August 14, 2023

Leaving Montreal

We cut it a little close today…

We left Montreal with 70 gallons of fuel for A 40-mile trip.  I expected to arrive at our refueling stop with 30 gallons left (it’s a 200-gallon tank).  When we were within a few miles of the marina, I got a warning message that fuel was critically low, and the fuel gauge dropped precipitously from 30 gallons to 15 to ZERO.  YIKES!  

Lynn said, “Trust your judgement, not your gauge, and she was right.  We slowed down, and the gauge reverted to 30 gallons.  WHEW!  So, 170 gallons later ($800+) later, we turned south for the first time on the trip, entering the Richelieu River en route to the Chambly Canal and Lake Champlain.

We covered a lot of ground today – roughly 70 miles – plus one lock at St.-Ours. (Our 87th  lock of the trip with only 21 more to go!) Tonight, we are tied up at the Marina du Phrage in the charming town of Beloeil.  Here’s a shot of the spectacular mountain just across the river.  

It’s called Mt. Ste. Hillaire, although it should clearly be called Camelback Mountain.  We’re told that the mountain offers spectacular views of Montreal.  How is that possible?  It’s because when we left Montreal, we ran NE for 35 miles; once we turned into the Richelieu River, we ran SW for 35 miles, so at this point, we are just 12 miles from Montreal!

Every town we pass has a church near the river – all with incredibly beautiful spires – very French.

Do you remember the TV show called “Cash Cab”?  Unsuspecting people would enter a cab in NY and were given the opportunity to play trivia questions for cash…. Well, they are doing it at our marina, but on a pontoon boat!  We just keep running into the funniest happenings!

All set up with the sound guy getting ready to play trivia!

Does the tail in the lower left look familiar – he has to get in everything.

Aside from the fuel-induced heart attack, we had a very pleasant trip today.  Tomorrow, we tackle 9 locks in a 10-mile span.  Then call it a night.  We will clear US Customs and Integration  tomorrow night or Wednesday AM.  Back in the USSR!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2023

Before we tell you about Montreal, let me bring you up to date on our trip to get here…

If you remember, the winds were right on our nose the day we left Ottawa, but they were predicted to be manageable.  As the day lengthened, however, they became stronger and stronger, and the Ottawa River became pretty nasty.  We told you that we decided to cut the trip short and seek refuge in a marina.  What we didn’t tell was HOW rough it was: 

1] We have a small auxiliary mast on the top of the boat, where we fly the US flag.  (The Canadian flag flies from a larger mast at the bow.). When we reached Montreal, we realized that the wind had bent our auxiliary mast until it almost broke. We saved the flag and re-hung it several days later. 

2]. As we plowed into the waves, we had so much water crashing into the windshield that the wipers couldn’t handle it, and they tripped their circuit breaker.  Yikes!  An easy fix, of course, but we had never seen that happen before!

Anyway, as we told you in our last post, we made it to Montreal, and it is wonderful!  Montreal is – of course – in the French-speaking province of Quebec (or Upper Canada as they call it here.)  Almost everyone is fluent in English, but French is the official language.  Last night, I learned how to say “J’aimerais te frapper comme une porte moustiquaire dans un ouragen.”  Apparently, this is a phrase one may use to greet one’s lovely young server at a restaurant. 

If Ottawa’s highlights were the beautiful parks, the impressive buildings, and the Staircase Locks.  Montreal’s most prominent aspects are the preserved historic Old Town, the vibrant restaurant scene, and the impressive entertainment center at the Old Port.  They have taken the huge old commercial piers and transformed them into entertainment complexes and parking garages.

Old Montreal at 10:00 am and at 6:00 pm

In Ottawa, we went to see Oh Canada, Eh?  (photo below). It was endearing, if amateurish.

