Day 18
Begin: Valcour Island (NY)
End: Jones Pt. Bay, Willsboro (NY)
Today was the start of our journey back to Oneida Lake. We left our families yesterday and planned on heading back south today. We had not made a definitive plan as to how long we were to take on our way back, but knew we wanted to go slower than on our way to Lake Champlain.
We woke up late and many of the boats that were crowding the bay were gone. Some left the night before and others were early risers and left before we awoke. There were only about a dozen sailboats and a few motorboats remaining in the cove. We decided that since there was absolutely zero wind that we would stay on Valcore for a bit.
We had breakfast and went ashore. We explored the western part of the island near where the westward bays are on both sides of the lighthouse. We hiked up to the lighthouse and peeked inside. Unfortunately its open only on the weekends and today is Monday. I love looking at all these old buildings.
We eventually made it back to the boat but not before we were bombarded by frogs. Walking down the trail they were EVERYWHERE. The grass was wet and the trail had a bit of a mud to it, I guess perfect for frogs coming out of hiding. Every few steps another would jump and startle us.
The Valcore Island Lighthouse on the west side of the island.
Back on the boat (close to 11:30 now) we reorganized some things and decided that we would set sail, hoping that there would be an afternoon breeze. We weighed anchor and before heading south we motored over the the nearby marina for fuel.
While getting fuel a very unique yellow wooden 30′-35′ sailboat came in for fuel. Unfortunately the operator either was inexperienced or misjudged the approach and came in at about 5 knots! The dock hands just yelled for him to slowdown, but he did not listen, or know how to. The crew was ready to jump off and catch the boat, but by the time they would jump and catch the boat, the boat would have been through the dock. Fortunately he was coming in at an angle and I was able to push the bow enough so that the boat just scraped the dock. If I did not grab the bow the boat would have easily broken a large part of the dock and/or damaged the boat itself. This is the type of thing that we have not seen much of on our trip, and it was nice, but it really makes you think how safe you are around other boaters.
The NYS boat launch across from Valcore Island in Peru.
After leaving the marina we headed south and once south of Valcore Island I killed the motor and put up the sails. The was almost no wind, but I figured I would give it a try. There were other larger boats in the area sailing, albeit slowly. This did not work out very well as our sails were not large enough to stay filled. Large sailboats to have the advantage of sheer sail size and height on windless days. We ended up dropping sails and motoring for while. I was able to use the auto pilot which was nice so we just sat and enjoyed the day.
We passed by another island and kept going. There was still no wind, and the lake was near flat. We decided that we had enough for the day after motoring for about 5 hours and called it quits in Jones Point Bay near Willsboro, NY. This was a relatively open bay with a few houses/cottages lining the shore. We anchored in about 8 feet of water and then made some dinner, played some cards and then watched a movie before bed. We were now back into our normal routine.