Regrets for not posting in a while. We have had very limited cell service. Verizon hotspot non-functional, T-Mobile home internet non-functional. Cell phones are limited. Finally at a marina outside Ottawa with internet. Here's the updates from the past few days.
Thursday July 25, 2024 Montreal to St. Anne de Bellevue 7.2 hours and 36 miles
Montreal was a nice fun stop but time to move on. Today's objective is to get through the 2 large St. Lawrence Seaway shipping locks and then move on to the Parcs Canada wall at St Anne de Bellevue. There is only one passage a day for pleasure crafts through the seaway locks. St Lambert lock at 9 AM and St Catherine at 11AM. We made the required payments and reservations several days in advance. Forecast was calling for sunny conditions but with strong westerly winds gusting to over 35 mph. We got to the first lock an hour before schedule as they request. I see traffic on AIS coming from the opposite direction. As we make the turn and view the lock the gates are open, and the first cargo ship is slowly working its way out. We wait while the lock gates close, refill, reload, and deposit another ship before we are allowed to enter. I say "we" as in us and about 8 other boats.
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| Ship #1 exiting the St. Lambert lock |
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After waiting another lock cycle, ship #2 exits the lock
and pleasure craft start jockeying to enter |
Despite a long wall the lock staff gives instruction for rafting 2 and 3 wide. We all get through and are told the order we should enter the next lock to properly raft up. It's an hour cruise up a narrow channel bypassing the rapids around Montreal. We pass by another ship heading on the opposite direction. A Canadian Steamship Lines cargo ship featuring some unique artwork.
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| Relatively narrow canal given the size of these commercial ships |
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| Unique artwork on this one. Usually all you see on the bridge area is a big sign "No Smoking" |
Things go smoother in the 2nd lock as everyone knows their assigned position and have fenders properly set. Big locks going up so we are protected from the worst winds entering the chamber, but get blasted pretty well upon leaving.
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We're all better organized in the second lock.
Big boats against the wall working out to smaller boats |
Exiting St Catherine lock you enter a very wide section of the St Lawrence that is called Lake Sainte-Louis. We head straight west into the wind and chop. Tried running from the flybridge but the sunny day forecast is a farce as we continue to hit bands of cloudy drizzle. Taking some windblown spray up on the flybridge was no fun either. So, we transfer stations to the pilothouse for the rest of the trip. Spoils from digging the seaway were deposited around the lake during construction making for some weird channels. After going west halfway, we abruptly turn 90 degrees and head north with a nasty beam sea. After half an hour we turn back west into the wind once again. That explains the odd looking path on the map below.
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| The flotilla starts powering up at the end of the canal and entering Lake St Louis |
Off the dock this morning at 7AM and redocked at St Anne de Bellevue at 2. Glad to be here and safely tied up. Cute but small town. Sort of a Montreal tourist spot for boaters with a long wall with restaurants, bars, shops backing onto the water. We walk over to the lock for a look. Some of the boats we locked with are staying the night on the wall with us, others are locking through. Roughly a foot rise in this lock, but it avoids shallow water and rapids. Interesting to see several police officers doing inspections. Learned from the lock hand the next day they were doing safety inspections looking at fire extinguishers and life jackets. Told me a 35' go fast boat in the previous lockage got a substantial fine for only having one small extinguisher.
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| Safely secured to the wall at St Anne de Bellevue |
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| Main Street - not big, but cute. |
Order of wings and a couple of beers at Cunninghams Bar sufficed for dinner. Did another walk about on Friday. Found a really good bakery and loaded up on bread. Very early dinner at Bellevue Resto Grill -Garlic Shrimp for Martha, Fish and Chips for John. Then hit the euro bakery for some sumptuous desserts for later on the boat. Great weather forecasted for Fri/Sat/Sun and the lock helper said to expect a large crowd of boats and people. As the day progressed the entire length of both walls filled with boats. Finished the day with a nice gin and tonic watching the sunset. We'll now be heading off the St. Lawrence and onto the Ottawa River.
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| Boats line both sides of the waterfront walls as the sun goes down |
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| Journey for July 25, 2024 |
Saturday July 27, 2024 St. Anne de Bellevue to Hawkesbury 4.7 hours and 38 miles
Just 2 locks today but a lot of waiting. We moved up to the Blue Line at the Bellevue lock at 9 AM securing our position for the first lockage. Very busy lock but we're told not to worry. We have the season lockage and moorage passes which gives us priority over the day users. Unfortunately, we get notified they will be taking boats down before letting us go up. It is almost 11 AM by the time all us upbound boats are loaded, moneys collected from the other boat captains for lockage, and we are raised the full 1' before the gates open for release. Making the most of every inch, they manage to squeeze 9 boats into the lock.
