Wed July 28: Burlington to Essex Marina

In which we meet a wonder dog ...

We are now working our way back south, and stopping to visit some of the places we didn’t see on our way up the lake.  Essex is considered a 'must see' on the New York side of the lake.  However - based on past experience with 'must sees', we tempered our expectations.  It is said to be "one of the finest collections of Federal and Greek revival architecture in NY - the entire 19th century hamlet is on the National Historic Registry".  Not being architecture enthusiasts this description failed to make our hearts flutter.

We motored than 2 hours to the Essex Marina and tied up to the dock.   

 

This turned out to be our favorite part of the stop.  The boat right in front of us featured this adorable wonder-dog. The yellow bit to the left is his own ladder.  The owners told us that when they are out on the water he throws his toy off the back of the boat, jumps in after it and climbs back up the ladder. And then repeats the process as long as he feels like it.  I love a child that can self-entertain !

 

After lunch we put in some laundry and geared up for our walk. The marina staff CLEARLY did not think there was much to the town, and told us it would take us about 30 minutes to see the whole town, 45 minutes if we walked slowly.  We walked to 'Main Street' (there were only two streets) and did a nice 10 min tour of EVERYTHING.  It's definitely a dying (possible DOA) town, which is too bad as there is some potential.

Lovely blue stone from the local quarry is used in several buildings, and for most foundations.

We had a nice chat with the woman (and her father) restoring this building - the old tailor shop.  It's going to be a ton of work, but they were committed to it. 

This one makes me giggle - CLEARLY they don't want anyone to visit.  That's a doozy of a front step!

Note the foundation.

 We amused ourselves by yelling things like 'typical transom from the Revival period' and 'Mansard roof - note the cornices and casements' and 'dude, check out the crenelation, barge-board and gothic arches', whenever we came across an oldish structure.  None of which means anything to us, in spite of reading up on architecture every time we get ready to tour a new town.  Just can't get that info to interest our synapses into grabbing hold..

We did run into a bike tour coming back from a day of biking on the VT side - they had come over by ferry from Basin Harbor, and were walking to the Essex Inn; which was the cutest redo in the town.  I can see how totally quaint the town would seem from that perspective.  And hopefully that kind of tourism will help save it.

With 50 minutes of our walk still to go, we stumbled onto a new park created around the old Essex Quarry.  This granite quarry supplied stone to many of the big buildings in New York City, and for the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as for a number buildings in Essex as noted above.  This nature preserve just opened on June 26, 2021 and offers a number of short hiking trails.  We hiked around the perimeter of the park, about 1.5 miles, and had a good view of the old quarry.  A very unexpected treat.  I can't remember if I have ever seen a quarry, outside of that great old movie, Breaking Away.

You can see the remaining straight edges where cutting ceased.

After our walk we finished the laundry (YES - clean underwear!) and used the marina bathroom facilities for a shower. A coin operated shower!  $0.25 for 5 minutes of water.  These are common on Lake Champlain, but this is the first time we have used one (no - I swear, we have been washing in the lake.  We  haven't gone the whole time with no shower!).  Two quarters turned out to be more than enough - we are pretty efficient, after this much time on a boat with limited water.

We had made reservations for dinner at one of the local restaurants (there are 3 and one was closed) - Chez Lyn & Ray’s.  We walked the 200 yards from the marina to the restaurant for our 7:30 reservation and found a surprisingly full restaurant. 

I love that they had so few chairs that they gave Rick the ol man rocker!

I can assure you that the food did not explain the big reputation this place has - I think the lack of other options, and local desperation to be able to go SOMEWHERE, might explain that.  But we sat on the back porch overlooking Lake Champlain and the shore of Vermont, and the view made the night special. It was one of the nicest views we’ve had of the lake; perhaps because it is more narrow here and you can see the depth of the mountains. The pic cannot do it justice.

After dinner (and a piece of Chocolate Peanut Butter pie for dessert) Rick took advantage of the clear sky/dark night to watch the stars and see if he could spot any meteors from the Perseid meteor shower.  He ended up staying on the dock until about midnight and did see 5 meteors very briefly streak across the sky.  A great end to the day!