Contrast that with Montreal, where we saw the World Premiere of ECHO, the new production from Cirque de Soleil.  It featured the usual jaw-dropping acrobatics, plus a dramatic, heart-pounding musical score, the most amazing stage production technique I’ve ever seen, dominated by a huge mobile CUBE the size of a two-story apartment building and a 4-story-high puppet!

Acrobats, a 25 foot high puppet, a juggler, and more acrobats! And great music.

We also had an opportunity to visit Montreal’s Basilica, rated by Trip Advisor as the Sixth Most Beautiful Cathedral in the World.  (#1 is of course the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, which should be on everyone’s Bucket List.)  Every aspect of the Basilica is archetypal: the soaring Sanctuary, the towering, spiral-staired Pulpit, and even the organ, featuring 7,000 pipes!

Over 7,000 pipes ranging from 32’ to 1/4” in diameter

Our marina is right in the heart of the downtown action.  As we sit here, we can see the Cirque de Soleil tents and hear the music and the crowd roars; watch the enormous Ferris wheel on the riverside; or turn our heads the other way and watch the downtown tourist crowds build on the waterfront promenade high above us.

Sunrise at the arena over the Cirque tents.

The marina with our boat (red hull in lower left corner) enjoying the city.

It’s 3:30 PM just now, and we can hear the drums and pipes as an honor guard entertains the tourists.   In spite of all that, it is PEACEFUL here!  

We’ve really enjoyed our 5 days here, but it’s time to head east.  Winds are predicted to be pleasant tomorrow.  We’ll leave early, heading east on the Riviere.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Yesterday, we continued our trip down the Ottawa River, with no tankers – much better weather and sea conditions.  

Last night we stayed at a charming little village called Ste-Anne de-Bellevue.  As we exited the last lock on the Ontario River, we pulled up to a long concrete wall, lined with a boardwalk, flower gardens and restaurants.  I wish more towns in the US looked like this!  The downside?  NOISE.  Live music at the restaurants; loud parties on the other boats.  And a lot of dog hatred: no dogs allowed on the boardwalk or in the restaurants!  YIKES!

Anyway, after getting very little sleep, we set out at 7:15 for Montreal.  Today is the day we had to pass through the Commercial Locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway, which meant we would probably be locking through with huge tankers or freighters.  And you must pay for and reserve your transit time in advance!  So we calculated our travel time; reserved our passage time; and set out.

And we timed it perfectly.  More good news: we traveled through two sets of locks with three other powerboats –  no tankers – although we did pass some coming the other way.  The camera simply cannot capture the size of these monsters – Over 500 feet long, and just about as wide as the lock itself.  I am SOOO glad we didn’t have to lock in with one of them!

This one was 503 feet long and 55 feet wide. She was coming out of the lock as we were entering! (you can look these things up on line!)

So now we’re tied up at Port D’escale du Vieux Port de Montreal, with a city view from our stern and a river view off our bow.  We’ll be here for 4-5 nights.  Looking forward to it!

The Clock Tower honoring veterans of WWI in the Montreal Harbor.

August 8, 2023

Lynn here today….

Yesterday we left Ottawa going through the staircase locks. We have enjoyed spectacular weather – sunny, cool, low humidity. Every time thunderstorms have been predicted, we’ve either missed them or they’ve happened during the night. Until yesterday!

The staircase locks are in the center of Ottawa – 8 locks that you go through without stopping. Which means, when it’s pouring rain, you move into a lock, tie up, hold onto the lines, and then move to the next lock, etc. The process takes about two hours. And it was cold. 

Side note here:  Lynn graded CFA exams for 23 years and never really understood why the graders from Canada wanted to sit outside in 98 degree weather in Charlottesville, VA grading. (The guys from the Middle East didn’t get it either!)  Now she knows what Canada can be like in  the summer. 

And here’s a photo after we left the locks to give a perspective of the distance we travelled – a drop of 80 feet total. 

