The ‘Virtual’ Cruising Guide

Lake Champlain Sportsfishing Association YAK visits Lake Champlain Really fun site. Want to learn what it would be like to cross the Atlantic in a 19-ft Nacra Inter Catamaran? The latest news, updates and their position will be posted daily at http://www.bouscholte.com DN Ice Boat Class Page Birds of the Champlain Islands – P

Lake Champlain Towns
  • Alburg, Vermont
  • Burlington, Vermont — Vermont’s largest city located on the east shore of .
  • Charlotte, VT
  • Colchester, Vermont – Surounds Malletts Bay – one of the most heavily used parts of Lake Champlain.
  • Essex, New York
  • Milton, Vermont – Milton is nestled on the shores of Lake Champlain and is the northernmost town in the most populous county in Vermont.
  • Plattsburgh, New York — “The Lake City”
  • Saint Albans
  • Shelburne, Vermont – Encloses Shelburne Bay
  • South Burlington, VT is located in the mid-western part of the state on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain.
  • Vergennes , the smallest city in the USA. Not exactly on Lake Champlain but just a short float up the river.
Parks
  • St. Alban’s Area State Parks St. Albans Bay has been a vacationers’ destination since the late 1800’s, when luxury steamboats carried passengers to ports along Lake Champlain. This is the place to look if you are planning on camping on Lake Champlain.
  • North Hero State Park, Alburg Dunes State Park, Knight Point State Park, Grand Isle State Park, Sand Bar State Park, Kingsland Bay State Park, Button Bay State Park, D.A.R. State Park
Science and the Environment
  • The Lake Champlain Ecosystem Team
  • Vermont and Adirondack Chapters of the Nature Conservancy
  • Vermont Geological Survey The search for Champ goes on.
  • Champ Quest – dedicated to finding, identifying and protecting the animals of Lake Champlain
  • The University of Vermont Lake Research and Education Site has some information on fisheries and ecology. It looks like it plans to be something bigger than it is – keep an eye on it.
  • The Lake Champlain Basin Program has suffered a fire but their website lives on.
  • Environment 97 – The Vermont Agency of Natural Resource’s assessment of Vermont’s environment quality.
  • Lake Champlain Basin Watersheds Section 319 National Monitoring Program Project
  • Atmospheric Mercury Deposition in The Lake Champlain Basin of Vermont The Vermont Monitoring Cooperative (VMC) is a network of cooperators from government, academic and private sectors who pool information on Vermont’s forest ecosystem.
  • Welcome to the Lake Champlain Basin Science Center!.
  • The Lake Champlain Land Trust
Recreation Paddling
  • Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail.
  • Ever wonder what it would be like to paddle from New York City to Canada? Robert Huszar dreamed it, did it and wrote about it in The Paddle to Canada: Lake Champlain . “This then is my encounter with the lake, or more accurately, the journal of my literary musings while waiting in my tent for the storms to clear.”
Recreation
Fishing
  • Visit the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum The worlds largest fishing museum.
  • Vermont Electronic Angler
  • Fishing Records for the State of Vermont!
  • Visit the Harborwatch Fishing Page
Recreation
Sailing
  • The University of Vermont Sailing Team.
  • Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center
  • Check out the International Sailing Federation Web Site. This is where the Racing Rules of Sailing come from.
  • J–24 Fleet 23 – Sailing from the Lake Champlain Sailing Center in Burlington, Vermont, fleet 23 is small, but very competitive.
  • The New England Ice Yacht Association has all the information hard water sailors in New England need. When and where the flat ice can be found.
  • The National Sailing Industry Association’s Discover Sailing and Grow Sailing
  • The Sailing Source – Information and Resources for Sailors….. More than you can imagine……
  • SPEED and SMARTS….. ——the NEW Racing Rules of Sailing by David Dellenbaugh
  • US Sailing Association The national authority of sailing in the US.
  • The Northeast Sailing Association is the local arm of US Sailing. Most boat clubs and sailing organizations involved in racing are members.
