Aug. 13 - Rouses Point, NY

Back to the States

Gaines' Marina

We returned to New York around 10:30 this morning and stopped at the Custom & Border Protection pier to clear customs. No issues and we were on our way to the marina in Rouses Point in about 15 minutes. We had a nice American lunch (cheeseburgers & coke) at a deli on the main street and then spent the afternoon catching up on cleaning chores. I haven't done laundry since we came back to the boat on July 20...so I really needed to spend time at the laundromat. The Pearl hasn't seen a water hose or soap in just as long...so Stan spent the afternoon scrubbing the boat. We are now all clean...what a great feeling! We finally had an evening without rain, so we had dinner on the flybridge and spent a lot of time catching up with family and friends on the phone. 

We are now on Lake Champlain and plan to spend the next few weeks exploring little anchorages and towns.

Lake Champlain Facts:

• Lake Champlain is the 6th largest body of freshwater in the United States.  Only the Great Lakes are larger. Yet is it only 1/14th the size of the smallest Great Lake, Ontario.
• It is 120 miles long and 12 miles wide at its widest point.
• It has over 70 islands and 600 miles of shoreline. 
• Its deepest point is 400 ft. The average depth is 64 ft.
• It is bounded on the west by the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and on the east by the Green Mountains of Vermont. It flows north from Whitehall, New York to the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec.
• It is home to the oldest known fossil reef (Chazy Reef) in the world. (450-480 million years old)
• It is the birthplace of the American Navy.
• On a typical summer day there were 7500 motor boats, 3000 sailboats, 15 commercial vessels, and countless swimmers, wind surfers, kayakers, canoers and scuba divers on or in the lake.
• More than 188,000 people rely on Lake Champlain for their drinking water.
• 81 species of fish, 318 species of birds, 56 species of mammals, plus 21 species of amphibians and 20 species of reptiles also rely on Lake Champlain for their drinking water.
• The lake is a major breeding area and a stopping point for spring and fall birds migrating along the Atlantic flyway.
• 16 species of birds found in the Champlain Basin are listed as endangered species.
• Portions of the lake freeze each winter, and in some winters the entire lake surface freezes, referred to as "closing". The lake temperature reaches an average of 70 °F in July and August.
• The lake was named for the French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who encountered it in 1609