Then we headed down the Ottawa River. Just one other issue. We needed a pump out. For you non-boaters, that means the boat was full of s#$t!  The first marina had a broken system, but thankfully, the second one could take us. Then we ran into some really rough weather (unpredicted.) It wasn’t as bad as the Delaware Bay when we started out, but it was close. The wind was right on our bow and it was rough. Luckily there was a marina about halfway to our planned destination so we pulled in there for the night ahad a nice warm bowl of soup for dinner along with some great bread we had purchased at the farmers market in Westport. 

Today was predicted to be rainy again, but surprise, the river was calm and the weather very pleasant. We got to the Carillon Lock before it opened at 10:00.  This is the largest lock in North America and was built by Hydro Quebec with the accompanying dam as a power plant. The drop is 65 feet! It is almost impossible to convey the scale of this lock.

Compare the height of the lock and the gate rising to the men on the left.

This dam is the power plant – its HUGE,

We have been traveling for exactly one month, and every day brings new experiences.

On to Sainte Anne de Bellevue where we tied up on the waterfront wall. This is a charming little suburb of Montreal with cute shops and restaurants along the water. We will stay here overnight and then head to the commercial locks in the morning. We’re not sure what to expect there since we could very well be in the lock with large commercial freighters – a very different experience from the pleasure craft boaters we’ve been enjoying to get to know in the last 89 locks!  Stay tuned!

August 6, 2023

This is our last night in Ottawa; we arrived on Wednesday, and we will have been here for five nights when we leave tomorrow – Monday. 

I didn’t expect much from Ottawa…just the capital.  Yawn.  Montreal and Quebec City are both supposed to be more exciting.  But we have really enjoyed it!

Ottawa is physically beautiful: because it is the national capital, it features dramatic architecture, LOTS of public parks, and plenty of pomp and circumstance.

Drum and bugle corps passed by.

The Parliament Building and the museums are beautiful.

Traffic is polite and manageable, the people are friendly, and the residential neighborhoods surrounding the downtown are tree-shaded and pretty – lined with single and double homes in the Craftsman style.  And Uber cars are everywhere.

Lots of museums, of course, and we made it to two: the National Gallery and the Nature Museum.  Both featured spectacular architecture; and the content at the Nature Museum was the best I’ve ever seen (Smithsonian included).

Canadian Museum of Nature – a blend of old and new architecture.

Beautiful owl exhibit and we got within a few feet of a bald eagle but the photo was out of focus.

We are staying at a marina on Dows Lake.  It’s a small bay that bulges off the Rideau Canal like an aneurism, just as the canal reaches the urban heart of Ottawa.   It has been so peaceful here…we are literally surrounded by parks and arbretums.

Beautiful gardens to the north of the lake and an arboretum to the south

View from the back of the boat – another beautiful morning.

Everyone here certainly loves the outdoors.  Joggers, walkers, cyclists, kayakers and canoeists are in the parks from dawn until dusk.   We mentioned the boaters earlier – they really love the sun!  Lynn says it’s probably because their summer is so short and their winters are so cold.  Male boaters never wear shirts, but at least we haven’t seen a lot of Speedos.  Most of the women are in bikinis, which for most is a questionable fashion decision.

The last 18 hours careened from the ridiculous to the sublime.  Last night we attended a dinner theater performance of Oh Canada, EH?  A musical revue featuring numbers from famous Canadian artists from Marie McDonald to Paul Anka to Carly Rae Jepson.  Funny and frenetic: everyone dressed in flannel like a bunch of lumberjacks.

Then today we had brunch at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, overlooking the Ottawa River, the Staircase Locks, and the Houses of Parliament.

Then a fun side trip to the By Ward market, an open-air bazaar just a block from the Fairmont.  What a fun city!  And clean!  And safe!  It’s hard to believe Dows Lake is frozen solid in the winter.

Tomorrow, we leave early to travel down the Staircase Locks on our way to Montreal.  We understand it can take HOURS to make your way down the locks.  We’ll let you know how it goes!

