June 27 - 29 Boat cleaning at Rouse's Point

Our friends Becky and Grover headed back to Asheville, and Greg and Lu decided to stay in Montreal until mid-week, Christine and I took the train back to Rouse's Point, NY.  We are here now working on the boat, cleaning and getting ready for the trip into Canadian waters.  Gaines Marina has a good mechanic.  He is rebuilding the carb on the "nearly new" mercury engine on the dinghy -- apparently the victim of a heavy dose of ethanol.   And we are waiting on parts to rebuild the oil exchange pump for all the diesel engines, which mysteriously bit the dust even though we have only had a few oil changes on this boat.  However, this down time is giving us time to catch up on other boat workings that are needed.   And, we can explore the immediate surroundings.  The first and second pics below shows the Lighthouse Marina that is closed due to the flooding.  It had floating docks attached to an old railroad bridge.   You can see how the entire marina was destroyed during the flood over the past month.  The third pic shows the mooring field overlooking Gaines Marina -- the wind stopped for about 3 minutes and I got a pic of a nearly calm lake.   Finally, the boaters around us joined us for some cheer.  They were all born in foreign countries: Chezch, Russia, and Canada.  We are learning alot from folks like these. 

June 25-26 A few more pics of Montreal

This appends the previous post.  Just a few more pics of Montreal.  The first pic is the Cathedral of Notre Dame, built around 1650.  Next is a pic of a do-wop band at the Jazz Fest.  Then, a pic of Christine and I raising a glass for relaxation at the spa.

June 25 - 26 in Montreal

 We were able to romp around Montreal for the weekend of June 25-26.  It was the opening weekend of the Montreal Jazz Fest.  We quickly learned that it was not only about jazz as many of the bands played blues, rocknroll, and even do-wop. It is a huge festival that occurs throughout about 2 square miles of the town, and we expect there were many additional thousands of people there above the average.  Everyone spoke French - except us.  But it did not matter because they all also spoke English. They even understood our redneck english !!   After a tour of the historic district, where many of the buildings were constructed in 1645, we enjoyed the eateries of Montreal.  The waitstaff at all the places we visited were outstanding.  And so, with food, fun, history, and music, Montreal is a great visit. On Sunday, Christine and I visited the spa call Strom for thermal and message therapy.  This took 4 hours and it topped off the collective celebration of Chrisine's birthday, my birthday, and our anniversary. Here is a pic of Becky, Grover, Greg, Lu and Christine at the start of our tour of Old Town Montreal.

  

June 24 -- Off the boat and on to Montreal

It was time to get Becky and Grover to Montreal to catch their flight.  We were supposed to get them there on BlueSkies, but that was impossible due to the closure of the Chambley canal on the Richelieu river.  So, we all decided to take a train to Montreal.  It is only about 50 miles from our location.  We boarded the train at Rouse's Point and after about a mile, we stopped at Canadian customs.  We waited for over 2 hours as customs officials checked every person on the train.  When we got back going again, we got to Montreal within an hour.   We reached the hotel le Roberval, where friends Greg and Lu were waiting for us.  Yep, Greg and Lu were going to board BlueSkies in Montreal, but new plans are now being discussed.  One thing we learned early in  this trip -- take it day by day -- cause all plans will change.   The picture below shows Becky, Grover, Chris and I waiting for the train at Rouses Point.

June 23 - at the Canadian border

We pulled the anchor on a rainy, windy morning and headed north to a small border town, Rouse's Point, NY.  A sizeable 2-day storm was just coming to this location as we docked up at Gaines Marina.  The marina is just getting back in service after the flood.  We saw about 20 boats per day being put in the water.  A bigger surprise was the number of canadian boats coming to the docks in order to pass through US customs.  Today starts a week long Canadian holiday, and it seems that hundreds of canadian boats are heading for Lake Champlain.  It provided alot of entertainment watching boats trying to get in and out of tight, conjested docking situations in windy, stormy conditions.   However, as of this writing, all has gone well.  The picture below shows the marina from our slip,  Notice the American and Canadian flags are flying side by side.   Almost all the boats here were Canadian, and all the cars in the marina parking lot had Quebec license tags.  And most everyone spoke French.  We are getting ready for a cultural transition.