Mon/Tues July 26-27: Valcour Island back to Burlington Boathouse Marina.

In which Rick woos me with three special words ...

We had thought to hike Valcour Island some more today, but given the state of the trails we dropped that plan.  The next stop was Essex, NY which I started to plan - but Rick stopped me with three of my favorite words: Fried Cheese Curds.  He surprised me by proposing to stop a night in Burlington to get the curds I regretted not ordering before, and so we could have good indoor AC while it is hot and the western smoke is so strong. OMG.  That boy.  He's such a keeper!!! (Plus, we have time to kill before we get back to the Erie Canal so why not stop?)

We got our ducks in a row (lol - it's amazing how much fun word-play is with the word 'duck') and ducked out of the bay.

We motored out of our wonderfully calm cove on Valcour Island and after passing the lighthouse headed back to the Burlington Community Boathouse for our Burlington “redo”. 

Goodbye, lighthouse!

It was nice to come back to a familiar marina (each time we come in to a new marina it is a bit stressful to figure out how all the docks are set up and what we need to do to get to our slip) but we didn’t linger long at the Burlington Dock because I. Was. Hungry.

Hello, Garlic Fried Cheese Curds!!

We had a nice relaxing lunch while people watching on the Burlington pedestrian mall and then, you guessed it, walked over to the supermarket (stopping at the bookstore on the way).  We just seem to need to stop at the market every day. 

Apparently boat-pun merch is now an interactive part of this blog...  This just in from our faithful reader Dottie!  Maybe there is a way we can make money selling T-shirts to boat owners?  I mean they are already spending so much money on a boat, what’s another $27.99 for a T-shirt with a clever name???  In fact, call us now for our Blue Horizon merchandise!

We decided to extend one more day so that we could finally get out our bikes and ride along the pretty Burlington waterfront.  Tues started out nice, and on our bikes we headed northward along the waterfront towards the boat ferry that takes bikers across to South Hero Island.  Almost to the ferry the heavens opened up - and rain was what happened the rest of the afternoon.  Rain = a nap (what else is there to do on a rainy afternoon?). 

Evening brought crepes from “The Skinny Pancake” - a restaurant located right by the marina that had always had such a long line that we couldn’t get close.  The rain sent all the crowds home and we had nice chicken/pesto and apple/Brie crepes for dinner - then off to the Call of the Sheets (a lesser known book by Jack London). 

Sun July 25: Deep Bay to Valcour Island Butterfly Bay ancorage

In which we meet French Canadians!

In the night, which was like trying to sleep while on a bronco underwater in a bathtub, Rick finally gave up and just sat on the couch, and I gave up and played Two Dots on my phone.  It was scary and also exhausting - which is always a great combo.  We should have skipped Deep Bay and gone straight to the protection of Valcour Island - which we immediately rectified.  The passage was pretty bouncy, and I had to lie down for a bit.

The ferry didn't care that we were in a hurry - yielding is up to us.

Valcour Island is considered a hidden gem, and that's exactly how we felt when we anchored in one of its many protected bays.   It was completely calm water, with a gentle breeze and a lovely wild shoreline.  I immediately felt well enough to go have a walk. This is the first time we have pulled the dingy up on shore, and it was successful - although I forgot to take a picture of it.

We had hoped to follow the trails around the island's 7 mile circumference. But 'trail' turned out to be a generous, perhaps needlessly optimistic, take on reality.  The reality was more a 'waft' of trail, done in pencil and then partially erased.  Add in very healthy flora and give it a good stir with poison ivy.  It ended up seeming like too big a risk, so we only made it to the lighthouse.

No really - there is the HINT of a trail here.

The 'outhouses' were also a suggestion only.  His and hers.

On the way back to the boat we were waved down by a French Canadian couple, who shanghaied us into a couple of drinks. Regis and Danielle were super nice, and seemed to have no problem coming and going across the boarder.  Once we started to notice the Canadian flags, we saw that the other two boats in our bay were also flying them.  Our Featured Boat Name, Knot @ Work, and we stopped by to say hi, since they had been with us in Deep Bay.  They had not slept either - with all the rockin and rollin.