Recreation General
  • Take the Vermont Safe Boating Course!
  • Test your boating knowledge – take a boating quiz on-line.
  • Local Notice to Mariners The entire US Cost Guard Local Notice to Mariners is online. Start here and select your district. We are in district 1. Get the latest without the paper.
  • United States Power Squadron – this is the national organization’s web site.
  • Aquanaut is the Internet’s first and largest online magazine dedicated to the recreational and technical SCUBA diving community.
Law Enforcement
  • The EPA on Lake Champlain
  • Vermont Fish and Wildlife
  • New York Department of Environmental Conservation
  • US Coast Guard – 1st District – great site with Real Video of the Coast Guard in action..
  • Flotilla 15-02 of the Coast Guard Auxiliary (based in Burlington, VT) has a web site too.
History
  • The Enigma of Benedict Arnold
  • Check out Lake Champlain’s namesake USS Lake Champlain .
  • The War on Lake Champlain – contains the contents of letters from the War of 1812, including letters from Commodore Thomas MacDonough.
  • Champlain Basin Glacial History – Charlotte, The Vermont Whale
  • Nathaniel Hawthorn visited Lake Champlain in 1835. His observations are detailed in The Inland Port , published in New-England Magazine No. 9, December, 1835. Quite amusing!
  • Treasure Hunting in the News –Lake Champlain is one of the most historic bodies of water in North America, a place described by historian Ralph Narding Hill as a “silver dagger from Canada to the heartland of the American colonies that forged the” destiny of France and England in America, and of the United States.
  • Lake Champlain Maritime Museum –Come discover why Lake Champlain is perhaps the most historic body of water in North America. Shipwrecks, artifacts and replica vessels help to tell the story.
General Lake Champlain
  • The North Country Chamber of Comerce
  • The Westport Marina provides complete services and has a complete web site.
  • Visit the North Hero House! Walt Blasberg has remade this 100+ year old inn into the quintessential country lake side resort. It should definitely be a stop on any cruise of the Lake Champlain Inland Sea.
  • The Coast Guard Station Burlington now has a web site. Thomas R. Hall has pulled together a nice collection of images and information that remind us of just how much the Coast Guard does on Lake Champlain.
  • Lake Champlain Ferries has three convenient crossings: Grand Isle, VT – Plattsburgh, NY; Burlington, VT – Port Kent, NY; Charlotte, VT – Essex, NY
Flotsam
  • Boating Courses, Boating Tips, Boating Safety, Boating Contests at www.boatsafe.com
  • ESPN Sailing Program Schedule from Gary Jobson
  • Around Alone Second leg is just finishing up..
  • BoatingLinks.com claims to be “the most complete collection of Boating Links on the Internet”
  • Visit the new Shore Sails Web Site!! Designed by Harborwatch!
  • Mark Rosenstein’s Sailing Club Page – Planning a cruise. Here is a list of boat clubs.
  • Ship sinks only minutes into its maiden voyage. See the world’s only warship from 1628 in the Vasa Museum , Stockholm, Sweden!
  • Global Significant Wave Height Map Ever want to know what was going on in the oceans around the world? This is the place to go. Part of the oceanweather inc. website this page gives you a daily updated map of wave heights and surface direction. Truly fascinating. You can imagine a Cape Horn rounding and know what you would encounter today.
  • Bill’s Lighthouse Getaway. As you may have surmised from our masthead and logo, here at Harbor watch, we’re quite keen on lighthouses. Here you’ll find a goodly selection from around the US, although Lake Champlain is conspicuously unrepresented.
  • Mark Rosenstein’s Sailing Page. A huge compendium of links to other sailing resources. From One Designs to Maritime Museums, Books to Regional Sailing Information. This page will keep you browsing for weeks – once you’ve finished with our list of course.
  • International Society of Professional Yacht/Ship & Charter Brokers, Inc.
  • These folks claim to have the most complete collection of Boating Links on the Internet..