Travels on M/V Santorini: The Lake

August 3 - August 4: The anchorage at Middle Bay is in a State Park and is very quiet at night after boats that launched for the day return to the boat ramp to be trailered and driven away. We spent two peaceful nights here, just north of Plattsburgh, NY. After grilling burgers for lunch, Saturday became cool and rainy. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon of reading, chatting and enjoying the view, followed by an adult beverage at happy hour.

August 5 - August 7: A perfect summer Sunday, sunny, breezy and warm. We did a slow cruise across to Bay Harbor Marina in Malletts Bay on the Vermont side of Champlain. To enter the this Bay, you must first transit a patch of skinny water (5-7’ deep) entering a small opening in a dike that was originally the bed for a rail line. There is a large outer bay and then a slightly smaller inner bay. Both bays are ringed with cliffs and mountains with several marinas; sailing clubs a few lovely homes. It is a beautiful spot among the many beautiful spots on Lake Champlain. Our slip was among several populated by live-aboards whose boats are their summer homes. They proved to be a very friendly group gathering every evening for “docktails” and animated conversation. Luckily, they broke up early, as most went off to their jobs in the morning. We later walked to a country market and bought a yummy strawberry-rhubarb pie. The following day, we availed ourselves of a ride by marina shuttle to Rozzy’s Lakeside Inn for lunch; there was a constant threat of rain and we did have a couple of showers rain on our parade during our walk back to the marina.

August 8: Cruising back to the NY side of the Lake to re-provision and pick up a prescription renewal in Plattsburg was on a a very subdued morning. It was misty/foggy at the horizon to start, very calm, and later hazy sun breaking through. Our slip assignment at Plattsburgh Boat Basin was directly in front of the Naked Turtle restaurant (where last year we had a very good meal there on a large outdoor deck). Thinking we would do a repeat, we decided to called for a taxi and run our errands, then dine. Later that evening, we attempted to dine at the Turtle but it was closed for a private party. We debated walking into the historic district to eat but then decided to make pasta Putenesca on board Santorini.

Next morning, Karl taxied to Walmart to have his glasses repaired and Donna walked into town for a few items at the co-op grocery store. She had an interesting conversation with the proprietor who is a docent and historic re-enactor for the area battles of the War of 1812.

Amtrak Train Station

First Baptist Church

Commodore Thomas MacDonough 1812 War Monument

USS Lake Champlain Monument

Santorini was readied for departure, and as were we leaving the marina, Karl noticed a familiar boat at the fuel dock, so we decided to take a closed look ... it was the motor vessel Hillandra we met up with last year. We spoke with Rich & Susan who had just returned form provisioning and were loading up their boat. We exchanged greetings and firmed up plans to rendezvous over the weekend at North Bluff, a Valcour Island anchorage.Rich and Susan had daughter Hillary aboard. Hillary is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and loves to surf.

Hillandra at anchor, Sloop Cove Valcour Island

No sooner were both boats anchored and a west wind that had not been forecasted blew up and made the anchorage rock ‘n roll. We hauled up the anchor and met again on the other side of Valcour in Sloop Cove to reset our anchors. Hillandra stayed three nights and Santorini four nights. We hosted each other’s crews for cocktails, swam and hiked on the Island. It was a great reunion ... our first meeting with Rich and Susan was on the Erie last year, and the last time we had been together was when we were leaving Lake Champlain last August and Hillandra hailed us on the marine radio. They were anchored and saw Santorini headed for the Crown Point Bridge. We pulled over and joined Rich and Susan on Hillandra for a drink, which then morphed into an impromptu dinner. They were such gracious hosts and it turned out to be the occasion of their 34^th wedding anniversary. You meet a lot of very nice people when cruising, Rich and Susan are among the very special ones.

Walking on Valcour Island

Rich and Hillary checking out our boats at anchor

Sunrise on Valcour

ESSEX
August 13-18: On to Essex to meet old and dear friends from Pennsylvania, Joe and Terry. They drove up to meet us last year and we had such a good time, they decided to make the seven-hour drive again this year. The weather was not as cooperative this year so the planned afternoon cruise and picnic at anchor did not occur. However, we had the picnic on board at the dock and it did rain late in the afternoon. We had another great dinner together at Chez Lin and Rays, overlooking the Lake. Karl loved the Escargot so much, he asked for the sauce recipe; our server asked on our behalf, however, Chef Lin would not give her secret away.

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day and we once again went to the local farmer’s market. We each found goodies to purchase, Terry some ground cherries because none of us had ever had them before, Karl bought a bottle of strawberry wine and Donna farm fresh eggs and homemade bread of ancient grains and herbs Provence.

We were sorry to see Terry and Joe depart for home and tried to get a commitment for a longer rendezvous next year!

We had originally planned to depart Essex on Friday morning to anchor out three nights, but the forecast was for heavy rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon and overnight along with a couple of days of rough water as the wind clocked almost in a circle from south to west to northeast. So we signed on with Barry at Essex Marina for another two nights. The forecast held true and Karl was awake a good part of Friday night as the rain and wind lashed the boat, but also happy we weren’t out at anchor. As a result to this delay, we got to explore the marina and the town of Essex a bit more ... here are some pix:

Our view at lunch

The entire Village is on the National Historic Register

Dutch Colonial house is unusual for Essex

ESSEX MARINA

This was our third trip to Essex Marina. Our first visit was last year on our return journey from Montreal, and this year as part of our round-trip revisit. It is a charming marina operated by Barry Hamilton, a native Philly guy like Karl. He is almost single-handedly rebuilding and recovering his marina from damage created by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. He said the recovery process is slow because of the paperwork and permitting processes created by the municipality, state and Army Corp Engineers, but things are starting taking shape. On this year’s arrival, we were astonished by the rebuild of the main dock since our visit in August 2017 … a project he completed during the WINTER months … amazing! Barry’s said his next hurdle is rebuilding the fuel dock.

On this visit we decided to hang-out Essex for four days to meet with our dear friends Joe & Terry who wanted to revisit the Essex Inn, another historical site. With a bit more spare time, we got to chatting with Barry about his marina and discovered his inner sanctum filled with ship building artifacts. We saw two restored and functioning marine launch railways that are used to launch refurbished boats and sailing vessels; and we saw several antique wooden lake boats and canoes. Barry said his marina is visited by “antique boat enthusiasts”, and we can understand why … we saw so many artifacts that we told him it was visiting a small museum. He hopes that the marina will be fully refurbished someday, and partially converted into a public museum. Here are some photos: