July 9, 2025 Making Time on the St. Lawrence River

Wednesday July 9, 2025 Montreal to Trois-Rivieres 87 miles and 7.1 hours

We had a pretty laid-back time in Montreal. All day rain on Monday which gave us time to recoup from that long cruising day getting through the Seaway Lock passage. Spent some time re-researching travel tips as we head into new territory and some unique challenges with tides and currents. More on that at a later time. Tuesday was a beautiful day to walk around the old city. No sightseeing this visit as we hit it pretty hard during our visit last year. Instead, we just enjoyed a pleasant walk enjoying the scenery, doing some people watching and stopping for pastries, poutine and brews. We did manage to play tourists and take a ride on La Grande Roue De Montreal (the Ferris wheel) at sunset. A few pictures from this trip but you can also click the link below which will take you to our blog from last year which has more info on visiting Montreal. As You Wish - Our Adventures: July 22-25, 2024 Montreal

Notre Dame Cathedral - still covered up like last year
while undergoing renovation

We found these two statues and their explanation hilarious.
French Canadians stubbornly cling to their language and history.

Evening view over the St. Lawrence River

While each gondola on the Ferris wheel seats 8, we got this one all to ourselves

Sun setting over Montreal - with Mount Royale in the distance

Evening stroll through a quaint side street in Old Montreal

City Hall at twilight

Tied up for the final night at Port D'Escale Marina

We start Wednesday by heading across the marina to the office area for a pump out. That went well but then we were trying to confirm our reservation at the marina in Quebec before leaving from here. I had made them online on Tuesday and gotten an email back that they had received my request and someone would be contacting me shortly. Since I never heard back thought best to call them. Only issue was no one there was speaking English. Had to hang up. Got staff at the marina in Montreal to call them. A bit of back and forth as initially Quebec marina was saying they never received the request - yet our staff employee was explaining he was looking at their email to me saying they had received the request. Eventually they took all our information again, said we were confirmed and gave a confirmation number verbally with assurance we would get email confirmation during the day. Surprise - nothing arrived, but at least when we got to the marina on Thursday, they knew we were coming and had a nice slip and dockhands waiting. Yes, language issues DO exist in Quebec province when cruising but luckily there is usually someone who can help.

Knowing we would have a slip upon arriving in Quebec we felt confident in heading out. Tonight we are headed to Trois-Rivieres and an anchorage up Riviere St. Maurice. We have a favorable outbound current the entire trip so even departing a bit late we still make good time. Nothing special to see as we leave Montreal as it's mostly commercial wharfs outside the city. We let "Otto" follow the St. Lawrence ship channel for easy cruising. Currents leaving Montreal are a good 3-4 knots and then settle into 1.5-2 knots as the river widens.

Leaving Montreal in our wake after another enjoyable visit

Passing a ship on the river.

And another

And yet another. Not much else to see today but ships!

After several hours we enter a wide section of water called Lake St. Pierre. Miles across but also very shallow everywhere except the ship channel. As we turn up the St. Maurice River to anchor, we're caught off guard by all the boats there on a Wednesday afternoon. A park with a crowded swimming beach is on one side with multiple boats pulled up on the beach. Additional boats are anchored off it. And of course, there's the routine parade of jet skis and go-fast boats coming and going. At least it is a posted no wake zone. We find a decent spot and drop anchor. Nice lazy current coming down the river plus just a light breeze keeps the boat in a constant position pointing upriver. As the sun sets and the full moon rises most boats leave with the exception of a few cruising sailboaters. We try to imagine how crazy this place must be on a weekend if this is a mid-week crowd. With most boats gone we settle in for a pleasant night's rest before it's time for our first day to REALLY play the tides and currents as we head to Quebec.