It was a lovely, quiet night - look at how calm the water is.  Whew, we needed that! Rick ended the night watching Discovery of Witches - he liked the books.  No, I didn't see that coming either...

Sat July 24: Burton to Deep Bay

 In which we miscalculate ...

First up was breakfast at the Bistro - it seemed only fair that we support the state park, since the mooring ball was so cheap.  It was the cutest camp store/cafe !  Eveything you might need for a successful family camping experience - hot coffee and wine for the grownups; Jiffypop, glow sticks and smore makings for the kids; ice cream bars for everyone!

Then we walked around the whole island. That sounds more impressive than it was - we just followed all the trails, which led to less than 3 miles of walking.

The Bistro

Always important to know how far you are from Tokyo.

Tip of the island, courtesy of some other hikers.

I wish we had done a camping trip like this with the kids.  We watched, gobsmacked, while this family got 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 4 bikes, bike gear and swim gear, plus snacks, etc out of this tiny boat.  It was  a miracle of packing - kind of like a clown car. 

Mr. Weather was predicting high wind/waves coming from the south, so we decided we would be best protected back in Deep Bay.  Rick once again lowered the 'mast' so that we could pass under the Gut bridge. Nerves were running high at the prospect of weeds ...

You can see Rick's balls waiting their time to be put back into use on the return locks.

The Gut passage was even more fraught this time.  At one point we were hailed by two jet skies who had stalled due to the weeds.  We didn't dare detour to help them and risk stalling ourselves - we both felt badly about that, thinking back to the time we were stuck at Mt Vernon and our marriage was saved by someone towing us.  Fortunately, another more shallow boat soon stopped to help.

Back in Deep Bay we had several 'drive-bys' by bass boats.  It's like someone walking right past your kitchen window - a bit disconcerting.

There were several other boats taking refuge in the mooring field.  We all moved around, trying to find the perfect place to wait out what was promising to be high winds and an uncomfortable night.  Let me assure you that we did not find that sweet spot.  No one did.  The 20-30 mph winds came whipping right in and we all spent a dismal night bucking around.  That hasn't happened in awhile.  We miscalculated-I admit it.

Fri July 23: Pt Au Roche to Burton Island State Park mooring

In which The Gut almost digests us ...

The Vermonters we met on the wall in Whitehall had mentioned the Burton Island State Park, so that was our next stop.  Apparently it's a gem, known only to people in the northern part of VT.

It was just a short cruise across the lake to the Vermont side, but we had to go through a shallow area called “The Gut”.    You know I love to tease Rick when he worries about areas with 'scary' names.  In this case there really was a reason to worry.  We'd (by which I mean Rick) read The Gut had a troublesome amount of aquatic weeds - but we had  NO IDEA.  Apparently The Gut was a bovine stomach. It was a thick mass of floating seaweed, like driving through a bowl of heavy green mermaid hair.  The bottom was so choked with weeds the depth finder had a nervous breakdown, jumping around from 4' to 25'.

We could feel the propeller picking up the seaweed.  Eventually the boat was barely moving forward it was so bogged down in weeds.  In addition, we were concerned about what was being sucked up into the cooling systems.  I finally suggested we put the engine into reverse to see if it would loosen and remove the trapped seaweed; which worked like a charm!  (I like to be helpful about every 18 days or so)  We finally made it to the other side, under the drawbridge and out into the clean water of the lake again.  But we both have more grey hair.

It was such a relief to be leaving The Gut that we hardly flinched at the narrow bridge we had to go under.

 Lake Champlain is interesting in that it has a whole eastern side, referred to as the Inland Sea, but it can only be accessed by larger boats through this weed infested passage.   Strange that they haven’t figured out a way to harvest and/or remove some of this junk. 

