2011-10-02 - in Havre de Grace, MD

Another lovely Blue Heron

It was another cold, drizzly day.  We all woke up feeling like a warm breakfast so we got suited up and headed out.  We were just on the outer part of the town - a few blocks and we would be sure to find something!  Well, we felt like we walked for miles.  In all actuality, I think that it was about a mile, but it seemed like nothing was open.  We finally stumbled upon MacGregors restaurant and had, what seemed, the best warm meal ever! After our lovely breakfast we decided to brave a little further walk to the grocery store.  We were so close that it would be a shame not to get there.  We were in need of a major shop as our ship stores were beginning to get a little low.  I enticed Connor with an engaging game of 'I spy' which kept him going for the next 20 minutes.  We finally made it to the grocery store and filled our ca rt! (it's always a great day when you fill up at the supermarket!).  We grabbed a taxi and hauled all of our bags back to the boat.    

Once it was all sorted away Connor had remembered that the lighthouse and museum were open today and he wanted to go.  He and Kerry went while Dylan and I warmed up in the boat and read stories!  After they returned we heard a knock on the boat and it was Connor's friend from yesterday to see if Connor wanted to come to the park to play.  It was so nice of them to come back and Connor spent another 2 hours at the park.  He returned and turned in early....it was such a busy day!  My day, however, was not over.  I ended up loading up the bike cart with our laundry and biked to the laundromat.  It was located near the grocery store that we had walked to in the morning.  It was becoming a necessity that we do this soon.   Busy, busy day!




Breaking up our walk with a little fun!

 

2011-10-01 - to Havre de Grace, MD

We are now in a position that we can slow down for a bit.  It has been quite hectic (still pleasant, but hectic) for the first bit of the trip.  The beginning was, of course, challenging due to the closure of the Erie Canal and all the uncertainty.  Not to mention the extra 500 miles that we had to do to go around it.  This last bit had the jumps out in the Ocean and the last day on Delaware Bay.  Now, that we have these milestones out of the way, we can relax a bit and not feel the need to do 10 hours every day!  We did our school in the morning.  Dylan was in his standing sling as we sang some songs that he could participate in.  We left the anchorage for Havre de Grace at 12:30pm.  

"Mom, are you serious...get me out of this thing".
"OK, push me one more time - and then, get me out!"



The trip was only 3 hours.  Most of that we stayed below and continued with school work while Kerry drove.  There are a few marinas and anchorages here.  I had favoured going into the first marina as this is close to the main park downtown.  We have been here before, and I knew that Connor would just love to jump off as soon as we land to blow off a bit of energy.  The entrance to the marina was a bit tricky, however.  As we approached the depths were starting to read quite shallow...2.9, 2.7, 2.5 feet.  We seemed to do fine as we can handle those depths...but, when we landed at the gas dock, the attendant informed us that a lot of the boats were actually locked in as the entrance way has been silted in.  We continued to learn that there was another tropical storm (Lee) that hit this area around a week and a half ago.  We had learned that they had to release some of the dams which brought lots of muddy water from the Susquehanna river into the Havre de Grace basin.  The docks showed water level marks almost 2-3 feet over the docks.  The cleats on the docks were all wrapped in grasses further identifying the high water levels.  It seems like everywhere we have been, water damage has been prevalent.  Connor did, indeed, waste no time running to the park.  Within a few minutes, one of the kids asked him to play 'Transformers' with them.  After a lively game that group disbanded and Connor took it upon himself to ask another family (a father and two children) if he could play with them as they were playing 'tag'.  He and the boy played very well together.  He must have been at the park for 3 hours enjoying the company of his new friend.  The sad thing is about meeting friends, especially 'land' friends, is that we move on.  He does fine with it though, which is great.  I was at the park as well with Dylan.  He just loves the slide and swings - except....he is getting very long....and not quite fitting the little swing anymore.  :(

Connor brought his new friend back to the boat to show them around.  Although it was a chilly and drizzly day today we all had a nice time.

The dockbox - showing the water stain about 1/2 way up.
Also note the grasses in the hose support. 



