JULY 11-15: ENJOYING LAKE CHAMPLAIN

July 11-12: The journey from Westport to Burlington, Vermont offers some gorgeous scenery:  sheer rock cliffs on the New York side and rolling hills on the Vermont side.  We are really enjoying the ride as we head North on Lake Champlain.

Cool sunset in Burlington.

We spent two days exploring Burlington.  It is a funky town with well preserved architecture.

Church Street is a long pedestrian mall with boutiques, art & book stores and many restaurants.

Funky art.

Did I mention funky?  These are rain water collection vessels!

Murals galore.....

July 13:  We were fortunate to pull in next to another Monk in the Burlington marina.  Brad & Karen own Sea Catcher.  They invited us for drinks and offered us the use of their mooring which is about 3 miles south of Burlington.  We accepted their generous offer as we had originally planned to be in Burlington on July 13.  We set off around 10:00 a.m. and were soon tied up on Seacatcher's mooring which is in a lovely, quiet bay.  There were very few boats anchored there when we arrived but by the end of the day, there were over 20 boats sharing this large bay.

The Captain at galley duty.  He did a good job cooking the country style ribs so I guess we will keep him on.

July 14:  A short run today took us to Valcour Island which is a State park.  No cars or homes are allowed and the only way to get there is by boat.  So it is a peaceful anchorage.  We wanted to arrive there on a Sunday so that the place would not be crowded.  We were rewarded with a great place to relax and only two other boats spent the night.

Super hot day with temperatures in the 90s.  Even the Captain braved the waters to cool off.

 Sloop Bay in Valcour Island.

View from our boat of this unspoiled anchorage.

July 15:  In keeping with our plan to take a leisurely crossing of Lake Champlain, we left this morning for another short run of only 16 miles to another well protected and scenic anchorage in Pelots Bay.  We spent the day swimming and reading and generally having a good time.

Tomorrow we travel to Rouse Point where we will have to do some work!  This is the last stop on Lake Champlain and the US.  So time for us to fuel up, provision and do laundry before we enter Canadian waters.  As Internet connections may be hard and expensive to come by, the blog may have to wait until we reach a location that has WiFi.