Marc– Monday. No travels today. The view of the green mountains from here is impressive. We can clearly pick out Mt. Mansfield and Camel’s Hump. The night sky is also impressive with stars without any background lighting even while we are in a raft-up of nine boats. The view of the green mountains from here is impressive. We can clearly pick out Mt. Mansfield and Camel’s Hump. The night sky is also impressive with stars without any background lighting even while we are in a raft-up of nine boats. Our raft of sailboats and a few powerboats remains intact. There are several RSYC activities planned for today including a pirate treasure hunt, dinghy raft up and socializing on the various boats in the fleet. Our Commodore John Foley is doing a wonderful job as well as our chief pirates Dave and Dawn. We swim and discover more trails on this island. The southern half of the island has the best maintained trails and the best harbors. Several camping areas also exist. Sara cut her right heel on a zebra muscle while swimming near the rocks with some of the younger kids. The best sandy beach is at Bluff Point South.
July 3, 2012, Sloop Cove, Valcour Island, New York.
Marc– Tuesday. Departure after breakfast at 08:30 with light Southwest breeze. We were in the middle of the rafted boats so released both sides and slipped out. Luckily there were several anchors out to hold the remaining boats in the raft. This was mostly a motorsail to the Grand Isle Bridge. We waited 20 minutes for the next opening and then passed through with several other boats to the Inland Sea (the Eastern part of Lake Champlain. We then sailed over to Burton Island Marina and settled in. We were not the first to arrive as the Pirates had led the way to prepare for the festivities to come. Rest at last. Fireworks at night over the St. Albans shore that we could see from the Nature Center.
July 4, 2012, Burton Island State Park, Vermont
Marc- Wednesday. A great day to settle in and relax here at Burton Island. The RSYC has some planned activities over the next few days and each under the Pirate theme. We certainly enjoyed the dinner time pot luck meal. We hiked around the island and checked out the camping sites rented by Mark and Patricia. Later there were games over near the powerboat marina basin and a bonfire marshmallow roast for the traditional smores.
July 5, 2012, Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
Marc- Thursday. More books to read and a few campfire activities today. The RSYC gang is still here. Sue and I took our bikes over on the ferry and went grocery shopping in St. Albans. It was nice except for that 4 mile hill from St. Albans Bay in the 90 degree heat. Nice trip back to the ferry since it was all downhill. It is great having air conditioning on the Lucy III during this summer heat wave. Swimming at Burton has also been good (no zebra mussels here). Great Pirate Potluck Dinner tonight and costume contest. We won a “newbie” award. The RSYC people are great.
July 6, 2012, Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
Marc- Friday. Most of the RSYC fleet is leaving today. I caught a ride with Forest to get our car from Charlotte. This worked out very well. I left the car at Kill Kare State Park where the Burton Island ferry docks. More hiking and swimming at Burton along with a nice campfire at Mark and Patricia’s Lean-to site. The sunset was unbelievable. Some friends came over to visit and skipped stones at the beach.
July 7, 2012, Burton Island State Park, Vermont.
Marc- Saturday. Company today from friends, Eric and Penny from Imagica. They arrived on the 9 a.m. ferry after the Chief Park Ranger (Heather) called the Captain and requested that he delay departure a few minutes. They made the boat and we greeted them at the dock. They came just in time for a nice breakfast at the Island General Store. Afterward, we set sail for Butler Island. We anchored in a southern cove with a sandy beach but did not go ashore. We enjoyed a swim and then lunch as cooked up by Chef Sue. Delicious black bean appetizer and salad. We hauled up the anchor and then sailed over to City Bay in North Hero. The anchorage was quiet with a West wind. We took the dinghy ashore to explore and found the North Hero General Store to have everything you could ask for including ice cream. The front porch was interesting with two benches labeled Democrats and Republicans. Our return sail brought us back to Burton in time for the last ferry to the mainland at 18:00.
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