and entered Arnold's Bay. This is where Benedict Arnold beached and burned his flagship, Congress, after the Battle of Valcour against the British. From there he went overland to Crown Point. That was before he was a traitor. We had been hoping to get an internet signal in this bay but it was so weak that it was unusable. Plus, there was a water treatment plant on the shore, so we moved on. Our next possibile anchorage was at Button Bay. As we cruised toward it, I read the description from the cruising guide. It stated that it was a "fair weather anchorage" with absolutely no protection from south winds and it was weedy. With so many good anchorage options on the lake, we decided to pass on this one, too. Weeds have become a big problem in the lake since the zebra mussels arrived in 1993. At first, the weeds were only in the southern part of the lake, but now they can be found anywhere the water is less than 12 or so feet deep. We crossed the lake again and decided to go to Westport, NY. This small town is a popular place to stop on the lake. We anchored in 18-20ft water with the anchor catching on our first attempt. Matt went to work on the dinghy engine. He wanted to run it in fresh water to flush the salt out. When he was doing that, he noticed a small fuel leak and was going to fix it. While he did that, I was being entertained by the Canadian sailboats that had arrived and were now anchoring near us. It feels like we're in France with French being spoken on the nearby boats. It's a good opportunity for me to review my French lessons. It is the beginning of the Canadian's summer vacation break and we expect to see many more French Canadians in the next several weeks. I still wasn't getting any internet from my network, so for the heck of it, I opened the wifi settings and Westport Marina was there. I clicked on their guest wifi and it worked! No password was required. So we spent a good part of the afternoon on the internet catching up on emails and researching questions that we have had for the last 24hours. I have started writing down questions that I want to Google, so when we have internet, I can look them up. There was no breeze and it was approaching 90°. After our dinner of leftover soup and chicken sandwiches, I couldn't resist the urge to jump in the lake and cool off. Tomorrow, we plan to stay here and explore the town of Westport. Trip Log-Day 85: 6 nm, 1.25 hours, Trip Total: 1737 nm, 282.75 hours, 439 gal diesel. This morning, we woke up to blue skies, sunshine and a light breeze.
After having our breakfast on the back porch, we bought some ice, filled up our drinking water containers, then topped off Blue Moon's water tank. Later, I was sitting in the salon and noticed another bird enter the boat. I yelled at it and it flew away. It was 10:00 and we were ready to leave the dock, but we had to figure out how we were going to accomplish that. We were in a narrow canal facing the wrong direction. There was a Sea Ray powerboat across from us, a boat in front and one behind us and now there was a large trawler docked at the entrance of the canal with his bow sticking 12+ ft out into the canal. We discussed our options. We could back out, but Blue Moon doesn't like to back straight and with the bow of the trawler on one side of the entrance, a powerboat on the other and the wind beginning to blow, Matt wasn't sure he wanted to attempt it. There wasn't enough room to turn Blue Moon around using the engine, but we thought that we might be able to turn her manually so that she was facing out. We do it all the time at home and since it was a floating dock, it would probably be easier. We accomplished it with no problem and avoided hitting the boat across the narrow canal. After we left the dock, we headed across the lake to Cole Island. It was a pleasant ride with a gentle southern breeze blowing, so we took the scenic route. We went across the lake to Port Henry then cruised up the NY side of the lake to Cole Island. Our first time boating on Lake Champlain was 32 years ago. We were novice boaters and had rented a houseboat with another couple (Sylvia and David). The first night of the charter, we anchored at Cole Island and had a pleasant evening. The next morning, we couldn't get the anchor up. Both Matt and David were on the bow pulling and pulling, then finally the anchor came up. It had wrapped around a 12-15ft tree limb which they also pulled up from the bottom. Matt was only 34 years old at the time, and it was a job for the two of them to get the anchor up. Hoping that history doesn't repeat itself. We picked out a spot and dropped the anchor but it didn't catch. We tried again and this time it caught right away. We were now officially in the chill mode and what better way to start a "vacation on the lake" than to go swimming. The lake temperature was suppose to be 68° but it didn't feel that cold, so I jumped in. The first 4 feet was a good temperature, but the deeper water was very cold. While in the water, I brushed the boat's waterline, then washed my hair and bathed. I was able to coax Matt into the water to join me. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading, relaxing and napping. After happy hour, Matt cooked breaded pork chops on the grill. He did this by putting the pork chops in an 8 inch cake pan, then placing that pan on the bottom section of a springform pan, which was on the grill. It worked. They were delicious and it didn't heat up the inside of the boat. Trip Log-Day 85: 7 nm, 1.5 hours, Trip Total: 1731 nm, 281.5 hours, 439 gal diesel. It was another pleasant night at anchorage...no wind, no waves and cool temperatures.