August 3, 2023

Guinness here today….

So the last few days have been strange with lots of new experiences. Lynn and Rod keep talking about locks. Mostly I just watch them grab the leash on the boat and tie it around a black thing (they call it a cable.) Sometimes it’s easy for me to jump off the boat because the boat is even with the top of the “lock”, so I have to stay below. There are a lot of boats and it’s fun talking to the other people and dogs. They also got very excited when they saw a tree with red leaves?

People here really enjoy summer – maybe because it’s so short.

Today we were in a place called Autowa, eh?  We rode in a red bus with no top and listened to a cute guy talk about things I didn’t understand. But Lynn and Rod really enjoyed it.

There were marching men with black hats called the guard and they changed them up twice a day. 

They call it “changing of the guard” but I do a good job guarding without a black hat!

We went to an Irish place for lunch and then we got to see the really special locks. (Lynn called them the “staircase locks”.). We walked along the sides and they look very different when you’re standing next to them rather than in them. I heard them say there are 8 of these in a row. Lots of people watching. I think we get to go through them in a few days and there could be a lot of people watching us too. 

Then we went to see a church which was really big and then to a place with pictures. Rod called it a gallery but I didn’t see any “gals” there. 

Rod and Lynn decided to go for Italian food tonight to Little Italy. Just before we left, there was a noise on the phone that scared me because Rod said it meant dangerous weather. And it was awful walking to the restaurant. There was thunder and that REALLY scared me. But Lynn kept saying things were fine. When we got to the restaurant, I was so happy, I just laid under the table where I felt safe. 

So today was a fun day (except for the thunder). We’re back on the boat on a lake with parks all around us. It’s cool so some of us need jackets when we go out, but I just like jumping in the cold water near the boat.  And there is a boat next to us that has EVERYTHING! Made of aluminum and wood with window air conditioners, coils of wire, kayaks, grills with tanks, bicycles, folding chairs, and a mean dog.

Really cool – lots of fun stuff for a dog to play with!

Wonder what we’ll do tomorrow!

August 1, 2023

Last night we stayed at “Merrickville, the Jewel of the Rideau”.  Lynn says it looks like a Hallmark Movie set.

Remember The Good Witch series on Hallmark? This town is almost identical with the shops, pubs, diners, etc.

The town was truly charming, but it is a VERY popular spot.  We tied up at the designated pier, and I was astounded at the number of boats they were able to jam onto one pier!  It seems that we have hit the Rideau at a very busy time of the year: it is the middle of a two-week-long Construction Labor Holiday, and hundreds of boats are passing through the Rideau Canal.  Everyone at our dock spoke French, and one fellow had a guitar, and another boat had a parrot!  Very nice, but nothing like we are accustomed to in the States, where everything is orderly and somewhat impersonal.  

Jasper is 15 years old and travels on the boat with his owners.
Guinness tried to board to say hello.

Once again, what looked like bad news (a Hootnanny!) turned into good news, because all those boats were from Montreal, and they told me how to navigate the huge commercial locks we must transit in the St. Lawrence Seaway.  (More on that in a few days.)

I was musing to Lynn that I really had to change my mindset to become more Canadian…tonight, however, we are in a real marina, with fuel, and pumpout, and a marine store, and a swimming pool, and ice, and a restaurant!  Aaahhh!

The Rideau Canal changes its personality and its appearance every couple of days.  Earlier, we raved about the granite outcroppings.  Today, we passed through farmland and grassy marshes reminiscent of the South Carolina Low Country.

A charming little farm on the banks on the canal.

The Canal is VERY well maintained.  Harvester boats clean up the grasses in the channel, and barges clean up debris.  And every lockstation is picturesque: each one looks like a tiny postcard from another century.

There’s a dam at every lock – also beautiful

This boat cuts the grass below the water level to keep the channel clean.

