July 30 – Monday
We got underway at 06:45 and just off the marina we swung the flux gate compass and reset the heading for the autohelm. It seemed to do the trick so we headed down the Ottawa for the Carillon lock. It is a monster of a lock that lowers you 65’. We had only a minor wait to enter and were through by 11:00. I had powered down the electronics and turned the engine off while in the lock and when I turned on the autohelm it had lost it’s compass deviation again, so we will do without for now.
St. Anne de Bellevue was the last remaining lock on the Ottawa River and would also be our stop for the day. Once again we lucked out and the lock was waiting for us. We cleared and were tied to the town wall by 2:30.
After settling the boat details we took a walk on the main street and found the post office for some stamps. The lock wall serves as a kind of board walk for tourists and evening visitors. There are numerous restaurants and bars that face the main street and have patios at the rear that overlook the canal and lock wall. It serves sort of the same roll as “ego alley” in Annapolis or the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, but on a much smaller scale. St. Anne’s is a suburb of Montreal.
We grilled burgers and had dinner aboard then took some pictures and watched a DVD until we both started feeling drowsy. It was a pretty comfortable night after the visitors left and the trains and traffic slowed down on the nearby bridges. We needed our rest, for tomorrow we will face the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway and it’s two mammoth ship locks.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
July 29 – Sunday
The morning weather was coolish but sunny and pretty, I (RCB) had slept late to 06:00. I made the usual coffee on the boat because I couldn’t wait for the marina coffee service time. When Polly got up, soon after the coffee was made, we had the remaining muffins Kate & Matt had given us the day before. She then took advantage of the convenient washer and dryer and left with a bag of our white things. I took advantage of the time alone, to open the engine compartment hatches and check things down there – all was fine, just needed a half pint of oil to top off the Cummins after the recent oil change. When filling the sump with new clean oil it is so transparent that you can’t be sure exactly where the level is on the stick. I also wanted to re-check the strainer bowls for leaks since I had things apart for cleaning. I also studied up on the procedure for doing a “system re-set” on the autohelm controller. Using it for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday, I discovered the flux gate compass wasn’t agreeing with the magnetic compass or the COG display on the GPS. The re-set should allow the flux gate to join the party and put the little boat symbol in the correct heading relationship on the plotter display. No worries mate – just some buttons to be pushed.
The Weiland’s, a cruising couple from FL we met on the Rideau, had emailed a recommendation for the “Bar-B-Que” at Montebello, so we made a 6:30 dinner reservation. It was fabulous! Outdoor seating in a beautiful setting and 5 or 6 stations where chefs would grill to your order, a variety of fish, scallops, shrimp or at another, steak, quail, lamb and sausages. Still another station would whip up a stir fry using just about any combination you could name. At the other stations you could find cheeses, salads, breads (notice I am using the plural in all cases) and a variety of steamed vegetables. It was a grand feast accompanied by a nice bottle of New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon and we topped it off with dessert(s) and coffee. Of course we both over indulged. It was a perfect evening.
The morning weather was coolish but sunny and pretty, I (RCB) had slept late to 06:00. I made the usual coffee on the boat because I couldn’t wait for the marina coffee service time. When Polly got up, soon after the coffee was made, we had the remaining muffins Kate & Matt had given us the day before. She then took advantage of the convenient washer and dryer and left with a bag of our white things. I took advantage of the time alone, to open the engine compartment hatches and check things down there – all was fine, just needed a half pint of oil to top off the Cummins after the recent oil change. When filling the sump with new clean oil it is so transparent that you can’t be sure exactly where the level is on the stick. I also wanted to re-check the strainer bowls for leaks since I had things apart for cleaning. I also studied up on the procedure for doing a “system re-set” on the autohelm controller. Using it for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday, I discovered the flux gate compass wasn’t agreeing with the magnetic compass or the COG display on the GPS. The re-set should allow the flux gate to join the party and put the little boat symbol in the correct heading relationship on the plotter display. No worries mate – just some buttons to be pushed.
The Weiland’s, a cruising couple from FL we met on the Rideau, had emailed a recommendation for the “Bar-B-Que” at Montebello, so we made a 6:30 dinner reservation. It was fabulous! Outdoor seating in a beautiful setting and 5 or 6 stations where chefs would grill to your order, a variety of fish, scallops, shrimp or at another, steak, quail, lamb and sausages. Still another station would whip up a stir fry using just about any combination you could name. At the other stations you could find cheeses, salads, breads (notice I am using the plural in all cases) and a variety of steamed vegetables. It was a grand feast accompanied by a nice bottle of New Zealand Cabernet Sauvignon and we topped it off with dessert(s) and coffee. Of course we both over indulged. It was a perfect evening.
Monday, July 30, 2007
July 28 – Saturday
Overcast with intermittent showers was going to be the weather for the day. We would be leaving Dows Lake on a schedule that would put us at the Pretoria Bridge in time for the first lift at 09:00. Libby stayed aboard with us and we had oatmeal for breakfast, at her request. Topped the water tank and brought in the power cord as I said goodbye to Jim the manager, and our recently acquired neighbor and friend, Richard, who is living on his houseboat for the summer. Libby had to do a final duck feeding and then Kathy and Gregg helped with our lines as FLIGHT backed out, bound for the 8-lock Ottawa Flight.
We idled down the canal returning waves from joggers and as we approached the bridge, the tender raised it, switched the red light to green, and we continued on “downtown”. Standing under the first street bridge (to stay out of the rain) near the mooring wall was Kate & Matt, ready to exchange a box of pastries for their daughter. It had been planned that Libby and Kate would be aboard FLIGHT for the first lock, but due to the rain and the long cue of boats already waiting to lock down, decided they would say goodbye and check out of the hotel for departure. It turned out be a good idea since we had to wait a couple of hours before even entering the first lock. While we waited, a large 80 foot yacht was being locked up – it was the only boat that could fit into the lock chamber.
During our locking, it became clear that we were part of the “tourist attraction” for that day (along with the 6 other boats in our lock group) in downtown Ottawa. We were photographed many times and had chats with a few people who were standing along the lock walls. I (RCB) met a couple who were interested in where we came from and by what route. The young man could not identify with the places I mentioned because he was visiting from Austria, but the gal wanted more and more specifics about where we lived in PA. She is from Quebec but has lived in Scranton, PA and has also stayed in Clarks Summit. I expect her French accent stood out from the crowd in both of those PA coal region towns.
