Lake Champlain

Mischief Managed

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
1,928
After a lot of contemplation about where to cruise next week, my wife and I have finally settled on Lake Champlain. Our plan is to trailer to Westport, NY (3.5 hours from my home) and launch/park at the public ramp. I already called the town of Westport and leaving my truck and trailer in the lot for multiple days is not a problem. We plan to base out of Westport Marina for a couple of nights while exploring the southern portions of the lake and already have two nights reserved. We hope to hit Fort Ticonderoga, The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the falls at Vergennes, Essex, and maybe go as far south at Lock 12. Our next stop will be Burlington for a 1/2 day or so with an overnight at Champlain Marina in Mallets Bay (we already have a reservation). After that, I plan to head north and will be winging it as far as slips go. Worst case,I spend a night or two on the hook, which is pretty cool for a worst case situation and will not be the first time for us... We will eventually make a run back to Westport, load the boat up, and head home.

I know the lake is really low right now, but I have charts (paper and the latest electronic) and have been assured that the marinas of choice have enough water for me. I also know that Champlain can be really choppy, especially with a north wind. The extended forecast is for light wind all next week and we will be heading south on the return leg of our trip so I'm not terribly concerned, worst case is we surf back to the truck. I've also dealt with plenty of nasty chop in the past (most recently a gale warning day on Chesapeake Bay) and my boat does quite well in it.

Any recommendations for places not to miss, sandbars for a nice swim, cool things to see while snorkeling and places to avoid would be most welcome. Also with the lake down so low, is the Westport ramp even usable for 25 foot boat? I have other ramp options...
 

jforrest1

Seaman
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
63
If you get up into what's called the "Inland Sea" or the islands there is a great place to anchor on the south side of Butler Island which is up by St. Albans, Vt. I lives by there for a few years and spend many weekends there. There is Hero's Welcome in North Hero and they make great sandwiches and have a fun store to shop in. There is also an antique store in walking distance as well (covering all bases). You can go through the gut and go onto "Broad Lake" and go to Plattsburg, which was about a 40 minute ride from Butler Island (cruising at 24 mph) and a good restaurant on the water is the Naked Turtle.
 

Mischief Managed

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
1,928
Thanks for the tips. I have not had a chance to go through pics yet, but we had a great time on Champlain. We did 4 nights in marinas and one on the hook. I highly recommend Champlain Marina and North Hero Marina. They were both excellent and super friendly to transients. Don at Champlain Marina spent a solid half hour going over the chart with us, highlighting all the places to see and his advice was spot on in every case.

Gas on the VT side was at least $.50 cheaper per gallon.

We hit all kinds of weather from a total rain out day (we spent much of it drifting in the middle of lake with the camper canvas up), to high winds and big waves, to perfect sunny Summer days. I could have done without the big waves, but we had a great fun otherwise and they were only a problem one morning of one day.

Places we really liked:

Naked Turtle in Plattsburg Boat Basin (festive and good food)

Plattsburg River walk

Two Heros Tiki Bar at North Hero Marina (cheap and delicious home made food and snarky (in a good way) waitresses)

The Galley at Westport Marina (great food, good prices)

Downtown Vergennes, VT (long no wake ride up an intetresting river that ends at some waterfalls in the middle of the town).

The Upper Deck restaurant in Willsboro Bay (pricey, but excellent).

Downtown Burlington, VT

Burton Island State Park

Valcourt Island lighthouse.

Anchoring off the beach at Alburg Duns State Park.

Things we did not like:

The water was down 2 feet below normal so the launch ramps were a bit iffy.

The snorkeling was lousy. Too many weeds and zebra mussels made the bottom dull to look at. Also the water was not as clear as we expected.

Wife and I both agreed we'd be going there many more times in the future.
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
17,597
:thumb:

You always seem to find some good places to go boating. I was never one for trailering the boat various places. Looking forward to the pics.
 
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