September 2023
The water had been calling me for a while. Yamaha boat club proud owner of La-hore which is our Yamaha AR-210 was founded with passion to explore the giant lakes. Hibernating since COVID, it finally sprang into action as we planned our trip to Lake Champlain, a large body of fresh water between New York, Vermont and Canada. I learnt that the lake was known as Champlain Sea that opened into Atlantic Ocean about 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.
I met the Habib duo at their warehouse Chicopee. The rain was coming down fast and people looked at us incredulously as we towed the boat behind Shahids’s new truck, a Dodge RAM. We were all pretty drenched by the time we finished packing and Hamid had to go to his customary last-minute Walmart run just before we left. Driving through the slippery roads we made our way up and stopped only once at a local Irving where we took fuel for the truck and sandwiches for ourselves.
Driving up we reached North Hero close to sunset and launched the boat from the local marina. As soon as you get to Vermont, you get to see how nice everyone is. We met a nice young lad who gave us some info on the geography of the lake. After launching Hamid steered the boat to the cabin and was surprised that our dock had been pulled out and there was nowhere to park the boat. An older couple next door allowed us to park the boat at their dock for the weekend and we ended up staying for free at the cottage as they could not provide a dock.
We settled down at the cottage quickly. I was able to get some sunset views on my paddle board before I hopped on the boat with Habib brothers for some sunset fishing. Hamid caught a real big trout which we could not reel in and had us searching for the next two days. The night brought a quick trip to the local grocery shop where we got some wings and chicken tenders that were cooked but we bought some skewers and grilled it on the fire. We sat by the fire for a few hours catching up, discussing life and the cosmos, solving the mystery of life but decided to call it a night early to start fishing at dawn.
The dawn on the water is indescribable. The crimson that breaks through, with mist that goes up the water especially with the leaves turning color in early fall and the Vermont cold air that blows through your lungs, announcing the winter that is on the way. Perched on my paddleboard, riding the gentle waves, soaking it all in, I feel like a celestial being gliding through the cosmos in close proximity to the Divine. It seems like the gates of Heaven will open and engulf me into a greater whole. I enjoyed this for a while before returning to the cottage for some early morning fishing.
We were not very lucky with fishing in the morning as we skirted past the marina, under the bridge into the open waters of this awesome lake. I took the reigns of the boat and let it loose as the Yamaha engine purred and then roared through the water. The waves melted away as we bounced our way tearing through the water towards the other side of the lake. The fun part of the lake is that it is flanked by Vermont on one side and New York on the other side. Shahid suggested that we have breakfast in New York. Docking our boat at Plattsburg New York, we explored the town on foot and ate some delicious breakfast at a local café near the water. Back in the we decided to explore the lake and the shoreline. As we passed several marinas, we noticed that they were predominately predominated by sail boats, a testament to the size of the lake. Across the New York shoreline, we passed by Crab Island, Clinton College and bluff point light before turning around and going back to the Vermont side slowing down as we headed back to cottage.
Clinton College
Bluff Point Light
Reaching back, we rested for a while before we decided to get the grill working and put on some chicken, brought by Shahid, courtesy of Mehwish and steaks that were marinated by Hamid. The food we cooked was delicious.
The Habib brothers decided to do more fishing after, but I had enough and wanted to be on my board for the sunset. I was lucky to catch the sunrise and sunset in the water. We also had an interesting conversation with Bob and Gayle, our dock owning neighbors. Bob turned out to be a self labelled Masshole that had adopted the helpful temperament of his adopted state of Vermont. He shared some fly-fishing secrets, as well as the history of the lake.
I put up another fire as I soaked up the beautiful scenes of the lake while listening to some music and sipping some freshly made desi chai. The guys did catch some small fish and practiced catch and release. We chatted for a while and went to bed early.
Our third and last day was beautiful as well. After some dawn paddle boarding, we did some fishing and exploring as we went towards the US- Canada border. The lake opened nicely as we scouted some beautiful lakeside properties and fished alongside some local fishermen.
Returning to the cabin, we cleaned up and checked out around noon. We got the boat loaded on the trailer and made our way to Burlington as we wanted to launch the boat from there and explore the widest part of the lake. Burlington is a beautiful city. Driving through a relatively busy area alongside the University of Vermont we parked at a local Pier and launched our boat.
It was late afternoon as we went to the shoreside of New York with mountains visible and some beautiful homes that looked like million-dollar properties. Exploring this for a while we again made our way to Vermont side exploring several coves and celebrity homes, beaches and parks from the water. Visible in the distance was Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont which had surmounted a few years ago.
Here we passed by Willsboro point, Meach island and Quaker Smith point. As we made our way back, we saw some Vermonters lounging at the beach and camping at local parks. The waters became choppy as we made our way back to Burlington and the wind picked up slightly. We went through the beautiful boats parked at the marina and once on land, we decided to have dinner with the sunset view. We really enjoyed our meal as I devoured a lobster roll at Shanty on the shore. As the sun began to go down, we realized that our trip was coming to an end. As we made our way back home, our hearts were full of joy and we were already planning our next trip. Lake Erie, we are coming for you.
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