Burlington, VT and beyond

Suzan along 1st St. Market Place

Burlington Harbor sailor

I needed a few days to recoup - mind you, this is my first boat journey and my first time living on a boat for more than an overnight. Living on a boat: our boat is 33 ft long and 10.2 ft wide, through much of it's length -  not bad. We get along in narrow spaces and really don't need our "own space". My issue is with the expanse of water with no or little land in sight as we experienced on Long Island Sound. I am learning through this journey that I need to set boat traveling conditions with the captain (Dean) i.e. I don't want to be far from shore.
I jumped ship at Shady Harbor Marina, New Baltimore, outside of Albany, unfortunately for me, just as we were entering calmer waters, canals, and locks. Dean had decided to continue alone and go through some locks up the Erie Canal before going back down to Waterford to traverse the Champlain Canal up into Lake Champlain.


Dragon boat

 After a few days to catch my breath and my will, (10 days) I was ready to resume my journey with Puffin, our boat and hubby/captain Dean.
 Mid June, I rented a car and drove to Burlington, Vt to meet up at Burlington Community Dock. As I had rented a car, we were able to grocery shop to replenish before returning the car at the airport. Then back to the boat via Uber.



Burlington/ Plattsburgh ferry

We spend a day touring Burlington, a vibrant college town, and then continued north on the Lake to see other spots. First stop was Malletts Bay, still on the mainland but bordered on the northwest by Grand Isle, also known as South Hero Island, with a nice inner cove to tuck in at Champlain Marina, one of the nicer marinas with full amenities including laundry/shower facilities. To get into Malletts outer Bay, you have to sail through an opening in the northern end of an old railroad bed no longer in use by the railroad, converted into a biking and walking trail on either side of the boat opening. We stayed 2 nights due to rain and thunderstorms. This entire journey has been marked with more weather related stays than sunny days. Then on to South and North Hero Islands, almost to the Canadian border. We stayed at North Hero Marina again tucked into a cove, Pelots Bay to be exact. Here again we had to pass from the main body of the lake via an opening in a former railroad causeway to enter the bay. We attempted to boat to Rouse's Point, on the Canadian border, alas, again, the weather predicted rain and thunderstorms for much of the day and the waves were kicking up so it was decided to travel down Lake Champlain along the western shore passing Plattsburg, around Valcour Island, an historic location and popular anchorage spot for sail and power boats.

Rugged shoreline above Burlington

From here, we ended the day in Essex Marina for an overnight.




Dean and the Canals

Canals- Erie - to Lake Erie, Oswego- to Lake Ontario, Champlain- to Lake Champlain.
Troy, NY about 10 miles above Albany, has the New York Federal Lock that allows you  to start the New York State Canal System either west to the Erie Canal and branch off in the Oswego Canal or north to the Champlain Canal.

Once thru the Federal Lock, the town of Waterford has a public dock, where you can tie up and get  information about the canals, restaurants, public facilities, before starting your Canal journey.

Erie Canal to Lake Erie- 340 miles-35 Locks
Erie Canal to and thru Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario 184 miles - Erie- 23 Locks, Oswego- 7 L
Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain-60 miles- 12 Locks

2017 marks  the New York Canal System Bicentennial 200th Anniversary of the start of the construction of the Erie Canal and for those traveling the canals by boat, it is offering toll free navigation on the Canals for non commercial boaters during the year.

 Sooo Captain Dean wanted to experience some of the Erie Canal before committing to the Champlain Canal to reach Lake Champlain so I can return to the journey.     Once thru the Federal Lock in Troy, Dean continued up the 5 lock stairs (one right after the other) and up thru lock 9. There are walls in the Canal where you can tie up for the night and most had restrooms and/or showers available.  From there Dean turned around and came back down to Waterford where he turned North for 11 locks ( 1-12 no #10) on the Upper end of Hudson River turning into the Champlain Canal to reach Lake  Champlain. At times the Hudson River is so shallow and narrow a Canal is dug so you can get through. This took about 9 days to get to the southern part of the lake where it gets wider and 2 days to be in Burlington, on the Vermont side.

One experience was Basin Harbor, home of the Champlain Marine Museum www.lcmm.org and replicas of Lois McClure schooner ( that is sailing this summer on the canals to Buffalo to help celebrate the 200 anniversary of the start of building the Erie Canal). The museum is a nice walk from the courtesy dock at the Basin Harbor Resort www.basinharbor.com and you can stop at the Red Mill restaurant for a meal on the way.

Gate to regulate water flow in the canals

Once in Burlington at the Community Dock I joined him.
Next- Lake Champlain and more of the journey

Up to Albany, Troy and the start of the Canals

From NYC we traveled up the Hudson River about 33 miles from the Battery and stopped at Croton on Hudson (Half Moon Bay) for the night, as we had traveled rough waters- 3 ft waves up the Hudson with the winds and I was done for the day. A storm was brewing and I wanted to be in safe harbor.  Many other boats thought the same and we ascended on this Marina, probably 6 boats within 1 hour. We stayed 2 nights with the rain and wind. We passed West Point and the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) on our way up the Hudson River to Kingston, NY, docked at Roundout Creek, an inlet off the west side of the Hudson. Tied up to the dock and met a couple from Michigan, who live aboard  a 58 ft  trawler style boat named "Tinacious", that they designed and had completely  re-built themselves from a bare hull, a massive project.
 Riverport Wooden Boat Building School is located there and Dean was enjoying chatting with the boat teachers and students.  We stayed there for 2 nights (weather-rain) and walked into town for a meal with "Tinacious" owners, Art and Pam.

Last stop before Albany/Troy area is the Shady Harbor Marina, 10 miles south of Albany. There we met some Loopers we had previously seen at Half Moon Bay Marina and Kingston; and other boaters who recognized our boat from passing on the Hudson River.  There is a restaurant on site and you can chat and play outdoor games with fellow boaters.

It didn't seem possible that we were going to be able to meet with friends in Montreal due to weather related traveling. We needed to decide on an alternate path as part of the Erie and Oswego locks were closed for a short time with the heavy rains and we also heard about some issues with the Ottawa River .

By Friday, I decided I needed a break, after roaming what I called high seas -3/4ft waves, (from my non boater status), rain and wind. I jumped ship and drove to Massachusetts for a little regrouping. My anxiety with the weather led us (Dean) to decide to take the Champlain Canal to Lake Champlain where I can rejoin our journey.
Next one- Dean with the Canals, regrouping, and redirecting our trip.