The flight locking was fun at first but soon became boring and after number 4, we actually lost count of where we were in the process. Fortunately the weather improved and we shed our rain gear and hats and by 2:45, when we were set free on the Ottawa River, things were looking pretty encouraging. That morning we decided we would go the 36 NM to Chateau Montebello on the Quebec side of the river but the lengthy locking made us think we may have to anchor some place before reaching our destination. Once on the open water the boat seemed happy to be running at cruise speed 8+ knots and the weather changed from “not bad” to “very lovely” so we kept going. The water at times was placid and we had the entire river to ourselves for miles at a time.
We had not made a reservation for the marina and did not even have a phone number – would we be able to get a slip?? As Polly piloted us down the river, modern technology came to our rescue and the Verizon air card and Google gave me the number. Our cell phone call was answered by a French-speaking (at first) lady who was happy to connect me with the marina office. Yep, come on in Monsieur - and bring your VISA card. This is a high end, first rate Fairmont luxury hotel, spa and country club with a great marina. Horseback riding, jet skis, golf (they will come to the dock to give you a ride to the first tee), and curling are among the many activities available. We were just thrilled to have immaculate showers and flush toilets. Le Chateau Montebello also claims to have the world’s largest all-log structure. I believe it, and it is beautiful. There will be pictures. The earlier rain had brought a pleasant and cool evening. We will stay until Monday morning so we can enjoy this special place and their famous Bar-B-Q, before moving on down the river.
Overcast with intermittent showers was going to be the weather for the day. We would be leaving Dows Lake on a schedule that would put us at the Pretoria Bridge in time for the first lift at 09:00. Libby stayed aboard with us and we had oatmeal for breakfast, at her request. Topped the water tank and brought in the power cord as I said goodbye to Jim the manager, and our recently acquired neighbor and friend, Richard, who is living on his houseboat for the summer. Libby had to do a final duck feeding and then Kathy and Gregg helped with our lines as FLIGHT backed out, bound for the 8-lock Ottawa Flight.
We idled down the canal returning waves from joggers and as we approached the bridge, the tender raised it, switched the red light to green, and we continued on “downtown”. Standing under the first street bridge (to stay out of the rain) near the mooring wall was Kate & Matt, ready to exchange a box of pastries for their daughter. It had been planned that Libby and Kate would be aboard FLIGHT for the first lock, but due to the rain and the long cue of boats already waiting to lock down, decided they would say goodbye and check out of the hotel for departure. It turned out be a good idea since we had to wait a couple of hours before even entering the first lock. While we waited, a large 80 foot yacht was being locked up – it was the only boat that could fit into the lock chamber.
During our locking, it became clear that we were part of the “tourist attraction” for that day (along with the 6 other boats in our lock group) in downtown Ottawa. We were photographed many times and had chats with a few people who were standing along the lock walls. I (RCB) met a couple who were interested in where we came from and by what route. The young man could not identify with the places I mentioned because he was visiting from Austria, but the gal wanted more and more specifics about where we lived in PA. She is from Quebec but has lived in Scranton, PA and has also stayed in Clarks Summit. I expect her French accent stood out from the crowd in both of those PA coal region towns.
The flight locking was fun at first but soon became boring and after number 4, we actually lost count of where we were in the process. Fortunately the weather improved and we shed our rain gear and hats and by 2:45, when we were set free on the Ottawa River, things were looking pretty encouraging. That morning we decided we would go the 36 NM to Chateau Montebello on the Quebec side of the river but the lengthy locking made us think we may have to anchor some place before reaching our destination. Once on the open water the boat seemed happy to be running at cruise speed 8+ knots and the weather changed from “not bad” to “very lovely” so we kept going. The water at times was placid and we had the entire river to ourselves for miles at a time.
We had not made a reservation for the marina and did not even have a phone number – would we be able to get a slip?? As Polly piloted us down the river, modern technology came to our rescue and the Verizon air card and Google gave me the number. Our cell phone call was answered by a French-speaking (at first) lady who was happy to connect me with the marina office. Yep, come on in Monsieur - and bring your VISA card. This is a high end, first rate Fairmont luxury hotel, spa and country club with a great marina. Horseback riding, jet skis, golf (they will come to the dock to give you a ride to the first tee), and curling are among the many activities available. We were just thrilled to have immaculate showers and flush toilets. Le Chateau Montebello also claims to have the world’s largest all-log structure. I believe it, and it is beautiful. There will be pictures. The earlier rain had brought a pleasant and cool evening. We will stay until Monday morning so we can enjoy this special place and their famous Bar-B-Q, before moving on down the river.
July 26 & 27 – Thursday & Friday
Thursday began with Libby and I (RCB) motoring the dinghy in the canal with Libby at the helm. She was surprised by the number of people “who knew us” and waved as they walked along the path. She had no idea of what those people were seeing – a little girl in a multi-colored life jacket holding the tiller of a small boat heading to downtown Ottawa (with a grandpa just an arm’s reach away). Matt & Kate showed up by car and we all did the tourist stuff beginning with the changing of the “gardener” (as Libby called it) ceremony, museums etc. then later in the day the big event was peddle boat rides at the marina on Dows Lake. We BBQed some shrimp aboard that evening, and just relaxed.
Polly and I rode our bikes to the hotel Friday AM and we all walked to the Byward Market. The market is a daily thing that is situated on several streets and has many vendors and shops selling fresh produce, cheeses, meats as well as art work and clothing items. There are also a number of restaurants and we all had breakfast before resuming our touring and visiting.
I (RCB) returned to the boat to clean inlet water strainers, sort out new charts and do a few other captain things in preparation for our departure Saturday morning. As I was finishing up, a boat was sliding into the slip next to us – when I looked up, it was “Renaissance” and our friends, the Dohrers. We hadn’t seen them since the morning we left Oswego where they headed for the Thousand Islands and we pointed FLIGHT at Kingston. When Polly returned she was surprised to see our friends and catch up – she and Kathy took a walk together to have a gal type visit and I expect, to have some time away from their respective captains. The rest of the family came to the boat later and after meeting the Dohrers, did some kayaking and duck feeding before we had a bite to eat at the marina restaurant. Libby spent the night aboard (as per her planned schedule) and would be sailing with us in the AM as far as the wall in downtown Ottawa. Another warm and sunny Canadian day came to an end.
