We awoke to a beautiful day with a clear sky
and a temperature of 62F. The photo at the right shows our view over the bow of
Lucky Us at the third and final try at anchoring yesterday. The wind was 15+
mph out of the north so we knew that once we got out into the lake that we
would be going directly into the waves. Terry took Lucky to shore in the kayak,
and on her way back she chatted with the people on a 32 foot sailboat that had just
come into the anchorage. They said that if was horrible out on the lake with 4
foot waves. Based on the wind at the anchorage, we did not think that such big
waves were possible. However, as is often the case, the only way to find out is
to stick our nose out into the lake.
The photo at the left shows what we
found out in the lake after we had exited the anchorage back to the right. The
waves were barely 2 feet with some white caps although there was the occasional
wave near 3 feet. This kind of sea is definitely within our comfort range. The
wavelength of the waves was fairly short so I speed up a bit so that Lucky Us
was always on top of at least three waves, which made the ride even smoother.
Once again, even though we were fairly close to shore, the water depth was over
200 feet. It would not have taken much of an increase in the wind strength to
make our trip uncomfortable so we headed directly to Burlington only15.4 miles
from the anchorage.
The photo at the right shows our views
off to starboard (east) of the Vermont shoreline with the beginnings of some
mountains. We had realized yesterday that we had forgotten to bring Lucky’s sea
sick medicine, but she hung in there like a trooper for the whole trip. That
medicine is now at the top of our shopping list for Burlington.
The rest of our two hour trip was
beautiful and also uneventful The photo at the left was taken after we cruised
past Burlington and rounded the north end of the breakwater. The breakwater at
the north end has a bit of a bend back toward shore. Otherwise, the breakwater
is straight and parallel to the shore. The shoreline at the north end also
bends out to the west so the harbor is very well protected from the north
winds. As we were to learn the hard way, the south end of the harbor is poorly
protected from south winds.
As we cruised back south toward town, we
(photo at right) passed the US Coast Guard Station (blue roof). The station is
memorable since it is the first one that we have passed this year. The Coast
Guard has a large fleet of 25 foot fast response boats that are also
trailerable. This means that any given station can cover a much larger area in
less time than ever before. Of course, this also means that some stations have
been closed.
Shortly, we got our first close up views
of downtown Burlington. The photo at the left shows some of the taller, new
buildings, but the town also has many beautiful historic buildings. It is a town
of about 80,000 people with a similar number of people in the immediate area.
These numbers are bolstered by the main campus of the University of Vermont
with about 22,000 students. This means that Burlington and area account for
about 20% of the population in the state. The other thing to note in this
picture is the there is a fairly steep slope up from the water to reach much of
the town. We were to experience this many times as every time we set out to
walk any place, it always seemed to involve going up the hill…
The last photo for today shows the
loading dock and three of the ferries that run between Burlington, VT and
Plattsburg, NY on the west side of the lake. The ferries run year around, which
means that they must be capable of breaking a path through the ice and keeping
it open. At the far right in the photo you can see the first couple of boats in
the marina that will be our home for the next two full days. As soon as we have
docked and taken Lucky for a walk, we plan to go to lunch at a seafood restaurant
adjacent to the marina. After that, it will be nap time before we explore the
town for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment