Orwell, VT (return trip)

Waking up to a somewhat foggy and overcast morning on Thursday, July 27 we went for one last walk on the beautiful grounds of the Lake Champlain Maritime Center.

At the end of the long dock we saw examples of the type of little sailing dinghies that the boatbuilder was working on the day before.

 

We pulled up our anchor by 8:40 for the four hour cruise to Chipman’s Point Marina in Orwell. It was a cool and cloudy day. It rained on and off enough to cause us to spend much of the cruise in the salon which is unusual for us.

The museum has this great map of Lake Champlain. If you look closely you can see some of the towns we’ve visited and the very narrow part of the lake that we will be going through next as we head south to Whitehall over the next couple of days. It is at the very southern end of the lake and is the start of the series of locks we need to go through.

We passed under the Crown Point bridge as we made our way to Chipman’s Point. 

Arriving at one of our favorite marinas we tied up at a face dock behind a Nordic Tug with a friendly owner named Scott who Jonny ended up helping with his electrics.

We spent the afternoon on boat and housekeeping chores including two loads of laundry. Borrowing the marina’s car, we drove into the village of Orwell to pick up some groceries. We were happy to be able to get all that we really needed from our favorite farm stand there called the Red Sky Farm.  Jonny was especially interested to go because that’s where I had purchased the delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie over the 4th of July. Alas, the owner was all out of pies but she promised to bake one for us first thing in the morning as she starts baking at 5 a.m.   She gave Jonny his choice and he happily chose another strawberry-rhubarb. We could pick it up early the next morning before we resume our cruise. Score one for Jonny! 

Our friend, Michael Goldfield who visited us last time we were here, came by again on his way from Burlington to his home in Dorset. We had a short but nice visit aboard Zendo and we’re hoping to get together with him and Melina over the next couple of days before they head to Hawaii for Melina’s son’s wedding!

That evening we ate crab cakes, salad and corn on the cob from the farm stand. For dessert we availed ourselves of the ice cream that Chipman’s sells for $1 per serving. Such a deal!

As evening arrived, it started getting warmer and we turned on the air conditioner so we could sleep more comfortably.  We have been so fortunate to escape the terrible heat wave that is encompassing not only the nation but the whole world this year.

North Harbor, VT

After chatting with the owner of the beautiful home near our dock, we left Vergennes at 10:30 on Wednesday, July 26. We headed down Otter Creek and were pushed along swiftly by a two knot current.

It was a perfect summer day as we got onto Lake Champlain and traveled the short distance to an anchorage in North Harbor which is part of the Basin Harbor Resort. Our plan was to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum which we had read about as being a very worthwhile visit.

By noon we arrived at our anchorage and had lunch on board before heading onto land. The Maritime Museum sits on the shores of Lake Champlain in a magnificent setting. We pulled up to their dock which was surrounded by several brightly painted rowing skiffs as well as a replica of an 1862 canal schooner, the Lois McClure.

We spent a couple of hours wandering through a collection of historic replicas of buildings representing various aspects of maritime life on Lake Champlain.  The grounds were beautifully laid out. One of the buildings included information about the history of the wars in the area, another housed replicas and actual vessels showing the evolution of the canoe, another had a huge ice sailing boat and still another had some beautiful examples of old Chris Craft boats.  There was a blacksmith shop and a boat builder who was working on building small sailing dinghies.  He told us about the sailing and boat building programs the museum sponsors for young people and told us that the colorful boats on the dock where we came in were all built by program participants. We were fascinated!

Later that afternoon after returning to Zendo we took Archie on shore so he could run through the grounds and so I could load my blog since we had no connectivity onboard. We walked up the hill towards the resort to check out the restaurant and decided to dine there.  The restaurant was filled with families, all of whom we assumed were staying at the resort.   Afterwards we were encouraged by some of the young resort staff to go to a free outdoor concert hosted by the resort that was being held along the waterfront. We strolled over to see lots of people on lawn chairs enjoying the evening listening to a rock band. 

The grounds of the resort were quite beautiful.

Nearby was the resort’s small and well-protected marina. The marina offers cruisers the use of their mooring balls for only $20 a night plus a resort fee which includes the privilege of using the pool and other resort services.  We were more than comfortable with our anchorage which was adjacent to the mooring field. 

After checking out the grounds we stopped for a soft serve ice cream cone which hit the spot!

Heading back to Zendo, we made an early night of it. Since we had no connectivity we hit the sack early, read for a while and pretty quickly fell asleep in our idyllic anchorage.

Vergennes, VT

We had an incredibly calm and quiet night in our beautiful anchorage in Hawkins Bay with only one other boat that left early in the morning on Monday, June 24.

The first thing we did after breakfast was to dinghy to an old rickety set of stairs along the bay where Jonny tied up to a tree. We went for a lovely walk in the woods along a path that climbed a hill high above the coast. Much of this area is undeveloped and designated state park land.  As always, Archie enjoyed running freely along the path and chasing unknown critters as he spotted them in the woods.

