Whithall, NY; Orwell, VT; Colchester, VT; Rouses Pt., NY

Lake Champlain

June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day. We leave the wall at Fort Edward and head for Lock C8.  This will be the last lock the lock master will fill with water as we will be at the highest elevation in the canal system. In Locks C9 -C12, the water will be lowered in the locks. The next 28 miles is considered to be the canal cut. It is a man-made section of the system. We make our way through the cut towards Whitehall, NY. There is a free wall with electricity and water and we decide to take one of the spaces.  We have only traveled for about 4 hours today (20 miles or so) and we arrive at the wall by noon. Dave has had a bad cold for the past week and still isn't a 100% and I am not feeling well.  It seems like the cold germ has spread. An early day sounds good to us. We spend a quiet afternoon and have an early dinner....our one year retirement anniversary dinner...filet mignon, Caesar salad, and baked potatoes. Of course, there is also a champagne toast to our very busy first year of retirement. Pretty good fare aboard a boat. Life is good.

June 22 and 23, 2015

It rained quite heavily during the night and we notice the water at the wall is about a foot higher than when we went to bed.  There is also lots of debris in the water. We have one more lock to pass through. Just  prior to the lock there is a bridge with a 17' clearance. Dave calls the lock master and she informs him that the bridge clearance right now is 16' 2". At Last needs 16'. She tells Dave to stand by as she is going to release some of the water from the lock. After doing this the water level is lowered by 6" which allows us to enter the lock. Due to the current, only the port side gate of the lock is open for us to enter. We have about a foot of clearance on the sides as we enter since some debris is keeping the port side door from opening completely. Upon leaving this lock we enter Lake Champlain. This lake runs 109 miles south - north from Whitehall, NY to the Canadian border. The first 38 miles of the lake is more of a river than a lake.  North of this first section, the real lake portion of Lake Champlain begins.  It is roughly 71 miles long. There are places where the lake is over 9 miles wide, with some spots on the lake as deep as 409 feet as is indicated on our depth sounder. Lake Champlain is the 6th largest body of fresh water in the country. It is breathtakingly beautiful. The mountains, the clear water, the sun and the sky....it is like being on a tropical island, but different. The Adirondacks of New York are on our right and the Green Mountains of Vermont are on our  left as we continue north.

Traveling to the Marina

When we were at Castleton on Hudson, we met a couple (Mark and Pauline from "Bungalow") who suggested a small marina just south of Fort Ticonderoga as a good stopover on Lake  Champlain. We take them up on their suggestion and arrange for a slip at Chipman Point Marina in Orwell, VT.  What a great marina!

Chipman Point Marina

Chipman Pt.
Munitions Building

The buildings which house the office, shop, laundry, showers, and a workshop are the original buildings which were built in 1810.  The story in the marina is that these two buildings were used to store munitions for Fort Ticonderoga during the war of 1812. Whether that is a true story or not, the marina is very quaint and is definitely well worth a visit. The owners are friendly and very helpful. There is a strong "trust" factor in this marina as the doors to the buildings are always open and the purchase of coffee, muffins, soda, etc. is based on the honor system. Regular slip owners just place a post-it on the board and settle their accounts once a week. Oh, did I mention we are only about 60 miles from where they are searching for Richard  Matt and David Sweat, the 2 escaped convicts from the prison in Dannemora? We are keeping our doors locked at night. We spend two nights in this marina.

Stairwell in Chipman Pt. Marina Office

Chipman Pt.

                             

View from Marina

June 24 and 25, 2015

We leave Chipman Point Marina early and continue north on Lake Champlain.  It is a gorgeous day.  The lake is beautiful with amazing scenery.  We pass Fort Ticonderoga and Crowne Point.

Cable Ferry Crossing at Fort Ticonderoga

The Bridge at Crowne Point

Statue at Crowne Point

Earlier we had decided to pass by Vergennes and we are now heading toward the Champlain Marina in Colchester, Vermont.  Dave is trying to make arrangements to have our windlass looked at (the up switch to haul the anchor is not working) and to have a water pump replaced in our dinghy motor.  The Shelburne Shipyard seems to be the only place around to get work done like this, but they do not have a slip for us.  Hence, we are going to stay at the Champlain Marina and take "At Last" to the shipyard on Friday morning where we have an 11:00 appointment.  As we have been heading north, we have been trying to make arrangements to meet up with our good friend, Molly Brewer.  Molly and her husband, Mark, have a home in Elmore, VT.  It is an original, one room school house.  They have had it for about eight years and are doing some renovations in order to make it their retirement home.  We arrange for Molly to meet us in Colchester and to join us aboard "At Last" for a few days.  When we arrive at the marina, Dave heads to the fuel dock.  We pump out and add 242 gallons of diesel.  The price is not bad with our Boat US discount $2.85/gallon.  After some quick calculations, Dave figures that we are still getting a little over 2 miles per gallon which we think is great considering we have been running a little faster than normal and several times we have had to fight the current.  Molly arrives at 5:45 pm and we head to Rozzi's Tavern for bite to eat.  Then it's back to the boat.  We are on the T-head and we have an unobstructed view of the lake.  We spend the evening catching up on the each other's travels, family, etc.  Then it's off to bed.

