Vermont Life Magazine: Shore Leave
May 1, 2009You can still get out on the water and enjoy Lake Champlain What better way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s exploration of the lake than to enjoy the same waters he sailed? Even if you don’t own a boat, there are plenty of no-hassle ways — from active adventures to relaxing cruises and sails — to feel the wind in your hair, lake water on your toes and sun on your face this summer.
Smooth SailingCaptain Glen Findholt, owner of Whistling Man Schooner (598-6504, www.whistlingman.com) brushed up on his history in honor of this summer’s Lake Champlain Quadricentennial celebrations. Setting sail from the Burlington waterfront, he shares stories of explorer Samuel de Champlain with up to 17 guests on private charters and up to 12 on public, two-hour guided tours ($35) aboard the 43-foot Friendship Sloop. Findholt tailors the route to passengers’ interests — if geology is tops, he’ll steer toward the thrust fault on the north side of Lone Rock Point, while for lighthouse lovers he’ll sail to the historic cast-iron lighthouse on Juniper Island.
The nonprofit Community Sailing Center (864-2499, www.communitysailingcenter.org) offers affordable sailboat, canoe and kayak rentals ($15 and up) at the Burlington waterfront, as well as camps, instruction and environmental education. The center has more than 50 sailboats in two general types — two-person, 14-foot dinghies (from $25) and six-person, 23-foot keelboats (from $50). The helpful staff can suggest destinations within the center’s sailing boundaries — from Red Rocks to the south to Rock Point to the north.
Shipwreck Explorations
Explore sunken shipwrecks without getting wet on Burlington’s Shipwrecktour.com (578-6120) and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s shipwreck tours out of Vergennes (475-2022, www.lcmm.org). On these one-hour voyages you’ll visit the site of one of more than 300 sunken ships in Lake Champlain. A remote-controlled camera is lowered into the water, sending pictures back to a monitor for viewing on deck. Shipwrecktour.com ($18) often visits sites in Burlington Harbor, including the relatively intact “General Butler” schooner, which still contains big blocks of marble that were inside the cargo hold when the ship went down in 1876. The Museum’s trips ($22) often venture to the “Champlain II,” a 19th-century steamer that ran aground.
Discover the shipwrecks of Lake Champlain up close when you scuba dive with Waterfront Diving Center in Burlington (865-2771, www.waterfrontdiving.com). Dive shop owner Jonathan Eddy offers scuba diving classes for beginners to advanced divers and coordinates weekly charters ($40 and up) to dive at the lake’s protected shipwreck sites. Favorite wrecks — which Eddy says are in a remarkable state of preservation because they lie in fresh water — include a horse-powered ferry complete with paddle wheels, gears and a turnstile for the animals; and the 1862-built “O.J. Walker,” an 88-foot “Hollywood wreck” with the wheel at the stern, the masts toppled but attached and brick cargo still stacked in pallets on the deck.
Champlain Cruisin’
Easy relaxation awaits on cruise tours from the Burlington waterfront aboard the “Spirit of Ethan Allen III” (862-8300, www.soea.com) and “Northern Lights” (864-9669, www.lakechamplaincruises.com). Both ships take daily scenic narrated cruises and lunch, brunch and dinner tours. The “Spirit of Ethan Allen III” ($14.99 and up) offers themed cruises such as murder mysteries, jazz, Italian night, Swingin’ Big Band and Lobster on the Lake, while “Northern Lights” ($12.99 and up) hosts sunset dinner cruises with live entertainment from local bands such as the soulful Jenni Johnson and Friends. With the Quadricentennial in mind, “Spirit of Ethan Allen III” is also offering a special lunch cruise followed by admission to the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center and a train ride between Burlington and Charlotte ($47 and up).
The “Moonlight Lady” (863-3350, www.vermontdiscoverycruises.com), a 1920s-era ship, revives overnight cruising on Lake Champlain ($299 and up) with private cabins and baths. The 65-foot boat makes stops for onshore excursions in Vermont, New York and Quebec villages and features onboard amenities such as observation decks and an open kitchen that allows interaction with the chef. Special excursions include a bird-watching expedition with Chip Darmsdadt of North Branch Nature Center in Montpelier and a watercolor cruise with Vergennes artist Sean Callahan. In honor of the Quadricentennial, the ship sails from Burlington to Montreal to Quebec ($1,026 and up). Passengers can take one or more legs of the journey and make the trip between their chosen port and Vermont by bus.