Thursday began with Libby and I (RCB) motoring the dinghy in the canal with Libby at the helm. She was surprised by the number of people “who knew us” and waved as they walked along the path. She had no idea of what those people were seeing – a little girl in a multi-colored life jacket holding the tiller of a small boat heading to downtown Ottawa (with a grandpa just an arm’s reach away). Matt & Kate showed up by car and we all did the tourist stuff beginning with the changing of the “gardener” (as Libby called it) ceremony, museums etc. then later in the day the big event was peddle boat rides at the marina on Dows Lake. We BBQed some shrimp aboard that evening, and just relaxed.
Polly and I rode our bikes to the hotel Friday AM and we all walked to the Byward Market. The market is a daily thing that is situated on several streets and has many vendors and shops selling fresh produce, cheeses, meats as well as art work and clothing items. There are also a number of restaurants and we all had breakfast before resuming our touring and visiting.
I (RCB) returned to the boat to clean inlet water strainers, sort out new charts and do a few other captain things in preparation for our departure Saturday morning. As I was finishing up, a boat was sliding into the slip next to us – when I looked up, it was “Renaissance” and our friends, the Dohrers. We hadn’t seen them since the morning we left Oswego where they headed for the Thousand Islands and we pointed FLIGHT at Kingston. When Polly returned she was surprised to see our friends and catch up – she and Kathy took a walk together to have a gal type visit and I expect, to have some time away from their respective captains. The rest of the family came to the boat later and after meeting the Dohrers, did some kayaking and duck feeding before we had a bite to eat at the marina restaurant. Libby spent the night aboard (as per her planned schedule) and would be sailing with us in the AM as far as the wall in downtown Ottawa. Another warm and sunny Canadian day came to an end.
July 25 – Wednesday
The morning brought another fine day and we jumped on our bikes and headed “down town” on the bicycle “super highway” and within half an hour we were at the end of the Rideau Canal and looking at the Ottawa River and Canada’s Parliament buildings. It was still early and the lock crew was just getting set to go to work at 08:30. We discovered our lock-hand friend (and former mortician) from Hartwells was assigned to the 8-lock flight for the day, so we got some details from him to help us plan our move through the flight on Saturday. We locked (with a cable) our bikes at the lock master’s office and walked about the area and eventually found the hotel where our family would be staying as well as a “Tim Horton’s” – Canada’s answer to Dunkin Donuts. After a mediocre cup of coffee and not-so-good Danish, we went back to the bikes to head to the marina. Polly noticed that policemen were showing up here and there on some street corners and some people were stopped along the streets – so we did too. Very soon we heard drums and bag pipes and then were treated to a parade of the red coated guards marching from the Drill House to the Parliament Building lawn where they would perform the daily (10:00 AM unless it rains) “Changing of the Guard” ceremony. This was something on our list to see, but we thought we would wait until K, M, & L were on the scene, also.
Back to the boat for some rest and refreshment and then some more biking since the kids’ arrival wouldn’t be until later that afternoon. We took a route that led through a nice park and along the natural bed of the Rideau River, which is east of the canal and locks. Back at the boat again, we showered and awaited the big arrival, Polly and I were so excited that we actually sat near the curb on the street that would bring them to the marina. They finally arrived and we visited and caught up on everyone and everything before heading to dinner. Libby’s 6th birthday is coming up in early August and since we will not be home in time to celebrate, we had a sparkler added to the dessert and sang to her. We made some loose plans for seeing the sites over the next few days and the Bahoric’s headed back to their hotel, leaving Libby aboard FLIGHT. Libby had previously worked out her schedule – one night on the boat and one night at the hotel and then another night on the boat. That is exactly what she did.
The morning brought another fine day and we jumped on our bikes and headed “down town” on the bicycle “super highway” and within half an hour we were at the end of the Rideau Canal and looking at the Ottawa River and Canada’s Parliament buildings. It was still early and the lock crew was just getting set to go to work at 08:30. We discovered our lock-hand friend (and former mortician) from Hartwells was assigned to the 8-lock flight for the day, so we got some details from him to help us plan our move through the flight on Saturday. We locked (with a cable) our bikes at the lock master’s office and walked about the area and eventually found the hotel where our family would be staying as well as a “Tim Horton’s” – Canada’s answer to Dunkin Donuts. After a mediocre cup of coffee and not-so-good Danish, we went back to the bikes to head to the marina. Polly noticed that policemen were showing up here and there on some street corners and some people were stopped along the streets – so we did too. Very soon we heard drums and bag pipes and then were treated to a parade of the red coated guards marching from the Drill House to the Parliament Building lawn where they would perform the daily (10:00 AM unless it rains) “Changing of the Guard” ceremony. This was something on our list to see, but we thought we would wait until K, M, & L were on the scene, also.
Back to the boat for some rest and refreshment and then some more biking since the kids’ arrival wouldn’t be until later that afternoon. We took a route that led through a nice park and along the natural bed of the Rideau River, which is east of the canal and locks. Back at the boat again, we showered and awaited the big arrival, Polly and I were so excited that we actually sat near the curb on the street that would bring them to the marina. They finally arrived and we visited and caught up on everyone and everything before heading to dinner. Libby’s 6th birthday is coming up in early August and since we will not be home in time to celebrate, we had a sparkler added to the dessert and sang to her. We made some loose plans for seeing the sites over the next few days and the Bahoric’s headed back to their hotel, leaving Libby aboard FLIGHT. Libby had previously worked out her schedule – one night on the boat and one night at the hotel and then another night on the boat. That is exactly what she did.
July 24 – Tuesday
We had talked with the lockmaster late yesterday, to let him know we would be locking through at the first bridge opening this morning. We had some fresh/frozen fruit for breakfast and then moved FLIGHT into position to enter the lock when the swing bridge opened at 09:00. We sort of had to work around some canoeists while we were waiting – there was activity at the Canoe Club as early as 06:30. I got the impression that some of the early birds were there for a before-work workout, much like some folks back home go to the gym. The bridge swung open and we moved into the lock and down we went, 14’ and on to the pair of locks at Hartwells, #10 and #9. There were now only 8 more locks remaining between us and the Ottawa River and those are all together in an 8 step flight that will lower us a total of 79’. That will happen when we are leaving Ottawa later this week. At Hartwells, we were helped through by a friendly lock attendant who I guess is in his late 50s with long grey hair. He retired from his mortuary / crematory business when he was 52 and now works summers on the Rideau for Parks Canada and goes to his house in New Orleans for the winter. His wife, who has a Phd., also retired and works at a greenhouse for $9. / hour in the summers. We have met some very interesting people and I (RCB) am amazed at how much people will tell you about themselves in 5 to 10 minutes of chatting, as strangers!
