Food For the Soul

Lake Champlain
44 17.69 N 073 18.82 W

A week or so ago, I wrote about the joys of returning to home territory. More on that subject today.

We spent the night in Porter Bay. Porter Bay on Lake Champlain is a particularly idyllic place to anchor. The bay is about 1 mile in diameter, sheltered in all directions. There are no houses or structures visible. The perimeter is marked by cliffs, and forests and a marsh. Last night the wind was totally still. That meant that we could see and hear the surroundings particularly well.

We had the whole place to ourselves; no other boats. Just us and two ducks and a family of geese with 3 goslings. As the sun set, we were reminded anew of the sights and sounds of nighttime in the northeast. The crickets and frogs were all making noise the best they could. Ah yes, we thought, one forgets things like the sound of nighttime when visiting exotic places in other states and countries. In West Charlton, we used to have the joy of nearby peepers from May through June. Peepers are tiny frogs the size of your finger tip that can make extraordinarily loud sounds. No peepers here in Porter Bay but the other frogs made up for it.

This morning, before getting out of bed, we awoke to the din of a nearby flock of migrating geese. The geese are fond of putting down for the night in places like Porter Bay. About 1 hour after dawn, they're ready to take off again. Believe me, it is a very noisy affair when a flock of geese decides to take off.

What other rewards? Soon after departing, we caught our first glimpse of Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump in Vermont. We lived many years at the foot of these two spectacular mountains. We climbed each of them several times, and I learned to fly planes and gliders in their vicinity. A few minutes later, we passed Split Rock Point. That is where one departs the narrow part of Lake Champlain, to the broadest part. Out in the broad part, one is treated to an unobstructed view of BOTH The Adirondack Mountains in New York, and The Green Mountains in Vermont. The beauty of that view lifts the soul. It is the reason that so many people, ourselves included, just love living in this area.

Today, we'll stop in Burlington and get to see our daughter Jenny for the first time in almost a year. Ah, more food for the soul.

p.s. Porter Bay was also the site of two of my all time favorite sailing stories. See "Opening Day", August 26, 2007, [http://dickandlibby.blogspot.com/2007/08/moment-opening-day.html] and "The Great Super Chicken Caper", September 2007[http://dickandlibby.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-moment-great-super-chicken-caper.html] Last night, we anchored at the exact spot of that super chicken caper, and it brought back strong memories of my departed father.

We're Here!

Ticonderoga, NY
43 50.31 N 073 23.33 W

Yesterday, Libby and I hugged and congratulated each other. Yet another goal accomplished. We said that we would come to Lake Champlain for the summer and now we're here. In fact, we're anchored under the cannons of Fort Ticonderoga, a very historic symbol of Champlain for a long time.

I'm still challenged about what verb to use for these mast up-down operations and states. Dis-masted, is the only generally accepted word that applies. Therefore, allow me to create my own dictionary.

Masted A vessel with a functional mast. A sailboat.
Dis-masted A vessel with a lost or broken mast.
De-masted Lowering the mast temporarily. [alternative verb: unstep the mast]
Re-masted Re-raising the mast of a de-masted vessel [alternative verb: step the mast]
Un-masted Converting a sailboat to a motorboat.

Thus, according to my definitions, yesterday we stopped at Chipman Point Marina in Orwell Vermont and re-masted Tarwathie. That made Libby happy. It made me happy. It made Tarwathie very happy.

The only down side about being here is the weather. Since coming north of Delaware Bay, the weather has been frequently gray, cool, rainy, and no wind. Extended weather forecasts for the Champlain Valley call for more of the same. Bummer. We're used to having plentiful wind sailing on this lake. Oh well, we have lots of maintenance chores. If we're smart, we'll focus on those while the weather is bad.

Eaten Alive

Whitehall, NY

No LL

Last night we were eaten alive by voracious mosquitos. They really got to me, and I stayed up to 3AM on search and destroy missions inside the boat. The most annoying thing about the destroy part was that most of the moquitos I killed were already gorged on blood.

