Back on the Boat

Our trip home was filled with activity and joy. First the birth of our new grandson on Father's Day, followed just a few days later by the graduation and swearing in ceremony for our son Tom. He is now a Fire Fighter! So exciting! We were able to spend time with all the children and many of our hometown friends. It was great to reconnect, exchanging hugs, kisses and news but the time has come to continue our adventure.

Jon and Margaret rejoined us here in Burlington. We all look forward to seeing the upper reaches of Lake Champlain and experiencing the locks of the Chambly and Richelieu Canals.

Waiting for the Grandson's Birth

Our boat is in Burlington, VT and we are headed home in anticipation of the birth of a new grandson. It will be wonderful to see family and friends. We'll rejoin the boat in a couple of weeks.

Shelburne Farms

After weekending in Essex, NY, a pretty little town with few services, other than the marinas, it was off to Shelburne Shipyard in Shelburne, VT. Diesel fuel is considerably cheaper in VT than in NY. At Essex, diesel was $3.40 / gal. At Shelburne, it was $2.70 / gal, a huge difference when you hold as much fuel as we do, 1050 gallons.

When we checked in at the marina, we asked our usual question: "Where should we have dinner?" They recommended the Inn at Shelburne Farms. We needed the phone number to make reservations so, of course, we Googled. Of my! What a place! Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite .

Lower Lake Champlain

After an exellent dinner at Finch & Chubb, the restaurant at Lock 12 Marina, and a good night's rest, we sailed into Lake Champlain. The Lake is narrow in the lower region and broadens until it reaches its widest point near Burlington, VT. We planned to anchor off of Fort Ticonderoga for the evening and tour the fort but Mother Nature had other ideas. Serious storms were headed in so we sought safe harbor at Westport, NY. We'll have to catch the fort some other time. Weather cleared and the lake beckoned so we were off again, crossing the lake to catch a mooring at Basin Harbor Club near Vergennes, VT. Basin Harbor Club is beautiful. It is an old-fashioned vacation retreat (think "Dirty Dancing" or for the Donohue family, Capon Springs, WV), with a landing strip, golf course, all water sports, etc. It is considered the home of the Adirondack Chair. We tendered up Otter Creek, past beaver dams and marshy areas that reminded us of the Carolinas, to the town of Vergennes, the oldest town in Vermont. Though Otter Creek seemed remote, it actually had good cell service, something Basin Harbor did not.

Back at Basin Harbor, it was time for Tom Coker to fly home. We tendered him to the taxi in the pouring rain, released the mooring and continued north on the Lake. It is reported that the deepest points of Lake Champlain are in this region. So far, we have sounded depths exceeding 350 ft. Very strange phenonenon for those of us used to the shallow lakes of Florida. Next stop, Essex Marina in Essex, NY.

Locking Through

A few miles north of Albany, at the town of Waterford, a decision must be made: continue on the Hudson River to the Champlain Canal or turn left and go through the Erie Canal. We chose the Hudson/Champlain to cut several hundred miles off of our trip. Boats going on the "Great Loop" turn left and go through the Erie.

We knew when we began our trip that the controlling height on some bridges in the Hudson/Champlain is 17'. The height over our tender is 17'6". If we remove the tender, lower antennas,lower naviational lights, etc, our minimum height is 15' 1" so away we went.



In order to travel from Albany, NY to Lake Champlain, we had to lock through 12 locks. We knew it would be slow going so we decided to make the trip in two days, stopping overnight at Schuylerville, NY.

Nine locks carry you to your maximum elevation, 139 ft above sea level. The last 4 drop you to the level of Lake Champlain, 95 ft above sea level. On average, each lock moves you about 15 ft. We were all pretty nervous as we approached the first lock because we didn't know what to expect. This lock required us to tie our own line at mid-ship around a pipe in the wall and "ride" the line up the pipe as the water rushed into the lock. Terry handled the line while Judi was forward and Tom aft, manning boat hooks to keep the boat off of the slimy walls. We also had 2 giant-sized mooring balls, wrapped in garbage bags for protection, alongside the boat. On the remainder of the locks, very slimy lines were attached to the lock walls so we donned our gloves and grabbed one fore andone aft, easing and tightening as needed to move with the water flow. The rides were really lots of fun and the lockmasters helpful and accomodating.

