The weather is cold and snow is predicted for the coming weekend when we had planned to take the guide boat down to Zimmerman Marine so chocks can be fabricated for the cabin top.  With the weather some things just never change even when the boat is on the hard.  So, on this Martin Luther King day I plan for our summer cruise and watch the weather. 

This summer's cruise will have a different texture than last year's cruise. Last year we traveled almost 2,500 nautical miles. This summer's cruise will be cover about half the miles while providing a more leisurely time in a great cruising ground.  We will start out right after Memorial Day weekend and travel 460 miles from Annapolis to Essex, New York on Lake Champlain.  Essex Shipyard will be our home base for approximately two months.

In the third week of August we will return down the Champlain Canal and Hudson River to New York and, then pass along the New Jersey coast, up Delaware Bay, the C&D Canal and south on the Chesapeake Bay home to Annapolis.  We expect to be back in our home waters for Labor Day Weekend. 

When we considered last years cruise of the small northern loop we realized that we would like to return for longer stays in both the Thousand Islands and Lake Champlain.  For a while we considered redoing a shortened loop and staying longer in these two places but realized that we would still be limited to about three weeks in each cruising area.  We then remembered our road trip into the New York State Adirondack Park while on Lake Champlain.  How about combining cruising Lake Champlain and guide boat excursions in the Adirondack State Park?

The plan fell into place.  We had enjoyed our stay at the Essex Shipyard, located on the western edge of Lake Champlain and the eastern edge of the Adirondack State Park.  Add an Adirondack guide boat that can be car topped into the mountains for exploring beautiful wilderness and you get a summer combining the best of two beautiful worlds.  Perfect!

Reviewing the guides to Lake Champlain we easily found sixteen must-visit cruising destinations.  A review of canoeing and visitor guides to the Adirondacks tripled the number of natural wonders available to visit.  Just as the Chesapeake Bay takes many summers to explore, Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks could easily fill many summers.

Our summer promises to be a mix of three and four day cruises to destinations on Lake Champlain, three and four day excursions to lodges with guide boat trips in the Adirondacks, and enjoyable stays on our floating summer home at the lakeside in Essex.

There are so many ways to cruise and enjoy boats and so few summers in one's life to do it.