2011-09-30 - to Chesapeake City, NJ



Historic Chesapeake City from the water



A lighthouse in  Delaware Bay

 We set our alarm to head out early this morning.  Skipper Bobs guide suggested leaving two hours after low tide.  This meant an 'almost tolerable' 6:00am.   A few other boats anchored in the harbour also are avid Skipper Bob readers because there was a little bit of an anchorage parade going on at this early hour - a lot of red and green navigation lights moving through the dark anchorage.  The sun was soon to rise which was great.  It took about an hour to get through the uneventful Cape May Canal linking Cape May with the Delaware Bay.  There are limitations to this canal.  If your mast clearance is more than 56 feet...you have to go on the outside.  This was a much calmer alternative and we were glad that our mast is only 47 feet.   We didn't know what to expect on the Delaware Bay.  The winds were favourable as they weren't opposing the current.  We had a nice South/South-West wind which made for a very brisk sail.  With the current in our favour and the wind, we did between 9-11 knots the entire time.  There was still quite a bit of debris on the water which required a sharp and scanning eye at all times.  We arrived at the C+D Canal at the top of the Delaware Bay at 12:30pm. 

Another calm canal with lots of interesting bridges filled the next 2 hours of motoring.  We arrived at our destination, Chesapeake City, at 2:30pm.  We dropped anchor and jumped in the dinghy to explore this very old town full of gift shops and antique stores.  As we were coming back we met a lovely family from Quebec who were just anchoring on a boat called Larose des Vents.  They are a family of 5 and are also on their way south.  Finally, another boat heading our way! Connor ended up jumping onto their boat to play with their children.  Unfortunately, they were too good at their english to entice Connor to try out his french.  They had a great time, though!

2011-09-29 - to Cape May, NJ



The 'rage' coming into Cape May Inlet

 We left the dock 7am, heading for Cape May.  It was still a bit choppy out there, but we all did great.  Connor got his bed out again in the cockpit and snoozed for half of it.  We didn’t do school in the past few days.  The bouncing makes it very difficult to be inside.  We’ll have to hit it hard again once we get to the Chesapeake.  During the passage, we could see lightening in the distance.  We didn’t get hit with that but we did get about 3 hard rain squalls.  We were thankful for the radar as it could tell us what shape this rain system was and when we would get out of it.  They were all short lived (<5 min).   The highlight today was when we saw a WHALE!  I was at the helm and all of a sudden I saw a puff of water coming from the waters about 100 feet in front of the boat.  I thought I was seeing things but called Kerry and Connor out.  Kerry was out first and then the whale came up out of the surface and we could see the dorsal fin.  By the time Connor came out, the whale had moved away.  We kept searching and then saw another blow and then the tail come out of the water.  Very cool.  As we entered the Cape May Inlet we experienced a ‘rage’.  This occurs, I believe, when you have opposing wind and current.   The water was leaving the inlet and the wind was blowing against it.  This creates very large and chunky waves.  We just had to keep riding them and moving forward.   Our speed would go down to 0-2 knots as we rode the wave up and then speed up to 7 knots as we were coming down the wave.  Hi5 (and Kerry) handled this well.    We pulled in to gas dock and the currents inside there were crazy.  The man there said that the extreme tides were caused by the ‘Perigee’.   I had not heard that term before, but it has something to do with the moon phases.  We anchored east of the Coast Guard station and breathed another sigh of relief.  Throughout the day more and more sailboats were coming in.  We are finally seeing more boats heading south which is great.  These last few days are probably the biggest outside jumps that we need to do.  Tomorrow we head up the Cape May canal to the Delaware Bay and then through the C+D Canal (Chesapeake/Delaware Canal).  Then, we will slow it down a bit and try to enjoy the journey.

2011-09-28 - to Atlantic City, NJ

It was an early start today.  Not as early as the fleet of fishing boats leaving /clanging at 3am!  So, at 6:15 am, together with Ilira we headed out.  It was a very rocky day. The waves and chop were doing Connor and I in.  Connor ended up sleeping on and off in the cockpit.  He handled it well.  The plan was to go all of the way to Cape May, if the weather and seas were fine.  If not, we would head into Atlantic City.  We ended up making that call early.  There was no need to be out in that, if we didn’t have to.  Ilira, on the other hand, kept going to Cape May.   I don’t think that we could have done 6 more hours!  We pulled into Atlantic  City and pulled up to a dock and called it a night.