And this one picks up debris, logs, branches to keep the canal safe.

And this ice cream barge just waits for boats to stop by for a “float”!

Again today, we had a wonderful day on the water.  When we left this morning, there were eight boats waiting to transit the locks, so we went to breakfast!  As luck would have it, the other boats all passed before us, and we ended up going through the locks with just one other boat, a 26’ Cutwater (a modestly sized boat) and we traveled with them all day.  And he traveled FAST!  What a pleasure compared to the prior day, when we had to squeeze into each lock with three other huge boats!

Lots of boats lined up overnight waiting for the locks to open at 9:00 am.

There is a nice restaurant here at the marina called The Swan on the Rideau, and we’ll leave for supper soon.  Tomorrow we’ll be in Ottawa!

July 30, 2023

Yesterday, we had planned a layover day to visit a local winery in Westport.  As it turned out, it rained most of the day, so we used the layover day as a rain day and got caught up on our chores like topping off the engine oil.  Westport is one of the sweetest little towns on the Canal.  Happy, friendly people; flowers everywhere; and every type of store and restaurant you might want.  At the Farmers Market, Lynn bought some maple syrup vinegar, which we hope to try on our next home-cooked dish.  I bought a corn dog, one of my all-time mythic favorites, but it wasn’t really great eating it cold.  We had dinner at the Cove Inn, with an outdoor deck overlooking a lovely backwater.

A favorite line of Rod’s – even in a five star restaurant is “ Do you have corn dogs?”
Finally found one!

Of course, Guinness got to share.

View from the patio at dinner – no corn dogs here!

Today dawned with the most perfect weather of the trip: bright sunshine, 70 degrees; low humidity.  We crossed Big Rideau Lake and Lower Rideau Lake at fast cruising speed, in ideal water conditions – just a slight ripple from the breeze.  These two lakes are the site of two of the most picturesque locks on the Canal: Narrows Lock and Poonamalie Lock; and we passed through more of the narrow, twisty passages that are a hallmark of this route.

Freedom waiting to go through the lock.

And Rod working the lock.

Great security system in place to keep the swing bridge from being moved!

The locks are manually operated and so is the swing bridge. Note the fellow walking the winch handle around.

We’ve seen a LOT of southbound boat traffic: apparently there is a major Labor Holiday in Canada next week, and everyone from Montreal is setting out to enjoy this route.  Maybe all this southbound traffic worked to our advantage, because every lock was ready for us as we approached.  We continue to be impressed with the number of boats we see: kayaks, canoes, jet-skis, speedboats, and cruisers.  These Canadians really love boating

Today was an easy travel day – We got an early start – around 7:30, and we reached our stopping point here by Noon. (Just 3 locks today.). We tied up at a pretty waterfront park called Centennial Park in Smiths Falls.  (That is correct: no apostrophe.). And we got the last power pedestal!  When the engine is running, it provides power to the water heater, refrigerator, battery charger, freezer, electric toilet, and the potable water system, in addition to the power required by the engine itself.  When the engine stops, we can run the generator, draw down the batteries, or plug in.  We have a huge power cord that carries 240 volts – 50 amps.  Many marinas here in Canada are not set up with 50-amp power outlets, so we have a splitter (combiner) cable that allows us to combine two 30-amp outlets into our 50-amp cable.  So it is a big deal to snag the last one!

All in all, a pretty perfect day.  PLUS, we got the laundry done while we had a delicious lunch just across the street from the laundromat.

This is from a few days ago but it’s pretty impressive. When the lock above us fills and starts to overflow, this is what we see sitting in the chamber below.

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Friday, July 28, 2023

We’ve now completed our second day on the Rideau Canal, and it has been a blast…unlike anything we’ve done before.  Of course, we’ve traversed the Erie Canal and the Oswego Canal to get here, but the Rideau – the oldest canal system in North America – is unique.  

