Fast and brief. We stayed a night on the south wall at Champlain Canal lock #9 on September 12th, two nights at the yacht basin in Fort Edward (where I changed the engine oil and filters), then another two nights (due to weather) in Mechanicville at the free town dock (with electricity).
We departed Mechanicville on September 17, 2011, and haven't stopped for more than one night since.
Kingston, New York at the Kingston Municipal Marina on September 17th after exiting the Champlain Canal and passing through the Federal Lock at Troy.
Haverstraw Bay on the night of September 18th.
Great Kills (Staten Island) New York on September 19th where we had dinner with a good friend, Kevin.
Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 20th where we were lucky enough to get a spot on the dock at Gardner's Basin after a 13 hour, 86 nautical mile day!
Cape May, New Jersey, at the anchorage, on September 21st.
We refueled on Thursday morning then departed Cape May on September 22nd and made it all the way into the Chesapeake where we anchored for the night in Veasey Cove on the Bohemia River just a few miles from the western end of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Delaware Bay was as peaceful as it gets, and we saw the tall ship Danmark following and then passing us on its way up the bay heading to Philadelphia (we assume).
This morning we departed Veasey Cove and caught a fair tide down the upper Chesapeake to Baltimore where we're going to have dinner with Jennifer tonight (it's raining cats and dogs).
Tomorrow we'll head to Solomons and the next day to Norfolk. The weather is predicted to be good for those two legs - all except the 90% chance of rain both days.
Our northern cruise in 2011 to the Erie Canal, Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands, the Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Montreal, Sorel and Lake Champlain.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Into the Champlain Canal - September 12, 2011
After two nights at Button Bay waiting for word about the Champlain Canal and when all the locks would be open, we departed on Sunday, September 11, 2011 heading south after learning that lock C-12 at Whitehall (the northern most lock at the south end of Lake Champlain) had opened for transit. Locks C-4 through C-1 (at the south end of the canal) remain closed. As the Notice To Mariners (NOTAMS) states it:
Mariners are advised that the Champlain Canal from Lock C-1 (Waterford) to Lock C-4 (Schagticoke/Hempstreet Park) remains closed due to high water levels until further notice.
The forecast included winds from the south gusting to 20 mph and with our full exposure to southerly winds in Button Bay, we wanted to find a place to anchor further south that would provide some protection. We identified a potential anchorage at Five Mile Point, but couldn't find any information about that location; nonetheless, we decided to give it a try after concluding that there weren't any other possible anchorages that provided protection from southerly winds. We left Button Bay at 1030, and at 1340 the anchor was down in about 9 feet of water just north of Five Mile Point on the west (New York) side of Lake Champlain. The wind subsided, never reaching 20 mph, and we spent a quiet night there.
This morning we departed Five Mile Point at 0735 in order to get the 30 miles to the start of the Champlain Canal around noon. Since the canal has some low bridges, we lowered the mast while underway and it now sits in a "crutch" on the back deck; with the mast down our "air draft" is a little less than 15 1/2 feet, so we will be able to clear all of the fixed bridges on the Champlain Canal. By 1200 we had exited lock C-12 at Whitehall and were in the Champlain Canal heading south. We stopped for the day at 1515 on the south west side of lock C-9, a nice, quiet spot in a park-like setting. We are the only boat on the long wall.
Weather tomorrow is forecast to be windy with the temperature in the high 70s. We have to do a little engine work to trouble-shoot an overheating issue that came up today, and then we'll move a little further south to lock C-7 and Fort Edward. A friend from Fort Edward, Fred Wehner (who has been helping a lot of boaters get through this area with all the flooding), drove up to see us tonight and to report that there should be plenty of room for us at the Fort Edward Yacht Basin.
Cruising to date: 477H50M - 2973.2 SM
Mariners are advised that the Champlain Canal from Lock C-1 (Waterford) to Lock C-4 (Schagticoke/Hempstreet Park) remains closed due to high water levels until further notice.
The forecast included winds from the south gusting to 20 mph and with our full exposure to southerly winds in Button Bay, we wanted to find a place to anchor further south that would provide some protection. We identified a potential anchorage at Five Mile Point, but couldn't find any information about that location; nonetheless, we decided to give it a try after concluding that there weren't any other possible anchorages that provided protection from southerly winds. We left Button Bay at 1030, and at 1340 the anchor was down in about 9 feet of water just north of Five Mile Point on the west (New York) side of Lake Champlain. The wind subsided, never reaching 20 mph, and we spent a quiet night there.
