Smugglers Harbor

Smugglers Harbor, Valcour Island
N 44 37.08 W 073 24.52

We left Burlington around noon in the rain. We have guests coming next weekend that want to meet us on Valcour Island. Also, we'll meet with Jenny and her friend Mary Ann during the week for a day sail near Valcour. Therefore, Valcour sounded like a particularly nice destination to head for. The weather forecasts say that there will be not a breath of wind for the next few days. If that proves true, we'd rather be on Valcour Island than just about any other place.

When we got here I wondered if we would find a suitable anchorage that was not already filled with Quebec boats. Surprise, we not only have a spot, we have the most choice spot on the entire lake. Perhaps the two weeks of industry vacation in Quebec are finished.

We are tucked in to the southern end of Smugglers Harbor. This is a very quiet and well sheltered spot, open to wind in only one direction. Better still, Smugglers Harbor is the place where Libby and I camped on our fall excursions to Valcour in the past, so it feels like home.

Smugglers Harbor is also the site of a peculiar memorial. About 30 meters away from us is a big iron fence securely anchored in a big slab of bedrock. Inside the fence are some markers. One of them says, "In memory of the crew of Nomad who died in service of Her Majesty's Canadian Navy in the great war 1914-1917." Another marker honors the captain of the Nomad. Sorry but I could not make out his name. Anyhow, the story is that the captain so loved Valcour Island and this spot in Smugglers Harbor,
that he ordered the memorial erected in a foreign country. Neither the native country of the men honored, nor the country where they died, but a third country. I think it is a very peculiar story.

Before leaving we saw another Westsail 32 in Burlington Harbor. This one hailed from Underhill Vermont, but alas, there was nobody onboard when we went by. We saw another Westsail in Rouses point last week. I wonder if there might be enough Westsails on Lake Champlain to hold a rendezvous here? That never occurred to me before.