Capt Dave and Capt Pete joined Capt Tom on the 155 mile three day leg from Troy/Waterford NY to the Big Apple. We had calm seas, fair current and good weather all the way to the city. Our stops were at Kingston NY and Croton on the Hudson. On Sunday aftternoon we arrived at the 79th st boat basin on the Hudson. It was on the west side of Manhattan between the George Washington bridge and the cruise ship piers. We were lucky enough to get a mooring there, albeit a bit exposed to the river swells from all the NY boat traffic. For $30 bucks a night in NYC… who can complain… so it was a little bumpy till the traffic died down.

Dave and Pete had only about 6 hrs to enjoy NYC so we set up a plan to grab as much gusto as possible. First stop would be the famous Katz Deli, via the subway of course. Then after a late lunch of the best Ruebens ever with perfect kinishes

we headed back uptown via the 8th ave subway line to 81st St on Central Park West. After a brief stroll along the park we ended up at the American Museum of Natural History. This is one place not to be missed on a visit to NYC. Of course we went straight to the creatures of the seas exibits. We stayed until closing time and had a 6 block walk back to the boat basin. The night was not over as there were festivals and celebrations of sorts at the waterfront… at least until the thunderstorms rolled in. TB

Thursday night we stopped at the Mechanicville, NY town dock again. We did some light provisioning and pumped out. There was a free self serve pumping station at the north end of the wall. Everything for boaters is free up here??? They are obviously trying to do everything they can to increase some commerce here.

Friday morning it was time to move down to Waterford for a crew change. Mary needs to go to a wedding back home so Dave F and Peter P drove my prius up to waterford, in record time. They came with provisions for two nights but we quickly decided they wanted to make the 3 day run all the way to NYC so we were off and running. Next stop Castleton Boat CLub to top off the fuel tanks and our first night spot up Roundout Creek in Kingston, NY. More pics to come later.

After we went through lock 12 at Whitehall we tied up at the town wall for the night. There was only one other small boat from VT there.
The next stop was Ft Edwards. Here we ran into David and Brian from Plattsburg again. we tied up to the free town pier and were treated to a soft rock concert and another fireworks show. Again we had a front row seat. We left before David and Brian in the morning and headed south. There is still a lot of barge work going on in this area. GE is running some PCB superfund cleanup here and it is a huge project.
With the exception of the barge and the commercial traffic the entire Champlain canal is calm and picturesque.

Monday July 9 and Tuesday July 10
After a quck breakfast and a heavy thunderstorm MT headed back to otter creek and to his boat trailer. I heard he caught some more fish on the way back in.
Mary and I headed south out of the lake. South of Fort Ticonderoga the lake starts to narrow and the lower 20 miles or so more resemble a river than a lake. WE had about a 40 mile run to Whitehall.
NOTE: Don’t forgert to lower your antenna as you enter lock 12 at whitehall, the lock at the southern tip of Lake Champlain. There is a low bridge immediatley as you exit the lock. One of my radio antenna broke when they hit the underside of the bridge. There shoud really be a sign there to warn boaters.

Mike managed to catch a few fish near our dock and near the falls last night. We headed out onto the lake via the 7 mile Otter creek today with great intentions of fishing but ended up rafted in Barn Rock Harbor. We eventually moved over into Partridge harbor. A small harbor, big enough for maybe a few boats and protected from just about all sides. Some of the boating guide books call it the most popular harbor on the lake and we could see why.