2011-09-27 - in Manasquan Inlet, NJ

We woke up bright and early this morning to sqeeeeze our way out of the Glimmer Glass bridge.  We went through it yesterday, and knew we could fit, but now it was high tide.  (Yesterday we came in on the low).  Would this change anything?...we would see.  With all fenders hanging...we managed to slip through.  Kerry kept Hi5 pointing straight and on the wall and I just stood there with my trusted boat hook to ensure that we didn’t get too close.  Once again we survived.  Whew.  As we left the bridge we noticed that the fog had really come in again.  It was so thick that I made it difficult for us to find the first gas dock that we just wanted to land on so that we could make a decision on what to do.  We decided very quickly that we would not proceed today and find a spot to stay for tonight. The gas attendant told us about some of the restaurants in the small cove near the entrance of Manasquan that allow boats on their docks if they eat there.  Perfect.  We headed over there, but we could barely see in front of the boat.  I went up to the bow to see if adding 30 feet would help.  It was very disorienting.  We landed at one of the restaurants.   Kerry, went up to check with them if it would ok to stay on the dock.  They didn’t mind…but, had a policy of 'overnighting'.   Once we got settled, we decided to take a bike ride over to the boardwalk amusement area.  We checked the internet and found out that they also had an aquarium.  It was a wonderful place.  They even had seals, penguins, alligators, sharks, etc.  Most of the animals were rescues.  The seals were found injured just out on the ocean close to the aquarium, and the alligators were pets, etc.   The boys really enjoyed it.   It was a great way to spend a very foggy day. 

On our way back we stopped in at a local bait and tackle shop and purchased our first rod and reel.  We then biked several blocks to another marine store that had the rod holder that fits on stainless steel bars.  When we arrived back at the boat another sailboat called, Ilira, was slowing down to inquire about the dock we were on.  We grabbed their lines and had a quick chat.  He told us of all the excitement he just had coming from New York.  It was almost identical to our ‘excitement’.  He was glad to be stopped.  We ended up going to another dock at a restaurant together and both he and Kerry chatted with the owner to see if we could stay on the dock with a meal.  It would be fine.  We cleaned up quickly and had a wonderful meal. 

2011-09-26 - to Manasquan Inlet, NJ

What a day.  Where do I begin?  We left the anchorage near the statue at 9am to catch the flush leaving the harbour.  We are close to the last bridge, the Varazanno-Narrows bridge.  All major ship traffic travels under the 4260 foot span bridge with a 228 foot clearance – it’s very impressive.  There were a few moments that took our breath away today – here is the first.  As were approaching the bridge, fog started to settle in a bit and what comes out of the fog was a monster freighter.  No problem, we are far away on the other side of the channel.  Just then we heard a loud, HOOONNNK.  It was the ship indicating something….now, what was does that mean again….hummm….oh, my – now we remember – it means that it is about to turn….towards us.  All in all we were fine.  It is just that we are so small  in the harbour compared to most of the other traffic.   The fog seemed to settle in more as we continued to leave. Our radar was spinning away looking for other ships.   We stuck to the outside of the channel  and plotted our course on the paper charts as well – just to be extra cautious.  Our charts, however, didn’t align well with respect to the bouy markers.  We had our GPS which is the ‘newest’ and should have the most up to date information….so, we stuck with that.  We would watch for channel markers as they slowly appeared into our vision.  They were right on track.  We plotted them and looked for the next.  The next nervous moment was when we heard another ‘HOOOONNK” – another ship is out there and about to turn.  We looked on the chart and determined that it was approaching the channel and would go right by us.  We didn’t even see it, but new it went by as the wake rocked our little boat.    Another ship appeared out of the fog, but we were in the straight park of the channel, no sweat.  As we approached the outermost part of the channel we breathed a sigh of relief – we would be heading south now and maintain 3 miles off of the shore line for Manasquan Inlet.  What could go wrong?  About ¾ of the way to Manasquan, I was inside with the kids when I the engines reved up and Kerry said something that I couldn’t quite make out…but, I wouldn’t be able to repeat it anyway I am sure if I did know what he said.  He tracked something on the radar that was coming at us quick.  Before he could really assess what it was it appeared out of the fog.  It was a large sport fish boat that was going at least 30 knots, tearing through the fog.   It went right behind us  and no harm….but, he should not have been travelling that fast.  We were heading in to the Inlet –phew – what a day.  You probably think that that was the last thing that would get our hearts pumping…..well, you are wrong.  To land in an anchorage that Skipper Bob had described we have to go under the Glimmer Glass Bridge.  This bridge, we now have read, was built in 1898 and has most of the original mechanisms used to open it.  The bridge operator explained that the max width in the bridge is 26 feet (we are 18) but when the bridge opens the max clearance under is 52 feet as it doesn’t open all of the way (we are 47 feet).  He said he would open it and we can make a decision.  Sailboats can make it through if they stick to the left side of the bridge…but with a catamaran our mast is in the centre of our boat which is over a couple of feet of a regular sailboat.  So, Kerry told the bridge operator that we’ll ‘take a run at it’…. Hummm.  Anyway, we approached the bridge.  We had fenders down, Kerry kept us close to the wall, I grabbed the boat hook to keep us as close as we could.  When I heard the operator say, ‘your good’ – that’s when I thought we could now breathe a sigh of relief.  Because what else could go wrong?   As we approached this very small anchorage there was one boat in the water that was submerged up to the roof. We would tell that it was on the bottom and that the water it was in wasn’t too deep.   We made a nervous but steady approach and managed to throw our hook down in about 5-6 feet of water and turned the engines off.  Whew!   Now we could relax.