Once out of the second lock at Hartwells, I hailed Dows Creek Marina on channel 68 (I had almost forgotten how to use the VHF) and were advised to expect a port side tie in slip #22. After we got FLIGHT settled, we turned on the A/C and closed her up for a good soapy bath, then treated ourselves to lunch at the adjacent restaurant which was pretty good. We had thought we might stroll around a bit, but during lunch decided to do some boat chores we had planned for Wednesday. Polly dug out the polish to work on some of the not-so-shiny spots and I changed the engine oil and filter. I have grown very fond of that sweet Cummins 220 diesel, and will do just about anything to keep her happy.
We had been told by some people we met along the waterway that Dows Lake was situated at the gateway to Ottawa’s “Little Italy” so we strolled down Preston St. and settled on Ciccio Caffe and had a very fine dinner served to us by Giovanni, a waiter not long from Tuscany. Neither of us slept well – maybe the late food and wine but most likely because we were excited about the arrival of the kids on Wednesday.
We had talked with the lockmaster late yesterday, to let him know we would be locking through at the first bridge opening this morning. We had some fresh/frozen fruit for breakfast and then moved FLIGHT into position to enter the lock when the swing bridge opened at 09:00. We sort of had to work around some canoeists while we were waiting – there was activity at the Canoe Club as early as 06:30. I got the impression that some of the early birds were there for a before-work workout, much like some folks back home go to the gym. The bridge swung open and we moved into the lock and down we went, 14’ and on to the pair of locks at Hartwells, #10 and #9. There were now only 8 more locks remaining between us and the Ottawa River and those are all together in an 8 step flight that will lower us a total of 79’. That will happen when we are leaving Ottawa later this week. At Hartwells, we were helped through by a friendly lock attendant who I guess is in his late 50s with long grey hair. He retired from his mortuary / crematory business when he was 52 and now works summers on the Rideau for Parks Canada and goes to his house in New Orleans for the winter. His wife, who has a Phd., also retired and works at a greenhouse for $9. / hour in the summers. We have met some very interesting people and I (RCB) am amazed at how much people will tell you about themselves in 5 to 10 minutes of chatting, as strangers!
Once out of the second lock at Hartwells, I hailed Dows Creek Marina on channel 68 (I had almost forgotten how to use the VHF) and were advised to expect a port side tie in slip #22. After we got FLIGHT settled, we turned on the A/C and closed her up for a good soapy bath, then treated ourselves to lunch at the adjacent restaurant which was pretty good. We had thought we might stroll around a bit, but during lunch decided to do some boat chores we had planned for Wednesday. Polly dug out the polish to work on some of the not-so-shiny spots and I changed the engine oil and filter. I have grown very fond of that sweet Cummins 220 diesel, and will do just about anything to keep her happy.
We had been told by some people we met along the waterway that Dows Lake was situated at the gateway to Ottawa’s “Little Italy” so we strolled down Preston St. and settled on Ciccio Caffe and had a very fine dinner served to us by Giovanni, a waiter not long from Tuscany. Neither of us slept well – maybe the late food and wine but most likely because we were excited about the arrival of the kids on Wednesday.
July 23 – Monday
Time to move on - now that the weekend traffic is off the waterway. I can’t imagine dealing with the continual parade of boats going up and down and down and up the relatively narrow waterway. Everyone seems to have a boat up here, either on a trailer or tied to a dock at home.
About 07:00 we moved from our slip and idled to the fuel dock to have our breakfast and wait for our favorite dock hand, Mark, to help us with fuel and a pump-out when they opened. Fuel wasn’t essential, but Hurst is a top drawer operation and I had confidence their diesel would be clean, so we took on 200 liters (about 53 gal.) @$1.09 per liter. I wanted to be sure we could wait for our return to the U.S. before fully reloading. We had not bought fuel since Ess-Kay in NY.
We left the fuel dock just before 09:00 and wound our way towards Ottawa. The shore line reflected the fact we were on the outskirts of a large city with home next to home for miles, ranging from very nice to spectacular. Not all of the wealth is along the shores of The Bay, we had to remind ourselves that we were in this nation’s capital, where politicians, lobbyists and other government trough feeders dwell. 11:25 saw us through the Black Rapids lock and at 12:25 we were tied to the mooring wall, just before the swing bridge at Hogs Back Falls and lock – the day’s destination and a mere 5 SM from the end of the Rideau. We learned this was the southern end of a bike path network that goes all to way to the Ottawa River and beyond, so after a quick sandwich (and jalapeno Pringles) we unloaded the bikes and took off. We quickly learned this town is a biking heaven. There must be 50 miles of paved trails around and through to city for biking, walking and rollerblading, only – no vehicles. We rode along the west side of the Rideau until we found a cross-over street and then returned to our boat along the east side. That route took us by Dows Lake and the marina we will stay at for the duration of our kids’ visit. We confirmed our slip reservation and that they have rental peddle boats, something our grand-daughter Libby is looking forward to. While checking out the marina, we met a couple about our age, and they had come to Ottawa just for a biking vacation, staying at a hotel on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Our impression of this city is very positive at this point.
Within 50’ of the mooring dock we are on, is the waterfront facility of the Rideau Canoe Club and it is a very active facility. Since we have arrived we have been continually entertained by canoeists of every age and gender. There were young children’s groups all afternoon and in the evening until dark there were adults in various types of kayaks, training and racing. There is at least one team here (from China we think) getting ready for an international Dragon Boat competition being held next week in Montreal. Dragon Boats look like the long Polynesian canoes we have seen in movies, with 14 – 16 paddlers and one person at the stern steering with a paddle. These boats do not have out-riggers, though. We are looking forward to settling in at Dows Lake on Tuesday and enjoying our visit with Libby, Matt and Kate in this beautiful city. Oh, the weather was perfect again today.
