Drove up from Fort Ticonderoga to Port Kent on the NY side. Lovely, peaceful backroads, glimpses of sunlight on water, sunny sumer afternoon stuff. It may be peaceful now but this lake has seen a lot of history, as we learned from the various markers, especially around Fort T. From there, right on the lakefront there is a glorious view up the lake, with a bower and a jetty, a place outside time. The lake itself was very quiet. Hardly any boat traffic. We did take the ferry across to Burlington and saw hardly any other craft. We had the sunset almost to ourselves.

My spouse and I and another couple rented a 39 foot Jeanneau SEAWOLF from NAVTOURS and spent the first week of Sep 2017 sailing (and motoring a lot too) on beautiful Lake Champlain. Being from Florida, simply the change of scenery was worth the trip alone, but the services NAVTOURS provided were outstanding. Although the boat was a 2009, it was in brilliant condition and superbly maintained by the folks at NAVTOURS. In addition to sending me ample information concerning the boat charter and the surrounding sailing grounds, we received a detailed boarding briefing and were permitted to look into every nook and cranny with a representative to ensure the boat met with our satisfaction BEFORE getting underway. The boat was scrupulously clean and virtually everything worked, which is no small accomplishment given the literally hundreds of different things that could go wrong when you consider all the boat's systems (mechanical, electrical, electronic, rigging, sails, ground tackle, dinghy etc...). Two things that did not work had redundant systems (propane solenoid and masthead anchor light). From Marie-Eve, who booked the charter, to Elizabeth (dockside representative and principal point of contact ) to Mark and Dan (and others) who maintain all their boats, the entire staff was competent, professional, thorough and friendly. They were able to accommodate our request to board a bit early and were there at the dock helping us go through the mandatory pump out and getting Seawolf backed into her slip. We sailed the first with double reefed main in 20-25 knots of wind, 20 -25 degree heel and the boat sailed like a dream. It was also flying at 7+ knots. That's a testimony to how well they take care of their boats. I've read the bad review from 2016 but I can tell you, we intend to sail again with NAVTOURS (they are also located in the Bahamas), and I commend them for helping make our sailing adventure fabulously uneventful.

In a day and era where service is on the wane Navtours had proven itself by providing service by excellence. We originally rented a 28ft sailboat and discovered shortly after setting off that the main sail was torn. Within moments of arriving on deck we were visited by one of their staff. She went out of her way to ensure that we were comfortable for the night and promised that we would be well taken care of in the morning. We were. We were upgraded to a dufour 36ft and Navtours provided a captain to give us lesson on how to sail her as my husband was not comfortable with such a big boat. After a few very enjoyable hours we set sail on our own and had a most wonderful time in a little cove for the night. The next day we sailed around some and back towards dock where once again we were greeted and helped to dock etc. All in all....a great experience. A wonderful getaway made even better by Navtours. If you want to try something different, this is it. And who better to try it with than a company with first rate customer service. :)

I have done a lot of traveling but never saw the northernmost spot in New York until this year when I visited Lake Champlain on business. The town of Plattsburgh is very quaint with farm produce stands and good restaurants and shopping for those of us on a budget and the mountains are pretty. I was impressed with the native trees and plants and was amazed to be so close to Canada. (Most of my trips are to the Southwest, and I was very unfamiliar with upstate New York). The shores of the Lake are clean and pleasant. The Plattsburgh Airport is the most amazing airport I have ever seen. It is huge and yet tiny. Only a few US Airways flights service it daily and the airport terminal is manned by maybe ten people. The woman who checks your bags also loads them onto the cargo hold of the aircraft! But it is the actual airfield that is awesomely huge... if you stand outside the terminal building near the entrance, in front of the chain link fence,and look straight down the airstrip it disappears between two hills bordering a portion of Lake Champlain! I believe its former use was as an Air Force landing field.