2011-09-25 - to Statue of Liberty anchorage, NJ

 We woke up in New York ready to take on another day.  We headed for the subway to brave a trip to the south end of Manhattan to check out Battery Park, Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Tribute.  Negotiating the system with a wheelchair proved to be a little more difficult than determining which train to take.  As with most subway systems, stairs and turnstiles are common.  We ended up taking him out and piecing it through bit by bit.  On the return trip we were told we could go out of the ‘emergency exit’ door…but the screeching alarm made us feel that we were in an evacuation.  There was a benefit run all around the 9\11 site that was called ‘Tunnels to Towers’.  It was a tribute to the fallen firefighters of 9/11, from what I gathered, and after there was a parade of firefighters complete with bagpipes.  It finished off with a live band singing the national anthem and other patriotic songs.  Lots of Cheering and clapping could be heard for hours.  We managed to find a local park to hang out and relax to enjoy the moment.  We jumped back on the subway and headed back to the boat.  We were planning our next move as we needed to make a decision whether to stay on the dock for another night…or anchor out.  Kerry checked the tide tables which show which way the flow will be going and what time.  We need to go with the tide as it can be about 2-3 knots.  If we are going against the flow….we would only be doing 3-4 knots.  It was determined that we had only 1 hour left to get off the dock, if we wanted to ‘go with the flow’.  We cast our lines (after checking under our boat for any trapped debris) and headed back on the Hudson.  The Hudson was rather quiet as it was Sunday which made it a little easier trip, albeit very rolly from the few passing boats.  We even buried our bow a bit.  Our destination was an anchorage near the Statue of Liberty.  It was listed in Skipper Bobs as a nice anchorage by the Liberty State Park.  It checked out completely – as it was exactly as described.   We dropped anchor and heated up a bit of supper.  Connor grabbed his harness and began swinging away under the watchful eye of Lady Liberty. 

"Guess what I lost today?"  "I am wiggling it with my tongue!"

2011-09-24 - to New York City, NY

 

We pulled out of the anchorage and headed to NYC.  The trip only took us 4 hours with the tide going with us (we were going over 9 knots).  We approached the 79th Street Basin and grabbed one of the mooring balls just for the moment, until we had further instruction from the dockmaster.  He was quick to come on the radio to inform us that multihulls were not allowed in the mooring area.  This was news to us.  Apparently, a catamaran or two had damaged their mooring ball lines and now we are not allowed on the balls.  Oh well, we were offered the dock and took that instead.  We headed to town on our bikes.  79th Street Boat Basin is located close to Riverside Park, which heads north to south.  It was a great ride on the bike paths.  We saw the large carrier, Intrepid - it was very impressive.  Connor was really anxious about going to Toys-R-Us in Times Square so we cut in and headed towards the square.  He bought a new Nerf gun that he was saving up for and was just over the moon about it.  We ended the ride home by going for a bike ride in Central Park.  We covered a lot of ground today and had such a nice time together.   The one exciting thing that happened in the city was later in the day motorcades with sirens were travelling several of the streets.  You could hear their sirens coming from several groups.  As one went by us you could see the men in matching suits pointing out the car, talking into their headsets and then, all of a sudden, they burst out of their cars and went charging down the street. Several people ran to see what the commotion was all about.  I noticed that one of the cars had 'Turkey' written on it and then it occurred to me that the United Nations were having their general assembly this week. Perhaps, these cars were transporting representatives from the United Nations?   It was a site out of the movies, for sure.

2011-09-23 - to Haverstraw Bay, NY (Anchorage)

It was another 'log-dodging' day on the Hudson.  Kerry was out there for all of it again.  Connor was in and out helping with the navigation and  log spotting.  It is really beautiful on this stretch of the Hudson.  There are a lot of Mansion-museums on this stretch - beautiful, large homes on the hills.  We went by West Point as well, which got Connor snapping numerous pics with his camera. 