It’s really a system of rivers and lakes connected by twisting, narrow channels, and the water level is controlled by 49 locks.  The locks are much smaller than those we’ve encountered previously – we were traveling with an East Bay 48’, and we could barely squeeze in behind one another.  Contrast that with the others (235’).  And they are narrower, as well…just 30’ as opposed to 60’. 

And these locks are BUSY!  We watched as southbound boats exited one of the lock:  6 PWC’s (jet-skis); two small outboard runabouts, and 4 mid-sized powerboats.  Lynn said it looked like a clown car.  The lock crews – all friendly young people – really know how to cram them in.  The picture below is one we took of a not-so-crowded lock…just imagine it with PWC’s and other small boats squeezed down the center!

And those twisty channels?  You are cruising past huge granite outcropping just 6 feet away.  In other parts, you can almost touch the leaves on the overhanging trees. And the channels open out onto scenic lakes dotted with homes and boathouses.

Most of the trip is at a controlled speed – just 6 mph.  And since it takes about 20 minutes per lock, you cannot travel very far in one day.  Today we covered just 20 miles in 6-1/2 hours.  But HEY! It’s about the journey not the destination, and this is quite a journey.

We’ve now transited 7 locks each day – a total of 14 locks – and we still have 27 to go to reach Ottawa!  

We’re laying over one extra day in Westport to visit a local winery for lunch and a tour.  Sunday is sort of up in the air…we’ll continue north, but it isn’t really clear where we’ll tie up for the night.  No worries, that seems to be what half the travelers here do!

July 27, 2023

Lynn here…

Yesterday, we travelled through the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands and it’s rather disconcerting when you’re in 100-300 feet of water and there are rocks sticking up above the surface less than 100 feet away. We were traveling through underwater mountains. As Rod said, when you touch bottom in the Chesapeake, it goes squish.  When you hit in this area, it goes clank!

And still so many cute little homes on the islands. 

We had dinner in Kingston at a Bavarian restaurant, and made it home before it started pouring. We also experimented making Irish Coffee – quite a mess!

 It rained through the night, but the skies began to clear as we headed up the Rideau Canal. One mile into the canal, we met our first challenge – a staircase of four locks.  

This is how it works: The boats move into the first lock, they close the first gates, fill the chamber, open the forward gates, then move into the second lock, etc. We had decent lock experience in the Champlain Canal last summer and recently the Erie and Oswego Canals, but the Canadian locks are different. The US locks are 70 feet wide by 235 long and most often we were the only boat in the lock. You can see the water surge and prepare for it by holding a line from the wall or wrapping a boat line around a cable. 

The Canadian locks are much smaller – only about 30 feet wide by maybe 70 feet long. And they are busy!  With our boat at 32 feet, we are going to be pretty close to the boat in front or behind us. As we entered the first lock, the sailboat let us go first and we soon found out why. The surge of water in front makes it very tough to hold the line and I lost it the first time. Luckily the lock tender was there to throw us a line and pull us back to the wall and there wasn’t a boat next to us or it could have been awful. She coached me on how to handle these turbulent locks and things got much better after that. We found that if Rod takes a midship line through the window  and I hold the stern line, we can control the boat much better. 

The other difference between the US and Canadian locks is that the Canadian locks are manually operated. They still using the same hand crank mechanisms that were in place when the canal was constructed in 1832.  I was very thankful for the coaching I got today and the rescue at Lock 1. The tender couldn’t have been nicer.

Just so you don’t think we’ve had a bad day, the sun came out, we’re tied in a lovely marina in Seeley’s Bay with a hardware store and ice cream shop. Saw some beautiful swans and Guinness found a swan feather. 

Here’s a family – not sure if you can see the babies – cygnets – in the nest

Tomorrow off to Westport – 7 more locks and the weather looks wonderful – high 70’s and sunny. So, 7 locks done today and only 42 more to go before we finish the Rideau.