Minutes before launching from Plattsburgh!
We launched from Plattsburgh, NY on Sept. 29 in the late afternoon. There were so many last minute details to take care of that seemed to go on and on, and finally we got so ansy to leave we decided to at least go to Burlington, just across the lake, to at least MOVE somewhere. We needed to make a stop in Burlington to finish getting some supplies we needed at some stores there. As soon as we arrived a big storm front moved in and it rained for 2 days straight. We hunkered down in the harbor there, enjoyed wearing our new foul weather gear day and night, and took advantage of the wonderful city of Burlington, which conveniently hugs the waterfront and is easily accessible. We stocked up on some food at the Burlington Food Coop, one of the best coops in the nation! We saw a fabulous movie that we HIGHLY recommend — Get Low. We enjoyed delicious (but expensive!) artisan flatbread pizza and beer at Burlington’s famed America Flatbread.
I'm practicing for my next performance art role as a banana!
Finally on the 3rd day the weather cleared, and we set sail in the morning, headed SOUTH. We still had a lot of Lake Champlain to cover before we reached the locks and the Hudson River. There was a strong down wind and we were able to sail well into the afternoon. Even though it was sunny the wind was cold, and hours and hours of being in the wind tired and chilled us to the bone. In the late afternoon we pulled in to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Although we had hoped to visit the museum, it was late in the day and we were tired, so we skipped going through the museum and anchored nearby in a delightful spot called Barn Rock Cove. Large rock cliffs toward above a small protected inlet, and a small stream ran out of the mountains into the cove. We had the whole place to ourselves, as there were hardly any boaters out, even on a sunny, windy, glorious fall weekend day. We had hoped to have covered more miles on our first day, but in the end we decided to fully enjoy where we were and forget about rushing! This seems to be one of the big lessons of this form of travel — let go of your preconcieved timeline! All of the people we have spoken to who have travelled long distances on sailboats have told us the same advice as well. So at the end of our first real day sailing, we sat back in relaxation, counted our blessings and took in deep breaths of the beauty all around us.
Arriving in Barn Rock Cove
Hi Liza and Kristopher, on our way back home from our bike trip Cheryl told me about your sailing to Flordia, what fun!!