Day On The Hook

Bob's Input

We have been slowly moving north on Lake Champlain for the past week, taking each day as it unfolds and enjoying the clear waters of the lake.  I felt comfortable diving to check the shaft (no entanglements) and the wheel (no new nicks) and cleaned a small amount of fuzzy growth from the speed wheel under the hull.

 We no longer need to watch for barges as the commercial use of the lake ended several decades ago with the closing of Plattsburgh Air Force Base.  Fuel barges are now replaces by barges in the Chaplain Canal moving pre-cast concrete forms for construction.  A ten year project is also underway to dredge PCBs from the canal bottom deposited by a GE plant south of Whitehall.  This dredging may never be dome and in my uninformed opinion is only causing the chemicals to reenter the water system.  No one swims in the canal waters any more.

I cannot get over the difference in travelling styles this lake has afforded us now we no longer cruise the canals.  The days are slower, we travel less miles between stops, the nights are quieter, and the company is decidedly more french.  As we move further north tomorrow,I expect we will be surrounded by boats from Quebec and Nova Scotia.  The local marina owners tell me they have seen many fewer Canadians since '08 and while the dollar is about par with the loonie, the advantage of the exchange has been more than offset by the increase in the price of fuel.

We have found a sweet anchorage in Shelburne Bay just south of Burlington.  Setting the hook was a new for us but I trust we will be more comfortable with the technique as we anchor more often.  There has been few opportunities to do so until now as the canal is too narrow, and the tides in most bays along the New England Coast make for challenges we did not feel prepared to meet a the time.

After making the adjustment to the idle, the engine has been running smoothly and giving us just the right amount of reverse thrust when we need it, like at a dock or a lock wall.  I found the controls were not provided with stop screws that were long enough to be effective, so replacing these with some longer ones I had on board (actually screws I found in the boatyard at Spring Point which are the same ones used to secure shaft zincs- see PM, my hunting and gathering of errant boat pieces does have a purpose), allowed me to adjust the idle stop to 700 RPM on both helm stations, which is what it was supposed to be set at all along.

We have another week or so to explore The northern area of this huge lake.  The information in Skipper Bob's book we find is somewhat out of date.  PM sent an update to their website regarding
a bridge at Crown Point and was told she will be credited n the next publication- how cool is that!

As August begins to wane this week, we are thinking more of our return to Maine and the fellowship of friends who despite thoughts of joining us for some of this adventure, have been involved in their lives ashore. Perhaps next year we can persuade some visitors to come along for a time to share in this truly wondrous adventure.  Every day is a pleasant surprise to discover new places and meet new people.  I have found boat people to be the happiest people I have ever met.

We miss our grand kids, Anni and Trig, more each day and while we have been seeing their faces and hearing their voices telling us stories of painting toes, mini-golf, puppies and ice cream, it is not the same as feeling the press of their hands as we cross a street or seeing their joy in throwing rocks in the Colorado River.  Soon we hope to see them in Maine as Phoebe and Erik have projected they will sell out all their permitted trips by Labor Day and will soon after return east to see their family in Portland and enjoy the Atlantic Ocean.

Perhaps we can cruise somewhere together for a day or two where the dominant language is not french and boat names are pronounceable.

This boat life has its advantages, we find we do not change cloths as often and PM definitely has not needed 12 pairs of shoes.


PM's Perspective -- The Wild Life 

On an adventure such as ours, one gets to enjoy a variety of wildlife -- critters than fly, swim in the water, and live primarily on land.  Our very first encounter with wildlife was on the ocean where we were able to enjoy the playfulness of porpoises and the antics of jumping fish.  Bob swears he saw the water spout of a passing whale off in the distance just beyond Boston.  While motoring up the Hudson River our first real sighting of a fish other than the rings in the water remaining after a jump was a dark dorsal fin rising out of the water exposing at least three feet of a white fish back and no head or tail near the Bear Mountain Bridge.  This fish must have been huge!  Further up river we were awed by majestic bald eagles, graceful blue herons, brilliant snowy egrets, ospreys and of course the ubiquitous seagulls.  While staying at the Rondout Marina in Kingston, about a dozen turkey vultures held a party at the picnic tables which reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as they seemed nonplussed as we approached them until we came within about 10 yards of them.  Canadian geese seem to be a staple at the locks feasting on insects and other vittles while leaving behind their manure for the unwary pedestrian to step in.  I don't recommend walking barefoot in the grass around the canal locks!

Along the Erie Canal we enjoyed the company of blue herons which frequently flew just ahead of Velomer.  While tied up in Utica, Bob spotted a snake swimming across the canal.  And there are the ever present ducks that approach the boat looking for a handout wherever we happen to be.  We have found this is a great way to recycle stale bread, soggy crackers, and leftover toast.  Lock 7 on the Erie Canal included a large grey rabbit that looked more like someone's escaped pet than wildlife.  The day we took our bike ride to Rome from Utica along the old towpath of the original Erie Canal (there are three iterations), we came across a humongous snapping turtle sunning itself on the trunk of a large fallen tree in the canal. The Champlain Canal which connects the Hudson River with Lake Champlain offered even more animal life.  The canal runs through farm country and along the way we viewed the expected cows and horses, but also a herd of pigs enjoying the mud along the side as well as sheep and goats.

 The big treat thus far came when we rounded a corner in the canal to find a doe with two fawns drinking water from the canal. I was able to get my I-Phone to take a picture before mom and kids ran off into the woods.  Another surprise was several days ago when I went to use the head and in the bowl was a small pollywog critter swimming around.  It is now in the holding tank!  In addition to feeding the ducks, we find, much to our chagrin, that we are also feeding other wildlife forms in terms of the mosquitoes and flies.  Early on this adventure as we were at the helm in the fly bridge we were attacked by biting flies.  Out came the fly swatter.  Every time we successfully swatted a fly and threw the thoroughly tenderized corpse into the water below to feed the fish, the fly seemed to resurrect itself only to harass us further.  We came up with the phrase the Jesus fly to describe this occurrence.

Mosquitoes are particularly intense at night as we get into bed and shut off the light.  Just as we are about to fall asleep, we would hear than annoying whine of a flying blood sucker looking for its evening treat.  Some mornings I awoke with as many as five mosquito bites on my foot.  We have finally come up with a solution that works.  Just before going to bed, we turn on the light in the saloon (pronounced salon) and turn off the lights in the stateroom for about five minutes.  The light attracts the mosquitoes into the saloon and out of the stateroom.  We then shut the light off in the saloon and quickly close the door to the stateroom.  Zero bites in the morning and without using insecticide!