Today we are going to be taking a "land cruise".  Molly is our cruise director and she leads us on a day of adventure.  Since Molly has spent a lot of time in this area, she is very familiar with it and we are lucky to have "local knowledge" leading us throughout the day.  We begin our day having a delicious breakfast in Jeffersonville, VT.  She then takes us to an old fashioned general store, where Warren, the shop owner, is also the post master, former mayor, state representative etc.  Small towns are great! Across from the store is the last one room school house operating in the state. She also shows us the pontoon boat that she and Mark have recently purchased.  We knew she would have a boat sooner or later.

Dave and Molly after our delicious breakfast

Molly takes us to see the deck on the back of a friend's house and we are duly impressed.  As I round the corner of the house, I think I hear the wind blowing, but I quickly see that there is a succession of waterfalls with a vertical drop of fifty feet.  It is quite spectacular. Molly shares that this is the house where they often "party" with friends.

Water Source Viewed from Deck

Of course, we take a ride to see the schoolhouse.  We love it.  Molly and Mark have kept the old schoolhouse feeling.  There are still chalkboards on the walls and the bell which was rung to indicate school was beginning is still operational.  There is a creek in the back of the house and the setting is very private and quiet.

The Schoolhouse

We then head to Moss Glen Falls.  We walk/hike to the waterfall.  Flip flops are definitely the wrong footwear to be wearing, but we all climb to the top of the "hill" to view the falls.  It is an amazing sight.  Molly then chauffeurs us throughout the area.

Moss Glen Falls

Waterfall

Molly and Gail at the Falls

We drive up the very crooked Knotch near Stowe on Mt. Mansfield and walk around a bit.

The Knotch

The Knotch

We travel through several towns, past Burlington and Shelburne.  A visit to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory is a must, but the line to get an ice cream is ridiculously long so we just look around and head out again.

We had to do something touristy

We have an early dinner (we skipped lunch) at a terrific Italian restaurant, Sarduccis, in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont.  It is delicious.  We are seated on the porch and have a view of the mountains and the river.  After dinner we make a quick stop at the Shaw's across the street in order for Dave and I to pick up a few things and then we head back to Champlain Marina.  It is an amazing day……good company, beautiful sites, excellent food…..Molly is awesome.  She is so much fun to be around and is always upbeat and willing to do anything.  Upon returning to the boat, we introduce Molly to our famous QAC (quiet afternoon cocktail).  We enjoy our drinks on the back of the boat and what better way to end the perfect day then with an absolutely beautiful sunset. The colors are everywhere in the sky.  There is a 360 degree view which lasts for quite a while.  After the sunset, the bugs chase us inside and we relax for the rest of the evening.  Tomorrow we must take the boat back to Shelburne to the shipyard for her repairs.

A Gorgeous Sunset at Champlain Marina

June 26, 2015

We are up early in order to get to our appointment at the shipyard on time.  It will take us about 3 hours.  We try to figure a way for Molly to take the boat ride with us, but none of our ideas work out so she is going to drive to the shipyard and meet us there.  It will only take her about 40 minutes.  It is a beautiful ride to the Shelburne Shipyard.  When we arrive we immediately notice that it is a very busy place.  It is a working yard which deals with fuel, repairs, mast stepping, etc.  They really do not have accommodations for transients and once the work on your boat is done, you are expected to leave the service dock.

Mechanic going to top of mast of sailboat
to perform repairs

Close-up View  
She was swinging in the wind.

Ferry being repaired at Shelburne Shipyard

We arrive around 10:30 and Bob, the manager, puts us on the schedule.  Molly arrives about the same time that Greg, the mechanic does.  Greg trouble shoots the windlass problem and believes it to be a poor connection.  In order to fix the problem Greg must crawl up into the chain locker at the foot of our bed.  It is a very small, uncomfortable space.  He spends about an hour cleaning up the wires and the problem is solved!  We are able to remain at the service dock because the water pump for our dinghy motor has been ordered and should arrive this afternoon.  Molly and I decide to head out for some more sight seeing/shopping.  Once again her local knowledge takes us to an amazing restaurant Jerri's Rustico where we have a quiet lunch.  I have one of the restaurant's small plates:  duck tostados which melt in your mouth.  After lunch we decide to visit Church St. in Burlington, VT.  It is a pedestrian mall area with many shops and restaurants.

Leap Frog Statue on Church St. in Burlington, VT

We walk around, do a little shopping and then head back to the boat.  It is about 5:45 pm and we must move from the slip, so we plan to anchor out for the evening.  We want Molly to spend the night, but she decides she will return to New Hampshire.  We are very sad to see her leave.  She has been a great traveling companion and her generosity is over the top.  We are very glad to have her as a friend.  Dave and I travel about five miles north and find a spot to throw the anchor for the night.  It is so good to have a working windlass.

June 27 and June 28, 2015

We haul the anchor at around 6 am.  (I love it when the windlass does all the work.) and head toward our last stop before we enter Canada.  We arrive at Rouses Pt. in New York around noon.  We check in.  Jon, the owner, tells us that we are about 40 miles from the where the search for David Sweat is being conducted.  His partner, Richard Matt, was killed on Friday afternoon, but Sweat is still at large.  Oh well, I'll just keep our doors locked.  We wash and scrub "At Last".  She is loaded with bugs.  We have lunch at the little bar on site and then return to the boat for the night.  It's tacos for dinner and then to bed.  I sleep in until 6 on Sunday.  It has rained most of the night and we expect the rain will continue throughout the day.  We spend the day getting caught up on banking, writing the blog, downloading charts, etc. and making sure all our paperwork for entering Canada is in order.