Distances in this part of the lake are short-we were quickly picking up a mooring ball at Burton Island State Park.   I love this idea for a park - it is an island, and only accessible by boat.  You can come on your own boat - there is a nice marina with around 100 slips -  or you can come over on the ferry boat that runs about every two hours from the mainland just a short distance away.   The park has multiple campsites and “lean-to” type sleep platforms (kind of like a cabin with three walls and a roof. A good place to sleep if you don’t have a tent or the weather gets bad).  There are even paddle-up camp sites for those who canoe over with all their gear. There is also a well stocked small camp store and “Bistro” that sells breakfast and lunch.  

We planned to go ashore and hike tomorrow so we stayed on the boat for the afternoon.   Rick baked some banana bread as we had to salvage the overripe bananas.   

I had time to enjoy this fabulous dress, made entirely of duct tape!  Including duct tape shoes, earrings and a purse.  Love...

I also spent some time on ComedyWildlifePhoto.com.  Highly recommend - it's comedy gold!

There was a beautiful sunset and just as the last vestiges of the western sky were turning from a rose color to dark, the full moon started to rise over the eastern sky.  Given all the smoke in the air the moon was incredible as it rose up over the hills of Vermont.  Sorry our pix don't do it justice.

Thurs July 22: Hanging in Deep Bay

In which we accidentally see the sunrise ...

This area is part of the Adirondack state park system, which is very boater-friendly. We had the 60-ball mooring field almost all to ourselves.  We agree that this is about the quietest place we have been (hold on to that thought for later in the week....that's called 'foreshadowing'...)

For some reason we awoke at about 5 am and were greeted by a beautiful sunrise (we then went back to bed until 8 am)

The park has numerous trails, and a convenient dingy dock allowed us to take advantage of them all; hiking for a couple of hours all around the park.  It wasn’t strenuous but a nice way to get some exercise. 

Unfortunately the lake is having a bloom of Blue-Green algae so the otherwise pristine water is covered in a kind of yellowish algae that accumulates along the shore when the wind blows. Apparently some Blue-Green algae can release a toxin (you will remember the signs for Cyanobacteria) into the water and most of the authorities around the lake recommend not swimming. Oops - did that already.  All the boater books talk about how pristine this lake is - perhaps they were written some time ago...??

Blue-Green algae along the shore - YUCK

The shoreline is covered in the BEST flat skipping stones.  This is something we did a LOT in my childhood, and we had a great time brushing up on that important skill.  To amuse ourselves we acted like paparazzi, or parents of a new baby, and took a bunch of pix of Blue Horizon out at her mooring.

This reminds me of the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter.

It was a beautiful evening with overnight temperatures in the upper 50’s.  Just like we like it!  Finally, a beautiful day.

Wed July 21: Burlington to Pt Au Roche (Deep Bay) mooring ball

 In which, look ma, we are way north! ...

First we need to respond to clever reader Dottie, who pointed out that we missed an important detail - you are RIGHT!  We forgot to mention that Rick was 're-crowned' (attributed to Dottie).  He got his crown all fixed on Monday... Because it's all about me, all the time, I forgot about that!!!

Anyway - it was a chore to get ourselves motivated to get off the Burlington dock.  Because....you guessed it - it was cloudy and rainy when we woke up.  Arrggg…wish we could send some of this rain out west to help with the fires.  It is hard to believe it is almost August. The high temperature today will reach only about 68 degrees.  Of course, if it were hotter we would be complaining about that. 

First stop was the pump-out dock.  Which requires a quick discussion of 'water', for you non-boaters.  We have fresh water (water pulled from our boat tanks that is double filtered) which is used for drinking, cooking and bathing. We have raw water (water we pull in from the body of water around us - salt or fresh) used to wash the anchor down).  We have grey water (the water that our shower and sink put out) which drains right into the body of water we are on. And we have black water (whatever goes into the toilet) which is stored in a vacuum sealed tank.  In theory a boater can release black water out into the body of water they are traveling on, once you are 3 miles off the coast.  We have never done that 'cause.....yuck. We ALWAYS put our 'black water' into the care of someone we trust, on a dock, with a long hose - and gloves.

 Lake Champlain has a very strict “no discharge” law.  Release of any black water is strictly prohibited.  Rick even had to disconnect the pipe that allows discharge to prove that we are in compliance  (in case the po-po boards our boat to check....which would make them the poo po-po...LOL).  I had to urgently be somewhere, anywhere, else during that piece of maintenance.  'Cause...YUCK.