By 11:30 we hoisted the anchor for the less than two hour cruise up Otter Creek to the idyllic setting of Vergennes. We hadn’t been here since our first cruise nine years ago and it was one of the most memorable places that we have stayed in our travels.  This time we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We had received a report from the two Johns that the recent flooding had caused the floating docks there to have to cut their chains because there was so much strong water gushing from the falls in this historic town.  With the runoff from the mountains and the strong water flow, a lot of debris can fill the creek and cause more problems for boaters.

We were very fortunate in that we found none of these issues while cruising the river. We did encounter several small antique looking vessels with wood-fired steam engines that would gleefully toot their horns at us as they passed. It must have been a convention of some sort!

When we arrived at Vergennes, the docks were intact and there were no other boats.  However, with the strong water flow still emanating from the falls the docks were floating further away from the shore and there was a huge build-up of foamy, sudsy water billowing in the space in between.  We tied up easily and Jonny ran the power cord through the water and plugged us in. These docks are free including electricity and water. The town has a box and requests a donation of between $10 and $20 for the night, Certainly a fair deal!

We were in such a beautiful setting with the falls behind us and a beautifully maintained historic home in front of us.  The older gentleman who lives there provided us with helpful advice about the area. The home has been in his family for 100 years!

That afternoon it rained a little so we mostly stayed on board. I did Spanish homework while Jonny did a number of boat chores. We had dinner on board - a new recipe I found on-line -  a traditional Ukrainian dish with chicken, cabbage, paprika and a few of other ingredients. It was relatively simple and quite good!

The next day, after my Spanish lesson I did some long needed interior cleaning and defrosted the freezer while Jonny caught up on our finances.  That evening we treated ourselves to a dinner out.  We walked up the rather steep hill into the charming and historic town of Vergennes.  Known as the smallest of Vermont’s ten cities, it has a population of 2,500.  It was first settled in 1766 and it was here that the fleet that defeated the British on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812 was built and armed. The Otter Creek Falls provided power for the mills and factories that grew through to the late 19th century but since then the industries that were once active have declined and the recent focus has been more geared towards tourism.

As good tourists, we had reservations to eat at the Black Sheep Restaurant where we had dined during our previous visit.  They have an unusual pricing model whereby they charge $10 for each of their appetizers and $28 for each of their entrees. The choices of both were very appealing and we had a delicious dinner trying four different items. We had Archie with us so we sat outside in a covered area by the sidewalk and we had a lovely evening - a date night!

We walked back down the hill to Zendo where the nearby falls were nicely illuminated by the moonlight. 

Hawkins Bay, Lake Champlain

After Zendo spent three weeks in Burlington it was time for us to move on. So on Sunday, June 23 we headed out. But first we dinghied one last time into town to pick up a few groceries and stroll around a bit. Lots of people were in the parks on a lovely day. Children were playing in the fountain while a classical band performed for listeners sitting on their lawn chairs. Such a perfect Sunday morning!

We pulled away from our mooring in the late morning and headed over to fill our water tanks and empty our waste tank. By noon we were heading out onto the lake for a short cruise to an new anchorage.  The water in Lake Champlain is very deep as can be seen on our depth guage!

The Captain and Archie decided to take a quick snooze on the calm seas.

Our initial plan was to stay in the well-protected and popular Kingsland Bay about two hours away. As we entered the deep bay we noted that a lot of other boats had the same idea as us. We cruised around a little before we found a place to drop the hook. It was a very nice spot in front of the most gorgeous house I’ve seen on this trip and near a small beach where a lot of kids were swimming.

However, Jonny was unable to get the anchor to stick and I felt that we might want to be in a more secluded anchorage which we generally prefer.  So we moved a bit further north to Hawkins Bay. This bay was wider and not deep like Kingsland but it was still fairly well protected. And there was only one other boat there. This was the place for us.

After a while we took Archie for a ride on the dinghy to explore places where we might take him to shore.  We passed one place in the woods with a ladder that led to a trail but continued to explore all the way back to Kingsland Bay. Unfortunately most of the areas that seemed suitable had posted signs saying no dogs allowed.  After asking a helpful local who was out rowing, he pointed us to a small beach area that was more relaxed with their rules so we beached the dinghy and walked around a bit amidst acres of lovely green meadows. We also discovered the other end of the property with my favorite house on it. It was a huge piece of land with several outbuildings and barns and many no trespassing signs!  

Riding back to Zendo, we passed the most dramatic rock formations.

Archie has taken to excitedly bark as we approach Zendo. He definitely knows it is home!

That evening Jonny made a delicious dinner with all of our leftovers. Believe it or not the melange of leftover pork, broccoli, French fries and eggs was a winner.  We had a relaxing evening watching 60 Minutes and the latest episode of Outlander.

We were very pleased with our anchorage in this peaceful bay with the Adirondack Mountains in the distance. Watching the light and the colors of the sky change with the waning light was quite beautiful!