Time to move on - now that the weekend traffic is off the waterway. I can’t imagine dealing with the continual parade of boats going up and down and down and up the relatively narrow waterway. Everyone seems to have a boat up here, either on a trailer or tied to a dock at home.
About 07:00 we moved from our slip and idled to the fuel dock to have our breakfast and wait for our favorite dock hand, Mark, to help us with fuel and a pump-out when they opened. Fuel wasn’t essential, but Hurst is a top drawer operation and I had confidence their diesel would be clean, so we took on 200 liters (about 53 gal.) @$1.09 per liter. I wanted to be sure we could wait for our return to the U.S. before fully reloading. We had not bought fuel since Ess-Kay in NY.
We left the fuel dock just before 09:00 and wound our way towards Ottawa. The shore line reflected the fact we were on the outskirts of a large city with home next to home for miles, ranging from very nice to spectacular. Not all of the wealth is along the shores of The Bay, we had to remind ourselves that we were in this nation’s capital, where politicians, lobbyists and other government trough feeders dwell. 11:25 saw us through the Black Rapids lock and at 12:25 we were tied to the mooring wall, just before the swing bridge at Hogs Back Falls and lock – the day’s destination and a mere 5 SM from the end of the Rideau. We learned this was the southern end of a bike path network that goes all to way to the Ottawa River and beyond, so after a quick sandwich (and jalapeno Pringles) we unloaded the bikes and took off. We quickly learned this town is a biking heaven. There must be 50 miles of paved trails around and through to city for biking, walking and rollerblading, only – no vehicles. We rode along the west side of the Rideau until we found a cross-over street and then returned to our boat along the east side. That route took us by Dows Lake and the marina we will stay at for the duration of our kids’ visit. We confirmed our slip reservation and that they have rental peddle boats, something our grand-daughter Libby is looking forward to. While checking out the marina, we met a couple about our age, and they had come to Ottawa just for a biking vacation, staying at a hotel on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Our impression of this city is very positive at this point.
Within 50’ of the mooring dock we are on, is the waterfront facility of the Rideau Canoe Club and it is a very active facility. Since we have arrived we have been continually entertained by canoeists of every age and gender. There were young children’s groups all afternoon and in the evening until dark there were adults in various types of kayaks, training and racing. There is at least one team here (from China we think) getting ready for an international Dragon Boat competition being held next week in Montreal. Dragon Boats look like the long Polynesian canoes we have seen in movies, with 14 – 16 paddlers and one person at the stern steering with a paddle. These boats do not have out-riggers, though. We are looking forward to settling in at Dows Lake on Tuesday and enjoying our visit with Libby, Matt and Kate in this beautiful city. Oh, the weather was perfect again today.
Friday, July 27, 2007
July 22 – Sunday
We are staying at Hurst Marina for another day and awoke to stellar weather, again.
More about the Aqua-Palooza and Dwaine the dock master. To my friend Peter R. – pay attention here. Aqua-Palooza is a wide area event held at marinas and boat clubs to raise funds for Easter Seal Kids. This morning we went to the breakfast where boaters and marina staff cooked eggs to order and kept the trays of Canadian bacon, sausage, potatoes etc., full and everyone made a donation and enjoyed visiting with other boat people. We ate with Guy (Gee) and Francis who keep their boat at Hurst and live 15 minutes away. He is retired after 30 years in the Canadian Coast Guard.
Dwaine, the dock master and I got into some real interesting topics. Boats and airplanes (also Harley Davidson motorcycles which he owns and which I live where they are built). He comes home to Canada in the summer to manage the dock at Hurst as well as deliver boats and train new owners. To stay current on the various models, he sometimes takes one they have in stock, out for a few days of cruising and relaxing. Peter, this is where it gets interesting – at the end of summer he goes to his house near Ocala, Florida which is situated on a condo-style residential air park, with a 2650’ paved and lighted runway with a VASI. His house and hangar are each 2000 sq. ft. and in his hangar is his current plane, a C-150. He hasn’t had time to bring it up this year to have the annual done, and is considering finding someone to fly it up for him. Should I give him your contact info. Peter?
It is now 12:30 PM and thus far I have 1)mixed a batch of sangria. 2)cleaned up the removable grate from the aft head so I can sand it later. 3)rescued a piece of the fishing rod the kids from the boat along side lost in the river. 4)had two breakfasts. 5) settled up for a second day in our slip. 6) learned a lot about residential air parks in Florida. 7)pecked away at this blog. Polly did 1) the laundry 2) vacuumed the rugs 3) read her book.
We are staying at Hurst Marina for another day and awoke to stellar weather, again.
More about the Aqua-Palooza and Dwaine the dock master. To my friend Peter R. – pay attention here. Aqua-Palooza is a wide area event held at marinas and boat clubs to raise funds for Easter Seal Kids. This morning we went to the breakfast where boaters and marina staff cooked eggs to order and kept the trays of Canadian bacon, sausage, potatoes etc., full and everyone made a donation and enjoyed visiting with other boat people. We ate with Guy (Gee) and Francis who keep their boat at Hurst and live 15 minutes away. He is retired after 30 years in the Canadian Coast Guard.
Dwaine, the dock master and I got into some real interesting topics. Boats and airplanes (also Harley Davidson motorcycles which he owns and which I live where they are built). He comes home to Canada in the summer to manage the dock at Hurst as well as deliver boats and train new owners. To stay current on the various models, he sometimes takes one they have in stock, out for a few days of cruising and relaxing. Peter, this is where it gets interesting – at the end of summer he goes to his house near Ocala, Florida which is situated on a condo-style residential air park, with a 2650’ paved and lighted runway with a VASI. His house and hangar are each 2000 sq. ft. and in his hangar is his current plane, a C-150. He hasn’t had time to bring it up this year to have the annual done, and is considering finding someone to fly it up for him. Should I give him your contact info. Peter?
It is now 12:30 PM and thus far I have 1)mixed a batch of sangria. 2)cleaned up the removable grate from the aft head so I can sand it later. 3)rescued a piece of the fishing rod the kids from the boat along side lost in the river. 4)had two breakfasts. 5) settled up for a second day in our slip. 6) learned a lot about residential air parks in Florida. 7)pecked away at this blog. Polly did 1) the laundry 2) vacuumed the rugs 3) read her book.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
July 22 – Sunday
We are staying at Hurst Marina for another day and awoke to stellar weather, again.
