By Jerry and Irene Cuba - Allagaroo (D Dock)
I just read Jim Clarks trip up the Hudson ,and recommend leaving more time and going to Lake Champlain. I have been all over and this was the absolute best. I went up with 1 other boat . We met them at Haverstraw marina which took me about 3 hours from home. We were in dense fog in NY harbor and I guessed that the Hudson was 0 degrees or due north.
The next thing I saw was a sign that said Welcome to Bayonne off my starboard quarter! It actually is 30 degrees. After going to take a close look at the Intrepid we continued uneventfully to Haverstraw. Pappilon met us that evening and we left at 8 a.m. the next morning and made it through the Troy lock late afternoon. For any who are interested please contact me and I will go over the locking procedure. Nobody offered us any direction and we were on our own.
We left the next morning and made it through the 60 miles of locks into Whitehall, NY by 6p.m. It was 98 degrees and brutal. I turned on the generator and air and Irene and were taking half hour shifts on the bridge. I pulled into Whitehall in a wild thunderstorm that broke the heat and it stayed in the 80's during the day and low 60's at night for the rest of the trip. The lower lake is narrow and windy but then opens up and is gorgeous. The White mountains on 1 side and the Green Mountains on the other, fresh water, beautiful tree lined coves. It was so pretty we anchored out almost every night. We stayed at marinas at Burlington, VT. (town dock) very pretty, great town good restaurants. We also stayed at Essex, NY Plattsburg, and in Mallets Bay(don't miss) The best anchorage's were around Valcour Island which we loved. We walked the whole island one day while our friends circumnavigated it in their dingy.
There is a no discharge rule on the lake and they mean it. We saw a lot of boat boarding. We were heading back to Whitehall when I struck a log and wiped out both props. Fortunately I was a mile from one of the few marinas that could haul me and I carried spare props. We again stayed in Whitehall and left the next morning. We traveled all the way back to Troy, NY and stayed at Van Schlaik marina.
The next day we traveled to Tarrytown Marina were we were photographed and wound up in a Champlins article on "How to dock a twin screw boat". We didn't know until the following season when someone told Bill he had seen a picture of his boat in Champlins.
We left the next morning and about three hours later we were home. The boat ran great, I burned 865 gallons of fuel, almost as much beer and It still is the most memorable trip we ever took.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you want more details. Email Jerry at allagaroo@aol.com
Happy boating,
Jerry