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Captain of the middle boat looked a bit nervous entering
his spot between the two bigger boats |
The 3 other large boats we lock with are all heading to the Carillon lock, so we parade up the Ottawa River together. The smaller 25'-35' cruisers who locked with us take off on plane. It's a nice sunny 80 degree day for cruising the 20 miles to Carillon. Things are normally timed so that once you leave Bellevue the lock at Carillon will be waiting for you some 2 hours later. We're not so fortunate and get told to expect at least an hours wait as they are just unloading up top and then have boats to bring down. So, we wait again. While the lock dimensions are the same as Bellevue at 180x40 this lock sits aside a hydro power dam and will raise us 65'. There is a floating dock inside and Parks Canada employees to help. They have also given us the boat entry sequence they require to fit everyone in. As the longest boat in the group we go in first and are placed with our bow pulpit within feet of a winding staircase inside the lock. Other boats get loaded and rafted. Fees are collected again before the gates will close. A slow smooth lift takes us up. The dockhands have done a great job tying the boat to the floating dock and we hardly move so no worries about the bowsprit contacting the staircase - although Martha keeps a close eye on it - just in case.
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| Approaching the St. Catherine lock. A bit foreboding for a Parks Canada lock. |
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| Martha keeps a close eye on the bow and walkway stairs as we begin our ascent. |
Out of the lock at 3 PM. It's becoming a long day. We decide to head to Hawkesbury as the town has a free dock at a waterfront park and hope there is room for us. When we are perpendicular to the entrance channel we see some open space. A sharp turn to port and we head in and dock on the floating dock.
Betty Mae - another looper is behind us in their 44' Beneteau and are able to slide into a spot against the wall. Long day, glad to be tied up. Easy dinner on board. Big pan of stir fried vegetables as we work to clean out the refrigerator. This town grew up around one of the largest sawmills in North America during the early and mid 1800's. A lot of lumber went to Europe for ship building during the Napoleonic wars. By the time the Carillon lock was built in the 60's the mill was long gone and some 300 homes in town were flooded. Despite being on the Ontario side of the river, 89 percent of the population consider themselves Franco - Ontario's and it has the 3rd highest percent (70 percent) of bilingual residents in Ontario province. The docks are adjacent to a nice park with an interesting statue. The Fleur de Lis (Lily) in the center honors their French heritage while the outstretched hands welcome all. I guess that sort of explains why all signage at the monument is in French. Not much going on in town so the one night stay was enough.
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| We finally figured out the flower and hands - still no idea who the lady might be. |
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| Journey for July 27, 2024 |
Sunday July 28, 2024. Hawkesbury to Clarence Island Anchorage 4.3 hours and 34 miles
We leave by noon with plans to get anchored late in the day - hopefully after the crowds thin out. It's been a beautiful weekend weatherwise with sunshine and 80 degree temperatures. We are also in the middle of the 2 week long construction workers holiday. All this leads to a huge number of boaters out and about on the water as we make our way to Clarence Island to anchor. Seems anywhere the weather is good, water is temperate, boats are out, and a shallow stretch of beach is visible a group will gather to create a "party island". We pass these multiple times today.
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| One of several "Party Islands" where boats line up on a sandbar to enjoy the day |
Some of our cruising notes mention our anchorage being a very popular weekend spot so we're a bit surprised we are the only boat there. A fairly wide-open cove and a bit exposed but no real winds expected for the next few days. Water is clear, deep and cool. We let out plenty of anchor line to get a good bite "just in case" as we've noticed the weather reports here can quickly change. It's peaceful as the sun sets through the haze created by wildfires out west. Lazy day two here as we kayak around exploring the cove to get a little exercise. Then a leisurely relaxing day of reading and loafing. Late afternoon we have 5 other boats join us. The four powerboats go to the head of the cove and raft up. The single sailboat anchors just past us.
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| Playing around in the calm waters at Clarence Island |
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| Sun disappearing through a smoky haze |
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| Journey for July 28, 2024 |
Monday July 29, 2024 Clarence Island to Kitchissipi Marina 3.2 hours and 24 miles
In the morning we're greeted with white out fog conditions. No mention of that in any of the weather forecasts!! Doesn't impact our travel plans as we don't need to move until later. The fog burns off by 9:30 and develops into another sunny hot day. We have reservations for 2 nights at a marina which is about a 1/2 hour cruise to the next set of locks, the Ottawa locks. Weekday boating traffic is much reduced today. At Rockland there are multiple car ferries crossing the river simultaneously. I can't figure out how they are being coordinated. We count 5 in active use plus an extra at a dock. We slow down and wait for the right timing to get between 2 passing ferries.
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| After complete whiteout conditions the morning fog finally starts to dissipate |
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| Ferries crossing paths coming and going while we wait for a safe opening to pass. |
Arrive at the marina and get a needed pumpout before heading to our slip. Slight current running through here but with no wind we easily manage things. Nice marina that was recently rebuilt after the severe flooding of 2019-2020. We arrive in time to give As You Wish a much needed and overdue washing. Exhausting 2 hours in the afternoon sun but satisfying to see her shining again. We'll use day 2 which is forecast as rainy (of course it is - we just washed the boat) to do some laundry, reprovisioning and catch up on internet stuff.
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| Journey for July 30, 2024 |
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