We were suppose to have thunderstorms in the evening, so we wanted to find a fairly protected spot for the night. We decided to anchor at Crown Point. After a couple hours of motoring, we arrived there and dropped the anchor. As we backed up, we saw lots of weeds around us. So we picked up the anchor and went a half mile to the other side of the lake. It also had weeds. So we went to option #2 and called Champlain Bridge Marina to get a slip for the night. As we made our way into the marina, we saw that the docks were primarily for small run-about power boats. There wasn't much room to maneuver between the docks. I expressed our concerns to the marina employee stating that we didn't have a bow thruster and he suggested another spot for us. Matt guided Blue Moon next to the dock in between two cruisers. As soon as we were tied up, it began to thunder and rain. It continued all afternoon and into the evening. The marinas up here are more expensive than in Florida, and their season is very short. This marina had no laundry, no restaurant, wifi costs $10, no water at the slips, and no one to catch our lines all for $2/ft. It is primarily for the locals who want to keep the boats at the marina and to store them in the winter. And that is why we can came here, to check them out. The plan is that we are going to leave Blue Moon up here and use her as a traveling summer cottage. We plan to buy another boat to use in Florida. When there was a break in the rain, we went up to pay and to talk to them about keeping Blue Moon there for the winter. We discussed the storage options with Brian and his mum (this is a family operation). When we compared the inside (unheated) storage verses outside storage (with shrink wrap) there was only $100 difference. We will bring Blue Moon back here on Sept 9th. They will winterize all the systems, store her inside and put a dust tarp over her for about $1700 (that's nine months of storage). While we were there, we also purchased a cruising guide of Lake Champlain/St. Lawrence region and something called "Slimy Grimy". We're hoping that it's a more environmentally friendly way to get rid of the tannin stains on the hull instead of "On and Off". Back on the boat, we went to work on the internet. While Matt contacted BoatUS insurance about the change of homeport for Blue Moon which cut the yearly rate in half, I bought our plane tickets to fly home on September 9th. Then I rented a car to get to the airport. We're happy to have this all done. Now all we have to do is enjoy our last 7 weeks on the lake. After Happy hour, Matt made chicken soup for dinner, after all it was a Soup Day. Tomorrow, the sun is suppose to shine again and we'll head further north. Trip Log-Day 84: 14 nm, 3 hours, Trip Total: 1724 nm, 280 hours, 439 gal diesel. We slept until 7:55 this morning. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, the temp was 78° and 50% humidity. The locals and the northerner cruisers have been saying that it's been a cool, wet summer so far, but we don't see it. We welcome the temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's, plus in Florida, we know what a rainy summer is like.