More about the Aqua-Palooza and Dwaine the dock master. To my friend Peter R. – pay attention here. Aqua-Palooza is a wide area event held at marinas and boat clubs to raise funds for Easter Seal Kids. This morning we went to the breakfast where boaters and marina staff cooked eggs to order and kept the trays of Canadian bacon, sausage, potatoes etc., full and everyone made a donation and enjoyed visiting with other boat people. We ate with Guy (Gee) and Francis who keep their boat at Hurst and live 15 minutes away. He is retired after 30 years in the Canadian Coast Guard.
Dwaine, the dock master and I got into some real interesting topics. Boats and airplanes (also Harley Davidson motorcycles which he owns and which I live where they are built). He comes home to Canada in the summer to manage the dock at Hurst as well as deliver boats and train new owners. To stay current on the various models, he sometimes takes one they have in stock, out for a few days of cruising and relaxing. Peter, this is where it gets interesting – at the end of summer he goes to his house near Ocala, Florida which is situated on a condo-style residential air park, with a 2650’ paved and lighted runway with a VASI. His house and hangar are each 2000 sq. ft. and in his hangar is his current plane, a C-150. He hasn’t had time to bring it up this year to have the annual done, and is considering finding someone to fly it up for him. Should I give him your contact info. Peter?
It is now 12:30 PM and thus far I have 1)mixed a batch of sangria. 2)cleaned up the removable grate from the aft head so I can sand it later. 3)rescued a piece of the fishing rod the kids from the boat along side lost in the river. 4)had two breakfasts. 5) settled up for a second day in our slip. 6) learned a lot about residential air parks in Florida. 7)pecked away at this blog. Polly did 1) the laundry 2) vacuumed the rugs 3) read her book.
We are staying at Hurst Marina for another day and awoke to stellar weather, again.
More about the Aqua-Palooza and Dwaine the dock master. To my friend Peter R. – pay attention here. Aqua-Palooza is a wide area event held at marinas and boat clubs to raise funds for Easter Seal Kids. This morning we went to the breakfast where boaters and marina staff cooked eggs to order and kept the trays of Canadian bacon, sausage, potatoes etc., full and everyone made a donation and enjoyed visiting with other boat people. We ate with Guy (Gee) and Francis who keep their boat at Hurst and live 15 minutes away. He is retired after 30 years in the Canadian Coast Guard.
Dwaine, the dock master and I got into some real interesting topics. Boats and airplanes (also Harley Davidson motorcycles which he owns and which I live where they are built). He comes home to Canada in the summer to manage the dock at Hurst as well as deliver boats and train new owners. To stay current on the various models, he sometimes takes one they have in stock, out for a few days of cruising and relaxing. Peter, this is where it gets interesting – at the end of summer he goes to his house near Ocala, Florida which is situated on a condo-style residential air park, with a 2650’ paved and lighted runway with a VASI. His house and hangar are each 2000 sq. ft. and in his hangar is his current plane, a C-150. He hasn’t had time to bring it up this year to have the annual done, and is considering finding someone to fly it up for him. Should I give him your contact info. Peter?
It is now 12:30 PM and thus far I have 1)mixed a batch of sangria. 2)cleaned up the removable grate from the aft head so I can sand it later. 3)rescued a piece of the fishing rod the kids from the boat along side lost in the river. 4)had two breakfasts. 5) settled up for a second day in our slip. 6) learned a lot about residential air parks in Florida. 7)pecked away at this blog. Polly did 1) the laundry 2) vacuumed the rugs 3) read her book.
July 21 – Saturday
The weather was a perfect “10” after the 3 inches of rain that fell the two previous days. Blue sky, light breeze, ideal temps – a perfect day. We left Ayling’s about 07:45 and the captain had overestimated the running time to the first lock therefore we arrived ahead of schedule for the first locking. We idled around and drifted until time to enter lock #20, the first of three located right together, and by 09:20 had cleared #19 and #18 as well. The next obstacle was a swing bridge a few miles away and as we approached Burritt’s Rapids Bridge, we dutifully sounded our horn 3 times and then watched as a young woman walked in circles turning a shaft that “wound” the bridge open. Just past the bridge was lock #17, our final one for this day, and it was waiting for us with open gates. We were the only boat locking down and the lock master was particularly friendly and chatted a lot, so we had him take our photo as the water lowered us. One of the pics we took from the deck has the red and white Canadian flag in the background, flowing straight out against a brilliantly blue sky – hopefully we captured the image as it appeared to us at that moment.
It was an un-interrupted run of 12 miles to our planned stop at Hurst Marina near the village Kars. This stretch of the waterway twists and turns with the natural bed of the Rideau river and the shore varies from large stretches of marsh, to sloping farmland with barns and silos, to developed waterfront home sites – some lavish and others comfortable weekend cottages. We are within 20-25 miles of Ottawa, so by car this is almost a suburb area for the Capital city. There also was the added traffic of weekend boaters and fishermen.
Hurst is a well run marina / boat dealership and Dwaine, the dock master has a good staff, we were in our slip promptly. Our timing was good because this weekend Hurst is having their “Aqua-Palooza” event – a kind of open house boat show special. They are SeaRay dealers, and gave us a gift bag containing a bunch of stuff including T-shirts advertising SeaRay boats and we can’t wait to wear them around Spring Cove when we get back. The Aqua-Palooza excitement grabbed me (RCB) such that I was tempted to talk with the salesman about a trade-in value for FLIGHT, on a nifty 520 Sun Dance Express cruiser with Bose stereo system, tilt steering wheel and extended swim platform equipped with a powered lift to haul and launch a pair of jet skis. If the deal works out we could be home by Wednesday! Polly could shop in Ottawa for a nice bikini that matches the accent striping on the boat.