This morning we departed Five Mile Point at 0735 in order to get the 30 miles to the start of the Champlain Canal around noon. Since the canal has some low bridges, we lowered the mast while underway and it now sits in a "crutch" on the back deck; with the mast down our "air draft" is a little less than 15 1/2 feet, so we will be able to clear all of the fixed bridges on the Champlain Canal. By 1200 we had exited lock C-12 at Whitehall and were in the Champlain Canal heading south. We stopped for the day at 1515 on the south west side of lock C-9, a nice, quiet spot in a park-like setting. We are the only boat on the long wall.
Weather tomorrow is forecast to be windy with the temperature in the high 70s. We have to do a little engine work to trouble-shoot an overheating issue that came up today, and then we'll move a little further south to lock C-7 and Fort Edward. A friend from Fort Edward, Fred Wehner (who has been helping a lot of boaters get through this area with all the flooding), drove up to see us tonight and to report that there should be plenty of room for us at the Fort Edward Yacht Basin.
Cruising to date: 477H50M - 2973.2 SM
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Button Bay - September 10, 2011
Judy arrived from Kansas after a long, frustrating day flying from Wichita to Boston via Dallas, only to find that Colgan Air (a contract airline for USAir and Continental) "couldn't find a crew" to fly from Boston Logan to Plattsburg on the evening of September 5th. Due to Colgan's poor reputation for flights in and out of Plattsburgh (we learned too late) she didn't want to take a chance that the first flight the next morning would have a crew and certainly didn't want to spend the night in the airport (after being told that USAir would not put her up in a hotel for the night). She rented a car from Hertz for a one-way dropoff in Plattsburgh and drove about 240 miles through the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont heading northwest in rain and fog most of the way, took the ferry across Lake Champlain at Gordon Landing, and arrived (in rain) at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin about 0100 on the 6th! It was a terrible experience for her and a lesson for both of us: don't ever trust Colgan Air!
Since we had a rental car for the remainder of the day on Wednesday we did some major reprovisioning at Hannaford's (a great supermarket chain, BTW) and got Sanderling ready to depart the marina the next day.
We departed the Plattsburgh Boat Basin on Wednesday, September 7th and after pumping out the holding tanks arrived at Shelburne Shipyard about 1425 that same day. We had arranged with the shipyard to install a new shaft saver when we were at the yard several weeks earlier, and at 0745 on Thursday (September 8th) morning John came aboard with a new shaft saver and had it installed in short order. We then topped off the water tanks, took on 100 gallons of fuel, and departed at 1105 heading south on the lake.
We stopped for the day a few hours later at Mile Bay where we wanted to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (http://www.lcmm.org/). We took a mooring belonging to the Basin Harbor Club (a resort fronting on the next small bay to the south) http://www.basinharbor.com/. After getting the boat secured, we lowered the dinghy and tied to the small dock where the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has some of its boats, walked up the hill to the museum to ask how to get to the Basin Harbor Club's dock master's office, then walked a mile or so to the office, paid our $20.00 for the night's use of the mooring, and went back to Sanderling for the rest of the day.
On Friday, September 9th, we went ashore again, this time to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. What a great place to learn about the history of Lake Champlain, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The exhibits start with the history of the area with a major emphasis on the contact of cultures in 1609 and Samuel de Champlain "The Father of New France," a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608. There is an exhibit of the 1902 ice yacht Storm King and a collection of dugout and bark canoes, kayaks, rowing skiffs and other small watercraft; the story of the Revolutionary War in the Champlain Valley; an exhibit featuring steamboats, lighthouses, early powerboats, engines and outboard motors; a nautical archeology center where work is underway to preserve artifacts and the 300 shipwrecks in Lake Champlain; a blacksmith shop; an active youth boatbuilding and outdoor education program; and an exhibit of photographs taken by local amateur and professional photographers. One of the things we learned that impressed both of us is that Benedict Arnold wasn't just a traitor; he played a major role fighting for the revolutionaries in the war on Lake Champlain. After touring the LCMM we had a late lunch at the Red Mill Restaurant (part of the Basin Harbor Club) and then headed back to Sanderling.