\nWe had breakfast on the back porch. \nAgain, I'm so glad that we can lower the screens on the back porch and not be bothered by the bugs. \nAs we ate, we made one last check of our email and Facebook and took a screen shot of the next week's weather. We are now able to receive NOAA weather on the VHS radio, which will be very helpful. \nAt 10:00, I contacted the lockmaster at lock C12, our final lock. We entered the lock and we lowered 15.5 ft to 96.5ft, the level of Lake Champlain. \nWhen we exited the lock, we were officially on Lake Chamberlain. We had traveled 1691nm to get here. \nBefore we went any further, we pulled into the Lock 12 Marina for a pump out. The owner caught our lines and wasn't thrilled when we said that we only wanted a pump out. At first he said that he didn't have access to the fitting for the pump out, then he "found" it. We didn't know what the price was going to be, but we knew that pumpouts ran between $5-$15. After we pumped out, I asked him if there was anyplace to put our trash. He pointed to a trash can. I had a feeling that he was going to charge a lot for the pumpout or was going to charge us for our trash removal. So I quickly gathered up every last bit of trash on Blue Moon and tossed it in the trash can. I was right, he charged us $20 for the pump out, calling it on the receipt, a "Sunday Pumpout". So glad that I filled his trash can with six days of our trash. \nAt 10:45, we were cruising north of Lake Champlain. The first 30 miles of the lake is narrow and looks more like a river than a lake. \nAs we cruised north, we had the Green Mountains on our starboard and the Adirondacks on our port side. It was very scenic and peaceful. So peaceful, that fell asleep for awhile. \nWe arrived at Fort Ticonderoga at 13:30 and found a place to anchor in 17 ft water on the edge of the weeds. We have no more tide or current concerns when we anchor, as least for now. We were anchored right below the fort. \nWe decide not to go to the fort today as the day was half over. So we'll take a rain check on the fort and visit later in the summer or maybe not. \nOnce we were secure, I scrubbed all the dried lock mud and slim off all the fenders, using the freshwater from the lake. \nThe temperature of the lake is warmer than I expected and think that I could actually get into it, if I'm warm enough. \nWith the fenders cleaned and hanging out to dry. I cleaned the head and the inside of the boat. The boat seems to get much dirtier when we are at a dock. Possibly due to us tracking dust and dirt into it. \nThe rest of the day was about relaxing. At happy hour, we toasted our arrival at Lake Champlain. For dinner, we had a salad and yesterday's left over pizza which Matt heated up on the grill. \nTrip Log-Day 83 : 19 nm, 3 hours, \nTrip Total: 1710 nm, 277 hours, 439 gal diesel. Matt and I went to the Historic Grounds for breakfast this morning and I took this opportunity to use their WiFi and post yesterday's blog while Matt read the newspaper. I can't get any cell phone internet here, but we are able to receive a weak signal from the library across the canal. It's not strong enough to upload photos but I can check email and do some research. So the morning was spent on the internet getting caught up and preparing to go dark. This will be my last posting for about a week as there won't be an internet signal until we get into the middle of the lake or go to a marina. Later in the day, we joined Judy and Dave (from MV Katharine) for happy hour at Sasquatch Bar again. We enjoyed our beers and our free bar bites on the deck and had a lot of laughs. Then we went across the bridge to Big G's Pub to continue our happy hour. It was getting close to dinner time, so we ordered a couple pizzas. We had new boat neighbors and they, also, were interested in pizza. So we invited them to join us for pizza in the park. Our new neighbors, Jacque and Zien are from Montreal and plan to spend the next couple years on their Beneteau sailboat cruising. They were on day #4 of their adventure. After dinner, we went over to the park to listen to the band play before the fireworks show. Again, the fireworks were very impressive. It was another fun day. Tomorrow, Matt and I continue north and will officially be on Lake Champlain. While our new friends will be heading south. Breakfast at the Historic Grounds
It was another cool gray morning with temps in the low 60's. Matt and I were dressed with jeans and sweatshirts. While our new friends from CT, Judy and Dave, were sitting on the bow of their boat at 7:30 drinking coffee and wearing shorts. Brrrrrr.