Soon after we arrived, we attended to FLIGHT’s needs and then off-loaded our bikes before having a nice lunch at the Swan Pub adjacent to the marina. My (RCB) lunch included a half-pint of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale which came in a spiffy glass with the brewer’s logo imprint. When asked, the waitress told me there would not be much fuss made if I inadvertently walked out with the glass, so I did. She got an extra nice tip. Thus far my souvenirs include a haircut and a stolen beer glass (Polly did buy me a nice T-shirt, but with her own cash, I think). We jumped on our bikes and rode the mile and half to Kars where a small local fair was underway. At $5. a head to just stroll through, we passed, and spent the same amount on ice cream and a lottery ticket ($16 mil)at the village store, gas station, video rental, post office. They also sell propane and had a bench outside where two young girls were playing cards. Before the store, we pedaled down a gravel road leading to Long Island Marina, a small boat facility where we were greeted (and checked out) by a 15-16 year old young fellow who was the attendant. We chatted about the recent heavy rains and he mentioned that, the day before, in the heaviest rain, he was riding his bike the 6+ miles to the marina. When I commented that it would not have been a good day for biking, he matter-of-factly stated, “but I had to get to work, we must check the boats so they don’t sink”. My confidence in the younger generation spiked up a mile – I would like to read a newspaper profile on this young man. Unfortunately, stories like that would not “sell cars” as my news editor-brother-in-law would say.
It is a small world! Soon after we returned to the marina, the boat that is based in the slip next to us returned and it was a couple we had met briefly when we were in Smith’s Falls. They left on the same morning and were in all of the locks with us when we had the “big house boat” experience. Trish and Graham live in Ottawa about 20 minutes from their boat. They came aboard FLIGHT, along with Dwaine, the dock master who had expressed an interest in having a look aboard. Graham & Trish had been out for the day and they use their boat as much as possible. Graham likes to shed his banker suit & tie for shorts and bare feet, and bare his tattoos, whenever he can. They are looking forward to the time they can do some long distance cruising and were curious as to how we handle personal business while away. We told them it starts with having four great adult kids to dump the details onto, and from there, we just forget about it.
The weather was a perfect “10” after the 3 inches of rain that fell the two previous days. Blue sky, light breeze, ideal temps – a perfect day. We left Ayling’s about 07:45 and the captain had overestimated the running time to the first lock therefore we arrived ahead of schedule for the first locking. We idled around and drifted until time to enter lock #20, the first of three located right together, and by 09:20 had cleared #19 and #18 as well. The next obstacle was a swing bridge a few miles away and as we approached Burritt’s Rapids Bridge, we dutifully sounded our horn 3 times and then watched as a young woman walked in circles turning a shaft that “wound” the bridge open. Just past the bridge was lock #17, our final one for this day, and it was waiting for us with open gates. We were the only boat locking down and the lock master was particularly friendly and chatted a lot, so we had him take our photo as the water lowered us. One of the pics we took from the deck has the red and white Canadian flag in the background, flowing straight out against a brilliantly blue sky – hopefully we captured the image as it appeared to us at that moment.
It was an un-interrupted run of 12 miles to our planned stop at Hurst Marina near the village Kars. This stretch of the waterway twists and turns with the natural bed of the Rideau river and the shore varies from large stretches of marsh, to sloping farmland with barns and silos, to developed waterfront home sites – some lavish and others comfortable weekend cottages. We are within 20-25 miles of Ottawa, so by car this is almost a suburb area for the Capital city. There also was the added traffic of weekend boaters and fishermen.
Hurst is a well run marina / boat dealership and Dwaine, the dock master has a good staff, we were in our slip promptly. Our timing was good because this weekend Hurst is having their “Aqua-Palooza” event – a kind of open house boat show special. They are SeaRay dealers, and gave us a gift bag containing a bunch of stuff including T-shirts advertising SeaRay boats and we can’t wait to wear them around Spring Cove when we get back. The Aqua-Palooza excitement grabbed me (RCB) such that I was tempted to talk with the salesman about a trade-in value for FLIGHT, on a nifty 520 Sun Dance Express cruiser with Bose stereo system, tilt steering wheel and extended swim platform equipped with a powered lift to haul and launch a pair of jet skis. If the deal works out we could be home by Wednesday! Polly could shop in Ottawa for a nice bikini that matches the accent striping on the boat.
Soon after we arrived, we attended to FLIGHT’s needs and then off-loaded our bikes before having a nice lunch at the Swan Pub adjacent to the marina. My (RCB) lunch included a half-pint of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale which came in a spiffy glass with the brewer’s logo imprint. When asked, the waitress told me there would not be much fuss made if I inadvertently walked out with the glass, so I did. She got an extra nice tip. Thus far my souvenirs include a haircut and a stolen beer glass (Polly did buy me a nice T-shirt, but with her own cash, I think). We jumped on our bikes and rode the mile and half to Kars where a small local fair was underway. At $5. a head to just stroll through, we passed, and spent the same amount on ice cream and a lottery ticket ($16 mil)at the village store, gas station, video rental, post office. They also sell propane and had a bench outside where two young girls were playing cards. Before the store, we pedaled down a gravel road leading to Long Island Marina, a small boat facility where we were greeted (and checked out) by a 15-16 year old young fellow who was the attendant. We chatted about the recent heavy rains and he mentioned that, the day before, in the heaviest rain, he was riding his bike the 6+ miles to the marina. When I commented that it would not have been a good day for biking, he matter-of-factly stated, “but I had to get to work, we must check the boats so they don’t sink”. My confidence in the younger generation spiked up a mile – I would like to read a newspaper profile on this young man. Unfortunately, stories like that would not “sell cars” as my news editor-brother-in-law would say.
It is a small world! Soon after we returned to the marina, the boat that is based in the slip next to us returned and it was a couple we had met briefly when we were in Smith’s Falls. They left on the same morning and were in all of the locks with us when we had the “big house boat” experience. Trish and Graham live in Ottawa about 20 minutes from their boat. They came aboard FLIGHT, along with Dwaine, the dock master who had expressed an interest in having a look aboard. Graham & Trish had been out for the day and they use their boat as much as possible. Graham likes to shed his banker suit & tie for shorts and bare feet, and bare his tattoos, whenever he can. They are looking forward to the time they can do some long distance cruising and were curious as to how we handle personal business while away. We told them it starts with having four great adult kids to dump the details onto, and from there, we just forget about it.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
July 20 – Friday
More rain.
After breakfast (PMB’s French toast in recognition of our dock neighbors), we decided to lock down and take a slip at Ayling’s marina located on the river at the bottom of locks. Ayling’s is a true “boat yard” with sheds full of old Chris Craft, Owens and other brands of wooden cabin cruisers from the 50s & 60s and some much older. Many of these classics are owner projects and some are fully restored, and magnificent. Still others will likely remain in the corner of the lot with torn plastic covering them for 10 or 20 more years. We have seen a lot of older wooden boats on the water – I think the fresh water environment and covered winter storage must be very kind to boats. Ayling’s does a lot of wooden boat work.