Just after our fourth lock, we knew there was a 17' bridge so before entering the lock, we lowered the tender and hung it over the side of the boat, tied off at each end. After clearing the lock and bridge, we repositioned it up top.

Today, the lockmasters told us that the water on the Champlain Canal was lower than normal and the lowest bridge we would encounter was 17'8". The intrepid, fearless crew proceeded ahead. At each low bridge, Judi and Tom stood watch as Terry eased the boat, fully loaded, under the span. We honestly only cleared by 3 or 4 inches on 3 bridges. After two long days of locks and bridges, we are tied up in Whitehall, NY at Lock 12 Marina ready for a bath, a washing machine, a decent meal and a cocktail, not necessarily in that order.

Albany Yacht Club

Albany is the capital of the mighty state of New York?? Really?? And this is a YACHT CLUB?? So how come we are by both a bridge and the interstate and our sunset view is of the multi-story public storage building??? OK, so it wasn't the Ritz-Carlton but at least the docks were in good shape, the dockmaster was pleasant and hey, we were on the boat!

All day we dodged severe storm warnings, tornado watches and heavy rain. We were tied down just in time to sit back and enjoy a rest while a rainstorm/cold front passed through. The weather folks are predicting cooler temps for the rest of the week.

Timing is Everything!

Planning to spend one night in Kingston, we ended up spending three. What a great town! Kingston was the first capital of NY, so appointed in 1777. It is located on Rondout Creek, the terminus of the D & H Canal. Never heard of the D & H Canal? Neither had we. It was a canal that was dug with private funding, connecting the Delaware River with the Hudson River. Then along came the Erie Canal and the D & H canal was filled in to make way for the D & H Railroad, still running to this day.

Kingston was planning a Tyme Fest for the weekend (think old timey pirates,ice cream social, costume ball, etc), Farmer's Market in the historic uptown area, period-costumed citizens at the oldl Senate House, arrival of the Hudson sloop Clearwater (whose existence is funded by folk singer Pete Seeger) and so much more that so we had to stay and join in. The townspeople accepted us as one of their own and for a short period of time, we become "Kingstonians".

As fate would have it, Litenup III was berthed at the foot of Broadway, basking in the glow of the newly christened waterfront park, surrounded by the festivities.

To top it all off, we were joined by friends Don and Carol Schneider who drove up from Westport, CT to spend the day with us! Wehave rarely seen them since Terry, Tom and Don all worked for Frank B. Hall so there was lots of catching up to do.

Cruising the Hudson Valley

The Hudson River from Croton-on-Hudson to Kingston, NY provided plenty of sights: West Point, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Bannerman Castle, the Mid-Hudson Bridge next to the Walkway over the Hudson, farm land, beautiful homes, lighthouses framed by the Catskill Mountains. Pictures are better than words.

Walkway Over the Hudson

In 1888, the Poughkeepskie Railroad Bridge opened as the first bridge across the Hudson River from the ocean all the way to Albany, NY. Opening shortly after the Brooklyn Bridge, it was an engineering marvel. It is higher above the water than the Brooklyn Bridge (212 ft) and longer than the Brooklyn Bridge (1.25 miles). Unfortunately, its railroad career ended in 1974 when a fire severely damaged the tracks. A group of forward thinking individuals raised money to aquire the bridge. It re-opened in 2009 as The Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, marking the transformation of the Poughkeepskie-Highland Railroad Bridge into a new 1.25 mile linear park in the sky. It offers outstanding panoramic views of the river. We parked on the Highland side and walked across the river and of course, back. Just south of the walkway is the Mid-Hudson, FDR Bridge. We are fortunate to view both bridges from their decks today and tomorrow will see them from the water.

West Point

Using Croton-on-Hudson as our base, we rented a car and drove north to West Point. Since Sept 11, 2001, the facility has been closed to visitors other than those on an organized tour. We elected to take the one-hour tour and were 3 of the 6 Americans on the 30 passenger bus; the remainder were Chinese tourists. The Chinese tourists simply did NOT understand the tour guide when she said "NO pictures, except in designated areas, and absolutely NO VIDEOS or the MP's will take your cameras!" After a translation from someone in their group and several VERY stern warnings, they got the message. West Point is a beautiful campus. It is situated on a precipace overlooking the Hudson River and offers what they term the "million dollar view" and believe me, it is just that. We were fortunate to witness the parachute team practicing on the parade ground.

West Point was the first university to gift their students with a class ring. "Firsties", members of the sophomore class, receive their class ring at a special ceremony early in the school year. Rings which are no longer worn (because the West Point grad passed away), are often donated back to the school. Those rings are melted down and the metal is incorporated into the new rings. When a West Point grad is facing an especially difficult time, he or she will look at their ring and see that they are not facing the challenge alone; they are always backed by someone who has gone before them. Very moving.

We were able to visit the main cadet chapel (there are 5 chapels on campus). The main chapel is a non-denominational Protestant chapel. It is built in the shape of the cross and looks much like a traditional cathedral. The stained glass windows are magnificent! Cadets are not allowed to marry or have any dependents while they are at West Point or any of the military academies. We were told that on the Saturday after graduation, weddings are scheduled at the chapel every hour, on the hour. Once again, a pew is always set aside in remembrance of the POW's and MIA's.

Crew Change

After being on board since our departure on April 15th, Margaret and Jon departed for home on June 1st. They will rejoin us in Burlington, Vermont. As we exchanged hugs and a few tears with Margaret and Jon, a taxi delivered our new crew member, Atlanta's Tom Coker. Brief introductions all around and the Fullertons were off to catch their plane and we departed Liberty Landing.

Since Tom had not sailed into the harbor with us, a harbor cruise was in order. We cruised past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, up the East River, under the Brooklyn Bridge, back around lower Manhattan and began our trip up the Hudson River, picking our way through a myriad of ferries. We were surprised that it didn't take long for the concrete of NYC to give way to open, forested land, high cliffs and quaint towns. A few miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge, we pulled into the Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on-Hudson.

Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

On Memorial Day, we toured Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The ferry terminal is in Liberty State Park, just a short walk from our boat. The terminal was originally a train station and still had the old train platforms with the destination placards still intact.

Pictures really don’t adequately show the scale, majesty and beauty of Lady Liberty. She is magnificent and awe-inspiring! It was very interesting to visit Ellis Island. The main processing building is ornate both inside and out. More than 12 million people entered the USA through Ellis Island from the time it opened in 1892 until the 1920’s. At both parks we took audio tours which provided details we would not have known otherwise. The parks were replete with an international crowd and offered excellent people-watching opportunities. All of us had been to New York City many times but had never visited either site. Both are well worth the time.

New York Harbor

Our skin tingled when we spotted the Statue of Liberty as we cruised under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Empire State Building standing tall over the Manhattan skyline! What a sight!

It is Fleet Week so we continued up the Hudson River to see the aircraft carriers and cruise ships. The lower river and harbor were filled with boats enjoying the beautiful day. We snapped so many pictures that we were glad our cameras are digital.

We stayed at Liberty Landing Marina which is within the boundaries of Liberty State Park and just across the Hudson from lower Manhattan. Judi’s college friend, Susan, and her husband Barry Gross live nearby and invited us to their beautiful condo for a drink and view of the city from their rooftop patio, followed by a wonderful dinner at nearby LightHorse Tavern. So great to spend time with Sue and Barry!