Quacker Smith to Burlington to Smugger's Harbor.

Saturday morning was foggy.  At about 11, the sun was out, and there was a slight breeze, but the fog did not lift.  It was apparently smoke from the prairie fires.

At noon, the visibility was good enough for me to depart for Burlington, VT.  

I got the mooring ball and dinghied with a diesel jerry can to refill.  To my surprise, the price was 3.56, which was very good.  

I walked to West Marine to pick up the Magma BBQ I had on order.  I took it on the bus back to the dinghy, getting some dumplings at a dumpling house in Burlington.

I got off the mooring ball to fill the BELLUM tanks.

I departed at 6:15, and Norm encouraged me to anchor at Valcour.  I arrived at 20:32, anchored a little further out, but there were no winds in the forecast.

Enjoyed a beer and the last dumpling.  Examined the BBQ and it was very shiny, but it was made in China.  I thought Magma was American-made.

Vergennes to Quacker Smith

At 10, I tried to depart from the dock, but I was unable to do so without risking scratching my hull.  The current was pushing me against the pier with metal posts.

I went to the nearby red house to ask the gentleman of the house to help me fend the boat from the metal posts.

It was easier to exit Otter Creek since I was more comfortable with the creek, and the current was in my favour.  I did 7 nm in 50 minutes.  

I headed to Burlington, but it was threatening to rain all afternoon, so I decided to anchor.  My choices were Quacker Smith, Shelbourne, or take a mooring ball at Burlington.  The rain started, and Quacker Smith was the closest, so I went there.  

It rained all afternoon.  I did an oil change and cleaned up the boat.  When the rain stopped, I flew the drone.

INSIGHT - Lake Champlain is a delightful sailing area.  I considered spending a summer here!

Whitehall to Vergennes

I got up early to make coffee using free power at the dock.  My neighbour, a Ranger Tug, offered me his coffee.

Lock C12 opened at 8, and I locked through with another sailboat.  It was easy sailing to Crown Point, and Lake Champlain opened up.  I was going to anchor at Port Henry to wait for Lisa, but the weather looked bad for the weekend, so we cancelled, and I continued north.  Norm suggested I check out Otter Creek.  The last time I tried was July 24, 2018, when we kept getting grounded in Field Bay.  I tried again, and it was easy.  

I made it to Vergennes and docked at the free dock.  The floating dock was not in, so I tied up to the frame where it was supposed to be attached.  Two minor scratches on BELLUM.

I flew the drone, walked around the town, and then came back for pork tenderloin.

I planned the Chambly locks with Norm and Hal.  It looks like Hal will come down, park the car at Chambly, and bike to St-Jean Lock 9, where he will do the Chambly locks with me, with the bike onboard.

It was a long day

Fort Edwards to Whitehall

I slept in until 8:30, only to find that everyone had already left the dock at Fort Edwards.

I made a Nespresso and departed for C7, tying up at the rock wall just before the lock.  The dockmaster was doing C7 and C8.  I waited about 15 minutes while the lockmaster spoke with me to say the lock was being drained and should be ready soon.  Three other sailboats arrived, and I provided them with the lock status information.

We completed C7 and C8 without undue delay.

C9 changed direction from up to down.  My furler drum got caught on the edge of the lock as we descended and broke the furler foil.

C11 was uneventful.  There is no C10.

I fell behind and missed C12, but it was in my plan to stop at Whitehall since there were several free docks in Whitehall.  After C12, there were anchorages.  It was 4PM, and I had had enough.

I walked through a bit of Whitehall, but it wasn't exciting.  I expected Whitehall to be more whatever.  I bought some used DVDs

Mechanicsville to Fort Edward

Started at 10 AM and went through Champlain Locks 3, 4, 5, and 6, with lots of waiting at C4, where the lockmaster was handling two locks by himself.

We ended up at Fort Edward just before C7 at 7 PM.  Another nice free dock with power, water, washrooms and coin-operated showers.

I made burgers and went to bed at 10.

Troy to Mechanicsville

Last night, my temporary crown popped out while I was eating some ribs.

I considered returning to Montreal to have the permanent crown installed, as I was uncertain how long the locks C1 to C4 would remain closed.

The next morning I put the temporary crown back on and it fitted.  I got an email stating the lock would be open.  I searched for a dentist in Troy who could re-cement the crown.  Found Brunswick Dental to do it.  The dentist was Russian.

I did some groceries at Walmart near the dentist.  

I returned to the dock at 12:30.  Another boat was approaching the river from the direction of Federal Lock, so I undocked and followed it.  

Made it through Federal Lock.  But I fell behind the other boat, and I continued to Lock C1.  It seems they were waiting for my arrival.  There were about six boats in the lock.

After the lift, we continued to C2.  

At C3, I noticed a boat docked at Mechanicsville, a free dock that looked attractive. However, since it was only 3:30, I decided to continue.  However, C3 would not take all of us, and I missed the lock, so I decided to stay in Mechanicville.  Nice town.  Did more groceries at Price Choppers.

The dock had free power, water, pump-out and showers.

Albany North to Troy

After a day of rain, the morning sky was blue and 10 degrees C I weighed anchor at 9:10 and headed north.  At 9:43, I received an email stating that locks C1 to C4 were not functioning due to high water levels.

I headed to the public dock at Troy to wait it out.  

The current was almost 3 knots, making it difficult to dock BELLUM single-handed.  It took two approaches.  The dock master thinks that it might take two days for the locks to reopen.  There is still the Federal Lock before the Champlain locks, but it is better to wait at Troy.  It sounds congested after Federal Lock.

Troy looked touristy, and there was a vegan food fair in town   

There is no news about when the Champlain locks might open.

I met Summer Time and Le petite bateau blue at tbe dock