August 1, 2024 On to Ottawa

 August 1, 2024  Kitchissipi Marina to Ottawa   4 hours and 6 miles

We almost hate leaving Kitchissipi Marina and the comforts of being plugged in for our A/C in this 90 degree weather. Good marina, good facilities, good hosts - we recommend them.  But time to go and if we're lucky we'll get one of the few of 50-amp power connections on the wall in Ottawa.   Hence our departure at 7:30 to get to the blue line well in advance of the first locking at 9AM. Quick 5 mile ride up the Ottawa River to the locks.

View of Parliament Hill as we approach Ottawa and the "Flight of 8"

They are a bit formidable - a flight of 8 locks.  The blue line already appears full - 3 pontoons and 2 larger boats.  The 2 bigger boats retie to make just enough room for us at the front of the line. The lockmasters come down to see the boats and organize how they want us in the lock.  It will be a tight squeeze. We will go in first.  2 pontons aside us and 1 behind us.  One big boat behind the 2 pontoons and the last big boat rafted in the middle of it all. 

Ready to move from Lock 1 to Lock 2 once the gates open

On the Blue line waiting to head up the locks

Waiting for the gates to close - tight squeeze but we all make it work

We start the process that we'll do 8 times.  Untie off the wall and sidestep the boat, slowly enter the lock and get in position against the wall.  Martha grabs a wire line attached to the lock wall, wraps our line around it and secures it to our #2 cleat. I then run down the flybridge stairs and do the same process to a line at our stern. Go inside and turn off the engines. Wait for the other boats and the gates to close.  Monitor our lines and fenders as we rise with incoming water.  Gates open.  Run inside to start the engines. Wait for gates to fully open and get signal to move to the next lock.  Untie the stern line and run up to the flybridge.  Give Martha OK to release her line and we begin the process again.   8 TIMES IN A ROW.   We are exhausted when we get to the top lock but feel worse for the college kids working the locks.  These are old original historic locks, and all door and flood gate openings are done using hand cranks. 

Hard at work monitoring the lines and fenders

About half way up the lock - "How many more to go??"

There's an expression used at boat ramps and docks - "Sometimes you watch the show and sometimes you are the show".  There are tons of tourists who line the locks to watch, but thankfully we never put on anything but a professional show for them.   By the time we reach the summit and enter Ottawa we are exhausted and dripping wet in sweat.  The lockmaster tells us there are two 50-amp sockets available on the left wall between the bridges.  The space is open - just dock between the two red lines which are reserved for overnight parking of the tour boats.  Perfect location, power is good, A/C is on and we are settled in.  Even get the OK from them to stay 3 days instead of the usual 2 days max.  Not sure if it's the goodie snack bags we hand out at each lock or having the season mooring and locking pass affixed to the boat or if it's just the kindness of Canadians - but we've been awfully lucky with whatever we need doing the Parks Canada locks.  Time to go enjoy and explore Ottawa!! 

View from Ottawa looking down the Flight of 8

 Side note:  Been using a very helpful guide to the Rideau Canal area written up by a fellow looper, his notes on the flight of 8 locks were "you can transit these in as little as 80 minutes (one or two boats), but this can take 4 or 5 hours if the locks are full".  We were prepared for a 4-hour trip up the locks....but amazingly, from the start of the first lock to the time we docked on the wall was 2 hours!  Credit the great organizational skills of the lock workers as well as all the boat captains with us in the lock!

Journey for August 1, 2024