(Pictures to follow)
We departed Mile Bay and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at 1505, September 9th. The NOAA weather forecast from Burlington, Vermont, predicted winds from the west gusting to 25 mph early the next morning and Mile Bay and our mooring were fully exposed to wind from any direction except the south and east. A very congenial fellow at the 1776 gunboat replica of Philadelphia II suggested several bays on the western shore of the lake, but when we checked them they were either too small and deep, or provided little protection. We ended up in the bay we had originally identified as a good spot, Button Bay, just south of Mile Bay on the eastern shore and fully protected from any northerly winds. As it turned out, the 25 mph gusts did not materialize (consistent with non-NOAA forecasts).
The lower locks and the northern-most lock of the Champlain Canal remain closed today due to high water (the lake level is still three feet above "normal"), so we're going to stay here in Button Bay for at least another day. No rain is forecast until next week, so perhaps the lake level will lower a bit and the canal can reopen to traffic. We'd like to get heading south, but for the time being we are unable to leave Lake Champlain. Not a bad place to be, but it's starting to get chilly up here in the north.
Since we had a rental car for the remainder of the day on Wednesday we did some major reprovisioning at Hannaford's (a great supermarket chain, BTW) and got Sanderling ready to depart the marina the next day.
We departed the Plattsburgh Boat Basin on Wednesday, September 7th and after pumping out the holding tanks arrived at Shelburne Shipyard about 1425 that same day. We had arranged with the shipyard to install a new shaft saver when we were at the yard several weeks earlier, and at 0745 on Thursday (September 8th) morning John came aboard with a new shaft saver and had it installed in short order. We then topped off the water tanks, took on 100 gallons of fuel, and departed at 1105 heading south on the lake.
We stopped for the day a few hours later at Mile Bay where we wanted to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (http://www.lcmm.org/). We took a mooring belonging to the Basin Harbor Club (a resort fronting on the next small bay to the south) http://www.basinharbor.com/. After getting the boat secured, we lowered the dinghy and tied to the small dock where the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has some of its boats, walked up the hill to the museum to ask how to get to the Basin Harbor Club's dock master's office, then walked a mile or so to the office, paid our $20.00 for the night's use of the mooring, and went back to Sanderling for the rest of the day.
On Friday, September 9th, we went ashore again, this time to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. What a great place to learn about the history of Lake Champlain, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The exhibits start with the history of the area with a major emphasis on the contact of cultures in 1609 and Samuel de Champlain "The Father of New France," a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608. There is an exhibit of the 1902 ice yacht Storm King and a collection of dugout and bark canoes, kayaks, rowing skiffs and other small watercraft; the story of the Revolutionary War in the Champlain Valley; an exhibit featuring steamboats, lighthouses, early powerboats, engines and outboard motors; a nautical archeology center where work is underway to preserve artifacts and the 300 shipwrecks in Lake Champlain; a blacksmith shop; an active youth boatbuilding and outdoor education program; and an exhibit of photographs taken by local amateur and professional photographers. One of the things we learned that impressed both of us is that Benedict Arnold wasn't just a traitor; he played a major role fighting for the revolutionaries in the war on Lake Champlain. After touring the LCMM we had a late lunch at the Red Mill Restaurant (part of the Basin Harbor Club) and then headed back to Sanderling.
(Pictures to follow)
We departed Mile Bay and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at 1505, September 9th. The NOAA weather forecast from Burlington, Vermont, predicted winds from the west gusting to 25 mph early the next morning and Mile Bay and our mooring were fully exposed to wind from any direction except the south and east. A very congenial fellow at the 1776 gunboat replica of Philadelphia II suggested several bays on the western shore of the lake, but when we checked them they were either too small and deep, or provided little protection. We ended up in the bay we had originally identified as a good spot, Button Bay, just south of Mile Bay on the eastern shore and fully protected from any northerly winds. As it turned out, the 25 mph gusts did not materialize (consistent with non-NOAA forecasts).
The lower locks and the northern-most lock of the Champlain Canal remain closed today due to high water (the lake level is still three feet above "normal"), so we're going to stay here in Button Bay for at least another day. No rain is forecast until next week, so perhaps the lake level will lower a bit and the canal can reopen to traffic. We'd like to get heading south, but for the time being we are unable to leave Lake Champlain. Not a bad place to be, but it's starting to get chilly up here in the north.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Plattsburgh Boat Basin - September 2, 2011
Wind is blowing 15-20 from the south today, almost as much as when we were anchored at Nichols Point last week. The marina, despite the breakwater which extends to the southern side, and Sanderling are rockin' and rollin' almost as much as our anchorage when we had 25-30 mph winds! At least I can get off the boat by walking along the docks that are rolling and pitching - sea legs are definitely required.
