Dot's Way Cruising Cat: Burlington to Malletts Bay off Lake Champlain, Colchester, Vermont

After leaving the fuel dock at Burlington Harbour Marina we exited the breakwater and headed towards the break in Lake Champlain Causeway and passed the bike ferry on the way. It is a narrow cut in the rock wall leading towards Thayer Beach where the dock guy suggested to anchor. It started raining and we continued on into Malletts Bay and anchored off the swimming buoys of Niquette Bay State Park. We ate lunch on the flybridge with our sweatshirts and rain jackets on and a boat pulling water skiers kept cruising past. The rain should let up this afternoon and be sunny tomorrow to take the trails in the park.

Through Lake Champlain Causeway

Bike path to bike ferry

Vermont Green Mountains

On Friday morning we woke up to sunshine which we felt like we had not seen in a week. We cooked breakfast and enjoyed drinking our coffee on the flybridge as more small boats pulled up and anchored. We started cleaning out all the outside lockers and getting together a throw away pile. We had a hard cider and lunch before landing our dinghy outside the swimming area of the park. We headed on the trail to the parking lot to pay our park fees and then continued straight on Sugarbush Farm Road to Hillis'Sugarbush Farm and Vineyard for a wine tasting. We were charmed by the owners and sampled their full menu of whites, rose, reds and dessert wines with maple syrup from their farm. She was great and describing the wines and her husband joined us for a drink and then proudly showed us his grapes and his gardens. Their two standard poodles had announced our arrival so it was a great way to spend the afternoon. We headed back to the park and took the Ledges Trail up and over to the beach once again. The local library had partnered to post poems along the trails. We did a little hull cleaning to get rid of the tannins from the canal water before enjoying happy hour on the fly bridge.

Allen Trail to the parking lot of the park

Winery tasting room

The vineyard with Marquette grapes

The Ledge Trail back to the beach

Up, up and away surprise balloon sighting

On Saturday morning, we were the only boat anchored out here near the park. Another gorgeous sunny day to enjoy breakfast on the flybridge and then more boat chores before moving to another anchorage as the south winds pick up. We anchored off the moorings off Bayshore Park. We took the dinghy around Coates Island to the boat launch at Malletts Bay Fish and Wildlife Access Area. They had a lake steward inspecting boats for hitchhiker invasive species. We walked to Rozzi's Lakeshore Tavern and sat at the bar and enjoyed craft beers, cajun dry rub chicken wings and sliders.