I contacted the C7 lockmaster at 8:30, to find out the status of the lock. She said that a barge was at lock C8 and headed to her lock. She suggested that we wait until 9:00. So we waited. I went over to see Judy and Dave on the MV Katherine, to relay to them my conversation with the lockmaster. Nine o'clock worked for them and we would lock thru together. When I returned to Blue Moon, Matt told me that a bird had flown into the boat. It was panicking, couldn't find his way out and kept flying into the windows. With a little prompting from us, the bird eventually did find his way out. At 9:00, we untied Blue Moon and headed for lock C7. The barge was just leaving the lock. When it was clear, we entered, grabbed the lines and were raised more 10 ft. A couple miles later, we were at Lock C8. The lock was open and so we went right in. We were raised another 11 ft to the elevation of 140 above sea level. This was the highest elevation on the the Champlain Canal. Cruising through this stretch was very scenic. The mountains, bridges, geese, etc created lots of photos ops. We went under numerous 17 ft bridges and now confident that we could go under them, I no longer went outside to watch. Soon we were approaching Lock C9. This was the first of three locks that would lower us down to the lake level. We entered the lock with the trawler, MV Katherine behind us and were quickly lowered 16 ft to 124 ft above sea level. The ride was so smooth and quick, that we had been lowered 6 ft before I realized that the process had begun. There was absolutely no turbulence. We had debated stopping at Fort Ann's dock but we had heard that Whitehall was having fireworks on Saturday and we wanted to get there before the dock filled up. The next lock was C11. There was no C10. Apparently, when they were building the canal, they decided that they really didn't need it. But to avoid confusion when it was being built, they just kept the locks numbered as it was planned. We approached Lock C11, entered the lock and were lowered 12 more ft to 112ft elevation. This was a particular slimy lock with slime on the lines and on the walls. Our next stop was Whitehall. There was plenty of room at the free town dock. Again, there is free electric and water at the dock. They also have restrooms and a shower available, but the building isn't always unlocked. There was another cruiser already at the dock, Bob and Madeline from Maine. They joined Matt and I on a walk up the hill to the Skene Manor. This is a gothic style Victorian Manor built by Supreme Court Judge Joseph Potter in 1874. After touring the Manor, we walked down the hill to Stewart's where we introduced Bob and Madeline to Stewart's hot fudge sundae ( ice cream #27). After our ice cream, Matt and I did a walk-about through town, stopping at lock 12C and visiting a local marina to inquire about getting a pump-out on Sunday. We returned to the dock and found Judy and Dave having Happy Hour on Katherine. We invited them to join us for happy hour at Sasquatch Bar where they were advertising $2 beers and free bar bites. The owner was there and brought us a variety of hot appetizers to go with our beers. We were chatting and exchanging Facebook info when Judy recognized my last name. We had worked together 25 years ago in a home health agency in CT! Small world. It was a fun time. We returned to the boats for dinner. After dinner, Matt and I walked to the nearby park where there was a small festival going on. There was a four piece ragtime jazz band playing. We really enjoyed listening to them. It was another fun day. Trip Log-Day 81:22 nm, 3.5 hours, Trip Total: 1722nm, 271hours, 439 gal diesel. It rained most of the night. We heard that there had been a tornado warning for this area yesterday in early evening, but we knew nothing of it then.
\nWe awoke to a rainy, gray gloomy day. I got out of bed and saw our cockroach friend dead on the floor. At least we choose to believe it was the same one. \nAgain the question was...do we stay or do we go this morning? We had breakfast, and contemplated our options. \nIt is difficult to get the weather forecast here. There is no weather on the VHS nor is there any local news/weather stations. If I stood in the exact right position, I was able to get enough internet to get the weather forecast. \nThe weather app called for temperatures in the 60°'s to low 70°'s, cloudy and a chance of a light rain both days. So there wasn't a "good" day. We decided that since we're at a free dock with power and have no where in particular to go, that we might as well stick around another day. \nAs I walked to the park toilets this morning, I was reminded of our trip to the UK a couple years ago. It was a misty rain with cool temperatures. It even smelled like England and Scotland. \nAfter breakfast, we decided to walk to McDonald's for a cup of coffee and to use their wifi. We walked 1.5 miles uphill in the misty rain. Once there, we both were hungry again and had the second half of our breakfast. \nWe hung out there for two hours, slowly drinking our coffee as we checked emails, facebook, and posted yesterday's blog. \nAt 11:30, we left and went to The Market by Price Chopper. It is an