2011-09-22 - to Kingston, NY

We now have our mast on and are back in business.  We were the first in line to get our mast on this morning.  We worked busily re-attaching all the lines and finished off with a deck scrub.  After going through all of the locks, Hi-5 was ready for a ‘bath’. It felt great to be put back together.   There is another family here with 3 children and I think that they are planning of being out for 5 years!?  Connor was thrilled when we arrived, as we haven’t met any other boats on our trip so far.  When we arrived, however, the children all spoke French only.  Connor really wanted to try to play, but couldn’t get past the fact that his French couldn’t pull him through.  The good thing is that it gave him the understanding of the importance of learning the other language.  I hope that it sparks some more enthusiasm.  It was interesting this morning, is I could hear a recorded English lesson coming from their boat.  I think it would have been great to switch kids for a while...I teach their kids, English and they teach Connor, French.   I think it would have been a great opportunity.

We had lunch at the marina restaurant.  The waitress was glad to have guests as, she explained, some people are staying away because of the flooding.  Their whole restaurant was filled with water but they worked tirelessly, to dry things out and get things running again.  Evidence of the flooding was apparent.  The wooden floor was warped or boards were missing but, we had a wonderful lunch and headed out for a 4-hour motor down the Hudson River.  There was a lot of debris still on the river.  Nothing large, like floating boats, see  http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=UCN9f6bcpO0  but odd things such as propane tanks, hats, barrels, etc.  The vegetation (logs and grasses) were also prevalent.  We had to stop every 30 minutes or so to clear the propellers even though Kerry was doing his best to steer around!   As we turned up the creek into Kingston harbour, we saw this bald eagle sitting at the waters edge. We landed in Kingston, NY at 6:30pm, and enjoyed a quick dinner and Connor stayed for over an hour on the harness out front. 

2011-09-21 - to Catskills, NY

the first of many little lighthouses along the way

We arrived in the Catskills to get our mast back on later in the day.  We had heard that they had suffered a lot of damage during Hurricane Irene.  It became apparent as we pulled off the Hudson and headed up the river towards the marina.  There were several marinas along this strip.  All marinas looked as is they sustained a lot of damage during the flooding.  Here is a quick youtube video of the boats 'leaving ' the entrance way to the river  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmXIT_3m8Ag.  When we arrived at Hop-O-Nose marina it was apparent that they had been busy during the last few weeks repairing docks, etc.   They told us the whole story.  They had removed most of the boats in the marina and placed they up on their stands well away from the waters edge.  When they came back all of the boats were off of their stands and tossed around the yard.  Apparently the water had come up so high that the boats lifted off of their stands and were floating around.  Some were recovered, but some were not even found.  I just cannot imagine so much water and what that must have been like for the people.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9qxybMAca8&feature=related

2011-09-20 - to Waterford, NY

Well, we finally made it to lock 1 of the Champlain Canal. It has been a very long 'detour' but it was worth seeing the sites that we saw along the way. Our celebrations were short-lived, however. As we arrived, we were greeted by a couple of local boaters who just happened to be walking our way. We landed at the Waterford Visitors Centre. We were here 5 years ago and it was a vibrant little hub, with lots of boats coming and going.  Now, it is deserted. The men on the dock explained that this whole area was under over 20 feet of water during Hurricane Irene. The whole first floor of the vistors building (just at the arched doorways) was submerged. The pics of Hi-5 at dock from a distance shows the height of the arches in comparison to our boat.  Our boat would have been completely engulfed in water.  They continued to explain that several of the houses surrounding the lock and the visitors centre actually floated up and off of their foundations. It was apparent as we went for a walk that there was a lot of moving water carrying debris and mud. Even tonight a small refrigerator floated behind one of the other boats.  Here is a short youtube video that shows the water level on the visitors centre.  Note the top part of the building that is only visable.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-D5pxXr0Y&feature=related



2011-09-19 - to Ft. Edward, NY

We woke up this morning in a blanket of fog. It was so dense that you couldn’t make anything out beyond the safety rails. Through the fog, we enjoyed again the phenomenon of the ‘echo’ (well Connor did) and, as the fog lifted, we headed on our way...a little late (8:30am). It was another scenic day through the beginning of the Champlain canal. There are rock faces that come straight into the water and bursting with trees. We even saw a deer having a drink at the waters edge. We came upon lock 12 (the very beginning of the canal system at 11:30am). We docked at the lock wall and made our way to the lock masters house. For these locks, it is only $15 for 2 days of lockage (11 locks). This is quite different to the other lock fees. ($25/lock on the St. Lawrence, $36 for one lock on the Richelieu River, $60 for ~8 locks on the Chambly Canal). We did half of the locks today and expect to be finished with the Champlain canal tomorrow evening a Troy! It is such a straight run, you can't go wrong (see pic with gps in the foreground)