Explore the northern section of Lake Champlain aboard Driftwood Tours (373-0022, www.northherohouse.com) located at the North Hero House. Captain Holly Poulin takes up to six guests on her pontoon boat for one- to eight-hour charters ($25 and up) for fishing, swimming, private dinners and visits to state parks and beaches.
Paddle Power
Rowboats, kayaks and canoes comprise the rental fleet at Auer Family Boathouse (862-9840), a Burlington institution owned by the same family since 1928. With a sense of humor and a focus on families, Charlie Auer and his sister Christine Hebert run the business their parents started more than 80 years ago. The pair gives quick lessons before paddlers set out on the small boats ($8 and up). Auer, an avid fisherman, also sells fishing gear and bait, and after-boating snacks to be enjoyed on the picnic tables and swing set.
Canoe Imports (651-8760, www.canoeimports.com) rents canoes and kayaks ($20 and up) and offers classes from an outpost on Burlington’s North Beach.
Kayak, canoe, rowboat, aluminum skiff and Boston Whaler rentals (from $10) are also available from Waterfront Boat Rentals at Burlington’s Perkins Pier (864-4858, www.waterfrontboatrentals.com).
Active Adventures
See the lake from a different vantage point when you windsurf, kitesurf or kayak with Stormboarding (578-6120, www.stormboarding.com). Lessons come courtesy of owners Rachael Miller, Coast Guard captain and former competitive sailor, and husband James Lyne, also a Coast Guard captain, and an Olympic sailing coach and professional sailor, and their instructors. Two-part kitesurfing lessons teach safety and technique and offer on-water experience. Windsurfing lessons are taught north of Burlington, and adventure trips go to locations such as Willsboro Bay, where you can kayak or swim close to a waterfall and soaring vertical cliffs. Stormboarding also offers a motorboat-and-drop service that takes customers and kayaks to locations that would be time-consuming or difficult to reach by paddling from the Vermont shore. The kayaks are then dropped in the water for an outing in such locations as Four Brothers Islands, a protected bird sanctuary near Willsboro, N.Y.
For 16 years, mother and son Jane and Dovid Yagoda have taken paddlers on their True North Kayak Tours (860-1910, www.vermontkayak.com) to places you can’t reach in a large boat. In addition to lessons ($85 and up), full-day tours and overnight trips ($100 and up), they offer dedicated tours for women and seniors. Favorite spots include Shelburne Bay, Carry Bay in the Champlain Islands and Knight Island in North Hero for overnight camping.
Whether you want to watch wildlife at the mouths of rivers or explore the shoreline up close, PaddleWays in Burlington (238-0674, www.paddleways.com) offers custom kayaking tours to fit paddlers’ interests ($60 and up). Owner Kevin Rose, who helped establish the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail, also offers full- and half-day sailing charters ($300 and up) aboard “Raven,” the 34-foot sailboat he lives on seven months of the year.
On-Water Education
It’s all hands on deck aboard the Lake Champlain Floating Laboratory — the University of Vermont’s research vessel, the “Melosira” — that offers public tours from ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington (864-1848, www.echovermont.org). On the 21/2-hour expeditions ($32 and up), passengers can watch and assist researchers as they check fish traps, sample lake water to test for organic matter such as blue-green algae and look at water samples under a microscope in the high-tech onboard laboratory.
You can also take advantage of the center’s partnership with the Community Sailing Center. On sailboat tours, guides experienced in environmental education provide information about the geology and history of the Lake Champlain Basin. After the water tour you can visit ECHO free of charge to learn more about the lake and see exhibits of plants and animals in the water.
Cheap date
Perhaps the least expensive way to get out on the water is with Lake Champlain Ferries (from $3.75 one way, 864-9804, www.ferries.com). The car and passenger ferries make numerous trips daily, ranging from 20 minutes to 1 hour, from three crossings along Vermont’s shoreline at Grand Isle, Burlington and Charlotte. All aboard!