upgraded version of Price Chopper.. Very nice. \nAfter picking up some salad makings, we headed back down the hill to the boat. \nWhile I was washing the lettuce and baking brownies, Matt went to get his hair cut. The semi-retired barber doesnt have set hours. Apparently, when he's working, he turns on his barber pole. \nMatt and he became buddies. He offered his help if we needed anything or if we needed to borrow his car. \nThe remainder of the day was spent relaxing. I read and tried to get internet while Matt played his uke on the back porch, serenading the locals who were fishing off the wall. If I stood on Blue Moon's bow and held the phone up toward the sky and waited, I could get email and facebook. \nLater in the afternoon, a boat came to join us on the dock. They were from Simsbury, CT. After chatting for a while, we learned that she knew someone from Berlin who used to be a patient of my dad's. Also, she used to work with Kathy Scalise, who was best friends with my sister. Small world. They were cruising the Hudson River for a couple weeks and would be turning around to return to CT at Whitehall. \nToday was definitely a Soup Day. So after our happy hour, Matt made chicken soup for dinner followed by a movie. \nTomorrow, we'll continue our trip north. Last night, a cockroach found its way into the boat. This cockroach rivaled Florida's palmetto bug in size and it too, flew. As much as we tried, we couldn't kill him before he scurried into the crevices of Blue Moon. This was very unsettling, so we slept with a light on. The next morning, as we were rolling up the porch screens preparing to leave, we noticed ants had gotten onto the boat. They crawled along the lines from the dock onto the boat. We dug out the bug killer and sprayed the lines and the back porch area. With the ants under control, we pulled off the dock at 9:00. I took this opportunity to clean the floors, then apply the bug killer on the floor's perimeter for the cockroach. Our only lock today was Lock C6. We entered and grabbed the lines without incident and were quickly raised another 19.5ft, bringing us to 121ft above sea level. A short time later, we approached a strange looking obstruction. It was a storm gate which resembled a lift bridge, but was a solid wall. At first, it didn't look like we were going to get under it, but we did with a foot or two to spare. We turned off of the Champlain Canal, right before Lock C7, and stayed on the Hudson following a creek to the Fort Edwards Boat Basin. This is another free wall available to boaters for 48 hour stays. They have free electricity and water available, along with restrooms and showers. They don't have pump-out facilities or a place to deposit the trash, as we are suppose to take it with us. There was a strong current, but Matt gently guided Blue Moon to the cement wall. Again, we were the only boat here. Once she was secure, we hooked up the power and Matt went to work changing the oil. I sat on the back porch trying to stay out of his way. By 14:00, Matt was finished. We went to the park showers I deposited a quarter for the shower. All I got for my quarter was a dribble of cold water. It was in the 90's this afternoon, so it didn't feel too bad. I did manage to wash my hair and get clean but with much effort. In the men's room, Matt got a cold shower for free and for a quarter, it was hot. If we stay here tomorrow, I'm taking a boat shower. After our showers, we set off to explore the town. That took all of 10 minutes. There isn't much except for a Stewart's (we did resist temptation today). It didn't have a grocery market or a hardware store, but it did have a couple coffee houses). And there was no internet signal at the boat. If I walked inland, I got a very weak signal. During the early evening while we sitting on the porch, a guy came up to us and started talking. He was trying to make conversation giving us local knowledge, asking how the lockmasters were, etc. He was trying to be nice, but something about him made both Matt and I uneasy. Then he gave us his business card and said to call him if we had any problem that he could help us with. The card said "Canal Sections Supervisor". He was in charge of all the locks from Waterford to Whitehall, including all of these free docks facilities. We would have been less guarded if he had introduced himself when he first came up to us. I asked him if the docks were always this empty, he said that next week the "Canadians will be running" and the docks will be full. A lot of Canadian businesses shut down for summer vacation next week and the Canadian boaters head for NYC. We had a sandwich for dinner then watched a movie.And we did sleep with the courtesy (floor) lights on, again. According to the t-mobile coverage map, there is about 90 miles coming up, with no internet coverage (it starts around Ft Ticonderoga until we get up into Lake Champlain). Then it will depend on where how far from shore we are. I expect that the blog postings might become sporadic at times. Trip Log-Day 79: 10 nm, 2 hours, Trip Total: 1700nm, 267.5 hours, 439 gal diesel. Another low bridge. Fort Edward dock and park
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