June 21-22 Valcour Island

We spent most of the day hiking around Valcour Island on June 21.  The island is 2mi long by 1 mile wide, and by hiking the perimeter we were able to get ample exercise. The island is part of the NY State Park system.  The theme of the day was bird watching and plant identification.  Several of the coves had beautiful pebble beaches that provided entertainment for Becky and Grover, who are rock collectors.  The lake is freckled with islands that are large rock outcrops that have been covered with plants and trees over the years.  The island next to Valcour had hundreds of gulls -- it looked like every inch of the island had a bird on it. We even took the dinghy over to get a good close look at it.  On June 22, we wanted to visit Burton Island State Park in Vermont, but it was closed due to flooding.  Instead, we took the dinghy for a 5 mile ride to Plattsburg, NY and toured the town.  It was the site of the battle of Plattsburgh during the war of 1812.  The first pic shows the gulls on what we call bird island.  The next pic shows a view of the many rock outcrop type islands throughout the lake.   The last two pics show us on Valcour, that day was designated the "on land nature day"

June 20 - Valcour Island on Lake Champlain

Today we called the lock master on the Chambly canal to find out the conditions because today we scheduled the trip to start through the locks in Canada.  Due to the recent flood, the locks will not be opened this week -- in fact -- they are trying hard to open the locks by July 1 !!   That will put us behind schedule by about 2 weeks.  But, it gives us a chance to explore beautiful Lake Champlain.  We left out of Mallets Bay, Vt.  and arrived at Valcour Island where we are now anchored for the nite.  The first picture below is me cooking out on the boat.  Next is a pic from the boat overlooking the Adirondacks at sunset.

June 18 - 19 Burlington VT

On the morning of June 18, we were struck by the news that Lake Champlain was really flooded because the docks in Burlington were still closed.  In fact, while calling around north and south of Burlington, it was hard to find any marina's that were open.  We did find one at Mallets Bay and launched around 1000 hrs and arriving at 1400 hrs.  Then we worked the rest of the day on the boat, doing laundry, food shopping, etc and getting ready for a fun time the next day.  When June 19th arrived, we were ready to celebrate Christine's 60th birthday by touring the unique town of Burlington.  A quick cab ride to town and scrumptious breakfast at Penny Cluse -- mimosa's, bloody mary's,  set the tone for the day.  The waterfront was breathtaking and we toured a museum to learn about the sea life in the lake.  We saw large sturgeons and fish whose eyes light up in the dark. Burlington is also known for its brew pubs, like Magic Hat is based here.  So, a brew pub and then dinner polished off the day.  The first picture above shows the center of the town of Burlington, where they really cater to the tourism industry.   The next two pic's show the Bay of Burlington.  Finally, a pic of one of many brew pubs -- and I got a glass here to add to my glass collection at Bennetts Point !

June 17 - Fort Ticonderoga

By 0715 hours, we had passed through Lock 12 for the 3rd time in two days.  Now we were passed the canal system and entering the southern portion of Lake Champlain.  It was flooded. The lake is about 3 foot above flood stage.  Regardless, we pushed on until we arrived at Fort Ticonderoga.  We anchored in at the mouth of the La Chute river and took the dinghy to shore.  Then, we hiked up the hillside to the fort.  It was grand and there was alot to see.   The history centered around the time period of 1756 till around 1800.  They had performers in 1776 period clothing and they would perform re-enachments from time to time.  We also visited Sarah Pell's garden, called the King's garden, that was designed by one of first women landscape architects.   Back to the boat and on to Point Bay marina.   This is one of the few marinas that is open.  Most marinas and fuel docks are closed due to the current high water levels.  The first picture below shows the high water in the trees on the lake.  The second picture shows a view of the valley as we are entering the lake.  Next is a pic of Fort Ticonderoga from the boat.  And finally, after a long day, the view from the aft deck of the boat while docked at Point Bay marina.

June 16 - Chugging up the NY Canal

It was clear and sunny when we departed Fort Edwards around 0700 hours.  Within 5 minutes we needed to pass through Lock 7.   It was another day of locking through and passing under low bridges.  Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and every bridge and lock made a new challenge out of this canal made by humans.  We arrived in Whitehall by noon at the city docks where we stayed for the night.  We had plenty of time to visit the museum.  Here we learned about the history of the southern Lake Champlain valley.  We also had enough time to walk to a store for some provisions.  One of the best highlights of the day was going through Lock 12 at Whitehall.  It must have been the last day of school for the 4th grade students who lined up at the lock to see us through.   Fortunately for them, they got to see us come back through the lock because we missed the city dock at the entrance to the lock.  They hooted and hollered at our situation, and the lockmaster had fun with us too.  Below is a picture of 4th graders at Lock 12.  Also below is a picture of Skenes castle taken from the aft deck of the boat while we were docked in Whitehall.

June 15 - Locking through toward Lake Champlain

This was possibly the most challenging day so far -- how to get through the locks and get under low bridges.  Christine really wanted the Champlain canal route rather than the Erie canal because of the great scenery.  And there are wonderful great scenic views throughout this route.  But, you have to work for it.  We are going through locks to raise us up to the level of Lake Champlain, which is about 200 ft above the water level at Troy, NY.   Today, we went through 7 locks, several of them raised us up about 20 feet each.  But, at the first lock, the lockmaster had us measure the boat height, which turned out to be 16'10",   He was not going to let us on the canal system if we were 17 feet or above.  And for good reason--at lock 3 there is a 17 foot fixed bridge.  We crept up to that bridge and Grover stood on top of the aft deck and literally pulled us under the bridge because we only had less than 2 inches of clearance and boat bounces when I give it some throttle. But we made it.  It was a long but beautiful day and we made it to Fort Edwards.  Below are pictures with Becky and Christine at a historic Fort Edwards tavern, at the locks, and the famous 17' bridge (in the far distance)  that nearly took off our radar.

June 14 -- At the top of the Hudson River

We cruised all day in the rain.  It was about 50 degrees, cold, windy and raining most of the day.  Grover piloted the boat with his eagle eyes looking through the fog.  We past Albany, NY and made it to Troy where the start of the NY Canal System starts and the locking through begins.   We decided to stay at Troy City docks because the crusing guide rated it fairly high, but that was not the case.   We had a precarious docking because one dockhand instructed us at one place and the dockmaster motioned us to another place.  It turns out that the dock hand did not even work here, but helped out for tips !!  Unfortunately, I decided to fuel up here, even though this place was run down.  And, they had just run out of fuel because a 92 foot Lazzara had just taken over 1000 gallons of fuel -- we waited over an hour while that boat fueled up and then we waited for the fuel truck.  So, I am nervous about what kind of infectous fuel disease might be getting to the engines.  That will be another adventure.   The photos below show one of the fabulous lighthouses along the Hudson River, and then Grover the River Pilot, and then us at the Troy docks trying to make things work.

June 13 - on the Hudson to Kingston NY

Early departure from Newburgh let us arrive by 1030 in Kingston NY.   We past Hyde Park where the Rockafeller's had a mansion.  But the hillsides were dotted with mansion along the way to Kingston.  Alot of the trip underway was trying to find a mechanic to look at the dinghy motor, but, we could not find one.   So, we docked up at the City Docks in Kingston.   There we asked Karen the dockmaster about a mechanic and as luck would have it, she works in the afternoons at a marine repair shop.  So, she took the motor at noon and had it back to us by nightfall.   Luckily, no major repair.   We visited the Hudson River Maritime Museum that gave us a good dose of the rich history of the shipbuidling industry here, along with "ice racing" on the river.   The lighthouses along the way are a real treat. Shown below is the lighthouse at Esopus which starts the narrow channel approach into Kingston.  Also, see Grover and I carrying the dinghy motor for repair.  Notice that Grover,  the younger man, is carrying most of the weight !

