Day 82; 8.17.18 - Ticonderoga to Fort Ann - Lock C9

We awaken this morning to red skies and a magnificent sunrise quickly fading behind an ever increasing cloud deck.  After breakfast, we raise the sails and attempt to sail down the remainder of the south end of Lake Champlain.  The winds are light and occasionally we find ourselves starting the motor for a few moments until the winds pick back up enough to allow us to sail a bit more.

This area of Lake Champlain is very, very shallow and we find ourselves increasingly becoming confined to the main central part of the "lake".  The lakeshore becomes more and more rural and undeveloped as we head south until we find ourselves no longer in a lake bur really more of a river.  although techically it is still Lake Champlain, it now looks like a river and we find our sailing impeded by large stumps of trees that jut out of the water on either bank....soon starting to encroach in to the center of body of water we are on.

Sails come down as we anchor in the calm waters and then the boom and mast come down.  We are back to motoring and continue along the wilderness waterway that this body of water has become as we watch bald eagles, osprey, great blue herons, egrets, little green herons, belted king fishers, canada geese, mallard ducks, crows, blue jays, and turkey vultures all busy either fishing for breakfast or posing for our pictures of them.

Lake Champlain ends in the town of Whitehall, NY where we find our first in a series of locks that will take us down to the Hudson River.  Lock C11 lifts us up from lake level and depositis us in the heart of this small New York town.  We take a break from our journey to hop off the boat at the town public dock and walk over to the local CVS drug store where Gary gets his prescription filled for pain killers.  He's still a hurting puppy but says that he is doing better.  Visibly it appears he is doing better as well since his mobility, while still low, has incermentally improved.

Back on board Eclipse, we motor down to the head of lock C9 where we spend the night.  A large thunderstorm moves in shortly after we tie up and so we happily take refuge from the torrents of rain as we enjoy a delicious dinner of burgers and my homemade rice pilaf.

Our last sunrise on Lake Champlain as seen from Ticonderoga, NY

A Great Blue Heron (GBH) is working on acquiring breakfast!

An egret is also working acquiring breakfast.

A GBH involved in marine traffic control.

The end of our Lake Champlain portion of the expedition.  Arrival at the south of the lake where we meet Lock C11, the first of the locks that will deposit us into the Hudson River on our way to Albany, NY.

Remains of USS Ticonderoga