The big treat tonight was stopping on the free dock at Ft. Edward. Here they have power and water and a nice wall to tie up for the night. Power means heat for us! It has been so chilly at anchor. When we wake up the boat is about 10’C. We are all fine in our beds, but it is the getting up that is the hardest. We do have the Honda Generator that we start up in the morning. This gives us enough power for the heater and to make breakie. We stopped here at Ft. Edward really to do laundry. It has been several days, and it was getting to the point that we had to! So, I loaded up the bike trailer and headed in the direction that one of the locals guided me to. ‘Just around the corner and up the hill’, they said…’not too far’. Well, here I go with, probably, 100lbs of laundry. I head to the corner and round it and, ‘what do I see in front of me’, was a mountainous slope. (Probably a slight exaggeration again...but, any steeper and I would need a climbing harness and a hoist!) So, fit me (cough, sputter) make my way up the ‘little hill’ and eventually (and much redder in the face) find the coin op. So, I haul my mountainous sac into the facility and scope out the correct machines to use. I saw one that was 3 loads worth…perfect. I manage to stuff what I could in that and got it going. The next one, I loaded, what felt like, 100 quarters into again – loaded up the laundry – and closed the door. The price display changed back to the default setting of $3,50. Oh darn…I paid, loaded and pressed the ‘on’ button. Not, loaded, paid and pressed the ‘on’ button. Someone saw me pressing buttons and came over to tell me that I can call the ‘assistance number’ posted. I looked at it – paused - and they looked at me and said, “do you not have a cell phone”? They looked at me with such pity and said, ‘Here, borrow mine” I could see it in their eyes that they must thought – what poor person…she doesn’t have a cell phone! So, I called – sorted it out and all was well…well, except for my dignity. So, it was all going well….when, I noticed that the super 3-loader was just spinning and spinning….without finishing up (by this time, I was already folding the other dry stuff). I asked a man, who happened to be there, if those machines took longer to complete. He said they didn’t and, again, directed me to the laundry help line posted on the wall. I paused for a moment and he said, “..do you not have a cell phone?” with that same look of pity….I got to use his! The problem was fixed over the phone. I finally finished my loads and loaded up the bike trailer again. Downhill was a breeze! I woohoo’ed all of the way back, tucked the kids into bed….and, called it a night!

2011-09-18 - in Lake Champlain, VT

So, where are we anyway? This is a great little diagram of the canal system that we took yesterday in the museum. If you follow the Erie Canal (this is the bottom part of the triangle from Oswego to Troy, NY. ) you will see our intended route that we were going to take. This total distance is about 186 statute miles. Because of the severe damage from hurricane Irene, this canal was closed. So, we headed north from Oswego and followed the eastern part of the lake to Kingston, Cornwall, Montreal and then to the top of the 'triangle', Sorel. From there we have been heading south (finally). We just left Burlington, VT (see diagram) and are heading for the more southerly/narrow part of Lake Champlain today for an achorage. From there we start the Champlain canal system. This new distance will be about 670 statute miles.....a little difference of 484 statute miles.

...a little later...

It was another lovely day. Dylan was again at the wheel. (on autopilot...with us there...of course.) He loves to sit there for hours some time. We stopped early at Fort Ticonderoga, just off of the channel. We all climbed in the dinghy and headed for shore. Unfortunately, this for was unpenetrable from the sea. there was no where to land our dingy and it was very swampy. Connor was a little upset as he was so excited about seeing another fort. We promised another fort of some sort along the way. We decided to haul our anchor up and put a few extra miles on since it was such a lovely calm day. We ended up in a beautiful little spot just off of the channel at the very end of Lake Champlain.

It was so quiet and the stars were so dense and bright. We discovered that the anchorage was a great spot to play with echos. I did an owl sound that echoed over and over again since there were so many rock faces around us. Kerry did a few, as did I again, but Connor was a little reluctant to do one. Finally he did a quick 'Whoo Whoo' and what came back was a very cross, "Quack Quack". Connor was cracking himself up on that one. I guess a duck had enough of us! He thought that was hilarious. (you really just had to be there!)