Ah, Nice Weather

Valcour Island, NY
44 37.37 N 073 24.42 W

John and Paul are lucky in that the stretch of days they picked on the calendar have had nice weather. Nice weather is in short supply this summer season.

Yesterday, we motored up from Willsboro to Valcour. It was gray but we didn't get rained on much. We did get treated to spectacular views of thunderheads and anvil clouds visible in the distance. Around sunset, the skies began to clear.

We set our watches to catch a special event. At exactly 22:00:59 last night, the International Space Station (ISS) was directly overhead. It was also exceptionally bright (magnitude -3.4) because it was in sunlight while we were in the dark. We were lucky again. We scrambled up on deck just in time to see it. Alas, much of the sky was obscured in cloud. However, at just the right moment the ISS appeared in a hole in the clouds directly overhead. It was moving very fast and it was indeed very bright. We were glad indeed to have seen it. We'll try again tonight. The skies are perfectly clear at the moment. (By the way, my source of information about the ISS was www.heavens-above.com)

Today is dead wind wise. That didn't stop us from having fun though. We took a hike this morning on Valcour, enjoying its wonderful rock formations and its mature northern forest. We went down to Smugglers Cove to see the Nomad Memorial. Do you know what that is? If not, then I'll give you an internet search assignment (I have no Internet today to do it for you.) Search for information about a Canadian War Ship named Nomad that served in World War 1. Also ask why the memorial to this Canadian ship should be located in the USA on Valcour Island.

This afternoon, I returned to the boat for a nice quiet nap. Paul and John are circumnavigating the island.

Tomorrow promises to be both warm and windy (at least 5-15 knots they are saying) That would be a perfect capstone to the expedition.