Our destination today is Point Au Roche State Park in New York.   This will be about as far north as we go this year.  We are only about 17 road miles from the Canadian boarder!

The boarder!! - we are the little blue dot.

We are further north than Bangor!

We are further north than Toronto!

 

Yesterday it was reported that Canada would begin allowing Americans to cross the border, starting on August 9.  But looking at the calendar we have decided that doesn’t allow enough time to traverse the Canadian locks and return back to our over winter destination (Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton NY). So, although we can almost see Canada from here, we will not make it there this year.  The 1 year boat trip will go into its 3rd year...

We picked up a mooring ball in the wonderfully quiet little Deep Bay in the Park.  It was still cloudy but the rain had stopped.  We did a few projects on the boat - nothing major, worked on a puzzle and made a dinner of maple grazed tofu and jasmine rice with an excellent kale salad (Rick wanted you to know that!).

It was forecast to drop to about 58 degrees during the night - I was excited to maybe use a blanket (it's the little things, people).  Rick was excited about possible meteors. The Perseid Meteor shower is happening now and he was hoping that, far away from city lights, we might see the show. The bright moon, however, had other plans.

Good - night, Moon.  Actually this seems like quite a party moon - it's super bright.

Sun July 18 & Tues July 20: Hanging in Burlington

 In which inertia sets in ...

We got to Burlington in high spirits - we've been here before and have fond memories.  Which we continue to have - we just could do without constant grey clouds, and Western-fire smoke. We got so low-animo from grey, that we just couldn't get off the dock to leave - even after we had run out of things to do in Burlington.  The Ben and Jerry's factory isn't giving tours, the theaters and comedy clubs are closed, the art museum has an exhibit on Bubble Gum Pop (need I say more), etc. We went to the grocery store 4 times in 4 days - that's how little we cared about life...

Great info on Lake Champlain - courtesy of our first restaurant, which put BACON in my clam chowder.  INSPIRED!!!

Lake Champlain is supposed to be a pristine, clear, cold water lake, but over the years we humans have contaminated it in a number of ways.   The lake is filled with aquatic weeds and the Blue-Green algae also known as cyano-bacteria has so taken over the lake that it almost impossible to swim (cyano-bacteria makes a toxin and at high concentrations it isn’t advisable to swim). 

This kind of makes me regret the skinny-dipping...

Public art is always inspiring...

On Tuesday we walked up to the pedestrian zone and had a nice slice of pizza for lunch.  Burlington is a very comfortable small city and we have enjoyed our stay here. 

The downtown mall is great, and reminds me of Boulder ..

And I can't resist a red-hulled sailboat.

Once again we have to consult Atlas Obscura - which encouraged us to go see the flying monkeys on top of the old train station.

Of course we end up in the wrong area of town, because we always do...  Here is the local homeless encampment.

Rick felt badly that I had to put up with so much history, so he was willing to walk two miles to see the tallest filing cabinet in the world!  Totally NOT worth it - but a great excuse to walk.

We accidentally walked by a Lake Champlain Chocolates original store and have to go in (actually, Rick here - it isn’t clear if we were walking to the tallest filing cabinet or the chocolate shop - they happened to be two blocks apart).  They aren't doing factory tours, but I wanted to see the chocolate sculptures!

All edible - and chocolate!

Too pretty to eat.

We understand that Vermont State Senator Bernie Sanders has pushed for a rule that all Vermonters must eat at least 3 ice cream creamees per week in order to support local dairy farmers.  We are certainly doing our part!

Vermont Creamees, an excellent source of calcium!

The local lake cruise boat is docked right behind us, and doing a HOPPING business.  They go out 3-4 times a day, which means that they blow their I'm-backing-up horn that often.  Scaring us to death every. single. time.

The sunset was absolutely beautiful.  We understand it was due to smoke and haze from western fires. Hard to believe that we are getting smoke from over 2000 miles away.  It must be really bad out west.