M/V MASCOT: August 2016 - St. Lawrence River to New York

My mudder is dead. These were the words uttered as we passed a pontoon boat carrying 6 passengers heading east on the St. Lawrence River. Our first thought was, oh no his mother is dead, what the heck will we do. But after careful consideration of those 4 words and the fact he was speaking with a French accent, we figured out his motor was dead. What a relief to us since dealing with a dead motor is so much easier than a dead body. Doing what boaters do best, we set up a tow line and and towed them into their marina a few miles down river and waved good-bye.

We began our journey south into Lake Champlain and eventually the Hudson River by way of the Richelieu Canal and the Chambly Canal. The temperature was well into the 90's for an extended period of time so we took it slow and searched for air conditioning wherever possible. The villages were very quaint, each with a personality of it's own. There were family events and music events at most stops and of course we sought out cheese, bread/croissants and ice cream. It was quite breezy as we entered back into the U.S. at Rouses Pt, NY. Scott took our passports,documentation and the few fireworks we had on board up to the Custom's trailer to check in. There was an electronic billboard before we docked flashing the message 'all fireworks must be checked in'. Fifteen minutes later he was back to the boat with our clearance number and the fireworks. The custom's people had no idea what to do with the fireworks so they were ours to keep. Just trying to be law abiding citizens!

Anchoring was plentiful on Lake Champlain. We anchored in Pelots Bay, St. Albans Bay, Deep Bay and Valcour Island before heading to the Champlain Marina in Mallets Bay. Exploring, swimming, bird watching, boat watching and kids swimming were just some of the highlights to our days at anchor. Once in Mallets Bay, we rode our bicycles into Burlington a couple of times for sightseeing and grocery shopping. While in Burlington, we were also treated to an Air Show. We logged 44 miles on the bikes at this stop. After our stay at Mallets Bay, we headed off for more anchoring in Willsboro Bay, Kingsland Bay, Mile Bay, Crown Point and Ft. Ticonderoga. The only anchorage we had a problem in was Kingsland Bay. At 0500 the anchor alarm went off , we had 20-25 mph winds with gusts to 32 and to top it all off, we had wind against current with standing waves coming into the anchorage and we began to drag. Scott started the boat, I put on my life jacket went out to haul anchor but of course it wasn't that easy. The chain came off the roller and I had a beast of a time getting it back on in gusting winds and rough seas but eventually it was hauled and we set off for quick protection and a regroup. After the events of the evening we took a mooring in Mile Bay. Crown Point was a destination for us since a few years ago when crossing the Chimney Point/Crown Point bridge, we saw an American Tug anchored in this very spot. We really wanted to get ashore at Ft. Ticonderoga and were told we could land our dinghy on the pebbly beach through the weeds and walk up the hill to the welcome center. After a couple of attempts, we gave up. Nothing is ever that easy. The "Fort" is not boater friendly. In my opinion they are missing the boat!

Whitehall, Ft. Edward, Mechanicsville and Waterford, and we've completed the Triangle Loop. We saw a poster in Whitehall for Shakespeare in the Park, A Midsummer Night's Dream so we planned our day around this. Great performance set on the banks of the Champlain Canal. The Champlain Canal had lots of weeds, so much so that they wrapped around the propeller and caused a vibration when moving the boat. Scott laid down on the swim platform and reached under the boat to the prop with a knife attached to a boat hook to cut it off. We were able to continue then stopping at the next lock to cut off more weeds. Eventually we were back to normal. Note to self: don't go through the carpet of weeds in the future. Yeah, Waterford! The Triangle Loop is complete!