June 12 - Hudson Highlands

We travelled up the Hudson Highlands, perhaps the most majestic views of the entire Hudson River Valley.   It was a short day, only 15 miles of being underway because our destination was Newburgh, NY in order to take a tour of Bannerman's Island.  We past West Point on our way up river - great, large old stone structures.   We docked up at Torches Marina and boarded a tour boat for the island.   Bannerman was a buyer and seller of artillery hardware, such as cannons, rifles, black powder.   He stored millions of articles in castle like structures on the island from 1880 till about 1930.   The structures have deterioated, but a group is trrying to restore the structures and the island vegetation.   Our ticket purchases will help that effort.   Here we are on Bannerman's Island overlooking the great Hudson River Highlands.

June 11 - Up the Hudson River

The four of us launched early out of NYC harbor.  First a drive by the Statue of Liberty so Becky could get a good photo opportunity.  Then heading north on the Hudson River.  We past the industrial parts of the great city.  Then past Yonkers.   And heading north the signs of human development started fading away.   There were still a few large commercial barges on the river, but not as many as in NYC.  We were approach the great Hudson River Valley.  We started seeing majestic houses embedded in beautiful forested mountainous landscapes.  Our destination was an anchorage outside of Bear Mountain where we planned to hike back to a lake to see the "muted swan", a species that makes no noise.   But it was the first time to fire up the engine dinghy since last year, and, it was not working properly, so instead of a hike, we all settled back and drank French Martini(s) on the boat.   With remarkable luck, the muted swans came to see us !!  Here is photo of a mom with her young on her back !

June 10 --On foot in NYC

Becky and Grover met up with us yesterday at Liberty Landing Marina. We are staying on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, but only a short water taxi ride to Manhattan. We spent the day in Manhattan on June 10 : Times Square, Rockafeller Center, Central Park, the Financial District. It was a great romping day and nice to be off the boat for a bit. Here are Becky and Christine "on top of the rock".

NYC on June 9

We were underway very early from Masanquan in order to have smoother cruising on the ocean from Masanquan, NJ to New York City. We were surprised how smooth the seas were, even though the weather forcasted 2 and 3 foot waves. We motored into New York Harbor, under the Narrows Bridge and soon came up on a pretty looking site: The statue of Liberty. We arrived around 1030 and it was quite foggy, so the picture below is about as clear as we could see that day.

Made it to Masanquan NJ

We decided to go inside today, June 8, on the New Jersey ICW.   We got a late start and the waves in the ocean were already high enough that it would not be fun--especially for about a 9 hour trip to Masanquan.  The ICW water was flat with alot of marsh lands.  It reminded us of  the ICW around Bennetts Point, so it was like being at home!  The photo below is taken from our dockage at Masanquan.  The railroad bridge is closing and there is about a 3 knot outgoing tide.   This is called the most dangerous place on the ICW because underpowered sailboats cannot overcome the current and they crash into the bridge.  But there were no crashes today, just alot of boats.

Atlantic City anchorage MIShap

We left Cape May by 0630 and arrived at Atlantic City before noon with great expectations to see the area.  But alas, that as we were anchoring for our first attempt we snagged a mooring ball and chain around our port engine prop.   After about 2 hours of freediving to attempt unravelling the rascal, we finally called Boat US, which turned out we are covered for their services.   A hefty set of bolt cutters set us free and we are anchored now in safe waters.  A great start of the day on the ocean from Cape May to Atlantic City, and a nerve racking afternoon chained to a mooring ball.   Lets have peace this night.   Here is LH with the famous mooring ball that snagged us.

At Cape May, NJ

Our second day on the loop trip was quite successful.  We had to navigate the C&D Canal and then Deleware Bay.   The bay could be quite formidable during if going against the tide, but we were lucky and caught the outgoing tide at 0600 am.  That put us in Cape May by 1400 hrs and plenty of time to take a bike ride to the Cape May Lighthouse and then a tour of the historic district.  Cape May has alot to offer: beaches, historic districts, wildlife, ocean, and more.  A place to return to...
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UNDERWAY AT LAST !!

Today is June 5, 2011.  Christine and I are finally underway to complete America's Great Loop.  This was fairly hectic day as we left from Bennetts Point, SC this morning at 4:30 am.  After a short plane trip we arrived in Baltimore around 9 am.   And we were finally underway around 11:30 am this morning.   We will see what adventures are ahead !!