All that despite the fact that we had the hatches and doors shut tight. The moquitos got in at dusk before we shut things up.

Actually, it is remarkable that we aren't bothered more often by insects. It happens to us only two or three times per year.

How is that? First, when we anchor several hundred feet from shore the insect problem is drastically reduced. Second, in Florida they spray vigorously for moquitoes. Third, we visit some of the buggiest places, like The Everglades, in the winter season.

Behind us on the wall in Whitehall is a pontoon boat. The crew is a couple. They said that they take two years vacation each year to camp on the boat. Camp on the boat? Yes they really mean it. At dusk, they erected a full size camping tent on the deck of the boat. At other times, they have clothes, and miscellaneous stuff hanging all over the place. Their boat looks like a family camp site. I admire those two --- they are really dedicated boaters (or should I say dedicated campers.)

The Project

Whitehall, NY

23 33.25 N 73 24.14 W

Last night in Mechanicville, our friends Carmello and Diane came to visit. We had dinner and then played games until late at night. It was fun to see them once again.

Today we passed the infamous Hudson River Dredging Project which has been underway for only 2 weeks so far. There is a lot of equipment at the site, tugs, barges, dredgers, moorings, floating instrumentation packages, a dewatering plant. Everything is brand new.

For Libby and me, the story of this project seems to have gone on for most of our lives. It has been in the news for 20-25 years. Here's the short form of the story. General Electric had a permit from the state to dump PCB waste in to the river. They did so for decades. Later, someone decided that PCBs are dangerous. Using a new superfund law, the government ordered GE to pay to remove the PCBs from the river bed. It made no difference that the dumping was legal when they did it.

GE fought and fought and fought the government in court. That's what made it drag on for decades. Eventually they lost all their appeals. The cost of the dredging is about $500 billion, and GE has to pay all of it.

An argument against the dredging was that it would re-suspend the PCBs in the water. In the 20-30 years since they stopped dumping, the level of PCBs in the Hudson waters dropped to nearly zero. Digging up the mud on the bottom could raise the levels again. Guess what? After 1 week of dredging, the measured levels of PCBs near the dredging site are only 150 parts per trillion; only 10% of EPA limits for drinking water. It sounds like all the arguments on both sides were phoney. On one hand, the dredging is pointless in the first place because the PCBs were entombed in the bottom mud that would not move. On the other hand, fears that dredging would cause new pollution have proved false anyhow.

What do they do with the mud? They take it by train to Texas, the closest politically acceptable place to dump it.

So what's the moral to the story? It shows how horribly wrong things can go when one mixes public fear and politics and lawyers.

High Gear

Mechanicville, NY Library

No LL

Well, we continue to socialize with old friends in high gear. Last night, we had Mary Ann, and John, and Beverly and John for a lasanga dinner on the boat. Libby outdid herself, making an expecially tasty lasanga plus a delicious 7 layer dip. Luck me, I got to eat the leftovers for lunch today.

Tonight, our firends Carmello and Diane are coming to dinner here at the city dock in Mechanicville. You remember them, they sailed with us in an offshore passage from Cape Judith, RI to Cape May, NY two years ago.

According to the weather report, today is supposed to be really bad with intense rain and thunderstorms. So far it has been beautiful. The wind and river currents are still, so that the surface of the Hudson River became a reflecting pool. It was especially scenic and picture perfect.

The hospitality on the NY Canals is great. In Waterford, the offer dockage, electricity, water, toilets, showers, WiFi, and trash disposal, all totally free. In Mechanicville, it is free docks plus electricity. Most, but not all, towns along the Erie and Champlain Canals offer similar facilities. Libby and I laud North Carolina hospitality, but New York runs a close second. We bought a season pass for the NY Canals so we have no time pressure to move fast.