I've just uploaded to our Picasa web site a few photos I took of a catamaran that was damaged when tropical storm Irene passed over Vermont a few days ago. Our blog dated August 29th has some information about how we spent TS Irene at anchor. The photos were taken August 31st the day after we arrived at the marina.
Here's the link to the photos of the catamaran: http://tinyurl.com/3kb6lmx
The photos are the last 8 photos on the page (other photos are a mix from our current cruise).
The catamaran is a 42 foot Venezia with a beam of around 24 feet. She was on a mooring at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin when Irene blew through. People I talked with who witnessed the event said that a total of four boats (all sail) broke their mooring pendants and were blown onto the breakwater which protects the marina and the mooring field. Unfortunately, the breakwater does not provide wind protection from the north, and that is where the strongest winds came from during Irene's passing. I understand that the owner's pendant broke during the height of the storm, as occurred with two of the other boats that went adrift; on the 4th boat, the marina's pendant parted. A fifth boat pulled it's mooring (1500+ pound blocks of concrete) through the mooring field (carefully avoiding other moored boats) before the owner, who was aboard, cut the line and motored into a slip on the south side of the marina. A crew of marina personnel (there was a hurricane party taking place during the storm) went out in a small boat during the storm, pulled the floundering boats from the breakwater and got them into the marina.
The cat is still sitting where she was placed when removed from the water, and I haven't noticed any activity regarding removal of equipment or repairs.
The water level on Lake Champlain at Plattsburg has risen about 1.5 feet since Irene; all of that extra water is creating havoc throughout the region. There was little damage to boats in the marina itself, and minimal damage to the marina. Marina employees have been working the past couple of days to lengthen the chains holding each dock section in place; many sections were listing as a result of chain that was too short to permit the dock to float level at the surface with the increased water height.
Judy is currently in Kansas for her mother's 90th birthday and I'm here in Plattsburgh taking care of the cats and Sanderling. We'll start heading south after Judy returns early next week; hopefully the Champlain Canal will be open to the Hudson River by then.
I've just uploaded to our Picasa web site a few photos I took of a catamaran that was damaged when tropical storm Irene passed over Vermont a few days ago. Our blog dated August 29th has some information about how we spent TS Irene at anchor. The photos were taken August 31st the day after we arrived at the marina.
Here's the link to the photos of the catamaran: http://tinyurl.com/3kb6lmx
The photos are the last 8 photos on the page (other photos are a mix from our current cruise).
The catamaran is a 42 foot Venezia with a beam of around 24 feet. She was on a mooring at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin when Irene blew through. People I talked with who witnessed the event said that a total of four boats (all sail) broke their mooring pendants and were blown onto the breakwater which protects the marina and the mooring field. Unfortunately, the breakwater does not provide wind protection from the north, and that is where the strongest winds came from during Irene's passing. I understand that the owner's pendant broke during the height of the storm, as occurred with two of the other boats that went adrift; on the 4th boat, the marina's pendant parted. A fifth boat pulled it's mooring (1500+ pound blocks of concrete) through the mooring field (carefully avoiding other moored boats) before the owner, who was aboard, cut the line and motored into a slip on the south side of the marina. A crew of marina personnel (there was a hurricane party taking place during the storm) went out in a small boat during the storm, pulled the floundering boats from the breakwater and got them into the marina.
The cat is still sitting where she was placed when removed from the water, and I haven't noticed any activity regarding removal of equipment or repairs.
The water level on Lake Champlain at Plattsburg has risen about 1.5 feet since Irene; all of that extra water is creating havoc throughout the region. There was little damage to boats in the marina itself, and minimal damage to the marina. Marina employees have been working the past couple of days to lengthen the chains holding each dock section in place; many sections were listing as a result of chain that was too short to permit the dock to float level at the surface with the increased water height.
Judy is currently in Kansas for her mother's 90th birthday and I'm here in Plattsburgh taking care of the cats and Sanderling. We'll start heading south after Judy returns early next week; hopefully the Champlain Canal will be open to the Hudson River by then.
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