Heavy rain continued all day and a fellow we met from the boat behind us (from Ottawa), told me Ottawa had received a record amount – nearly 3”. Interestingly, this man’s name was Al and his wife is Linda. The couple we had aboard for dinner last night is Alan and Linda. What a coincidence – this is the sort of thing you have time to think about while cruising. Alan and Linda (from FL) were still at Ayling’s and in the evening, after the rain finally stopped, we walked to their boat but they were not aboard. However, another trawler had come in late in the afternoon and we noticed it was flying an MTOA pennant and as good members, we dutifully tapped on their cabin and were invited aboard. Ken and Sharon Russell live in Port St.Lucie, FL and Ken remembered meeting us last fall in Hampton, VA. where we discussed their plan to leave their boat “Barefoot Again” in the Chesapeake for the winter and I suggested Rock Hall. It turns out, their boat was on-the-hard at Swan Creek Marina about 50 yards from FLIGHT. This cruising scene is a small world. The Russell’s are meeting a friend in Ottawa and then will be cruising back south via our same route so we expect to see more of them in the weeks ahead.
More rain.
After breakfast (PMB’s French toast in recognition of our dock neighbors), we decided to lock down and take a slip at Ayling’s marina located on the river at the bottom of locks. Ayling’s is a true “boat yard” with sheds full of old Chris Craft, Owens and other brands of wooden cabin cruisers from the 50s & 60s and some much older. Many of these classics are owner projects and some are fully restored, and magnificent. Still others will likely remain in the corner of the lot with torn plastic covering them for 10 or 20 more years. We have seen a lot of older wooden boats on the water – I think the fresh water environment and covered winter storage must be very kind to boats. Ayling’s does a lot of wooden boat work.
Heavy rain continued all day and a fellow we met from the boat behind us (from Ottawa), told me Ottawa had received a record amount – nearly 3”. Interestingly, this man’s name was Al and his wife is Linda. The couple we had aboard for dinner last night is Alan and Linda. What a coincidence – this is the sort of thing you have time to think about while cruising. Alan and Linda (from FL) were still at Ayling’s and in the evening, after the rain finally stopped, we walked to their boat but they were not aboard. However, another trawler had come in late in the afternoon and we noticed it was flying an MTOA pennant and as good members, we dutifully tapped on their cabin and were invited aboard. Ken and Sharon Russell live in Port St.Lucie, FL and Ken remembered meeting us last fall in Hampton, VA. where we discussed their plan to leave their boat “Barefoot Again” in the Chesapeake for the winter and I suggested Rock Hall. It turns out, their boat was on-the-hard at Swan Creek Marina about 50 yards from FLIGHT. This cruising scene is a small world. The Russell’s are meeting a friend in Ottawa and then will be cruising back south via our same route so we expect to see more of them in the weeks ahead.
Friday, July 20, 2007
July 19 – Thursday
The rain stayed with us so we remained in Merrickville. As I left the boat for the restroom at the lock, I discovered we had been “egged” in the night. The wall we were tied to was parallel to, and 25’ from Mill St. (Rt.43) and I suppose some young people were on a hell-raising spree or maybe even saw we were from the U.S. and could tell we are strong Bush supporters or something like that. Anyway, it was good it was raining and the boat was wet because it didn’t take much to clean things up.
During our walkabout the afternoon before, we spotted a neat little coffee shop called “Brewed Awakenings” and it opened at 06:00, my kind of place. Breakfast out, was on the menu this morning so about 07:30 we were at the counter ordering and the gal was pouring our first cup of great coffee (real honest-to-God cream, too). They have burlap bags of green beans from all over the world setting around, and their own roaster right out where the little tables are. Sheetz or Rutter’s this ain’t. The breakfast special was as good as the coffee, and the coffee refill, that is included. I (RCB) like coffee.
Polly had bought a Rideau T-shirt yesterday so I thought I should have something from Merrickville too. I got a haircut from Kym who owns “HairDooz” on St. Lawrence St. I know it is a really good hair cut because it cost $20. Canadian, with tip, and my regular trim from Frank at home, is only $12.
I forgot to mention we moved the boat from the wall to the floating dock. When we returned from breakfast some of the French boats that had covered the more secure floating dock, seemed to be leaving so we watched and when 3 of them had gone we made ready to move. There was a spot where 2 of the boats had been that looked like more than enough space for FLIGHT. There were still 2 remaining boats on that side of the dock – one at each end of the space we wanted, but I thought they would also soon be gone. When it was clear they were staying, we idled across the basin and I set up my approach – operating from the lower helm station. The view is different down there and what looks tight, is usually not, so I proceeded. Polly made some sounds that indicated I was close and then closer to the boat in front, so I backed down in reverse, which always shifts the stern to starboard (right)which is where I wanted it to go anyway. Two of the French guys were now on the dock watching and then helping to hold us in position. At first, I think they didn’t believe we were really putting the boat into that space, but this time the Americans were coming – for sure. No worries mate – we had tucked FLIGHT in between the two French navy 24s with a foot clear at the bow and a good 8” of space between our dinghy bottom and the rear boat’s anchor. After we got our lines all set the skipper of the boat in front slid up a couple of feet to give his canvas enclosure a little more breathing room from the 35# CQR looming 5’above his stern. Frankly, if FLIGHT’s captain had viewed the situation from the dock, he would not have proceeded. However, here we sit – the “rule of tonnage” applies in a relative fashion.
The rain began again and we just hung-out, walked around town, down loaded pictures, worked on the blog etc. We saw a boat locking through whose owners we knew from Westport, so we chatted with them and invited them to drop by when they settled in at the marina below the locks. Linda and Alan Weiland, from Clewiston, FL have a trailer-able boat complete with kayaks, which they towed and launched at Kingston to do the Rideau and Thousand Islands. They will be having meat loaf for dinner, aboard FLIGHT. We will have our own little English-speaking ghetto here on the floating dock among the French Quebecer majority. There was no lull in the conversation at dinner. We covered many topics – kids, of course – boats, OF COURSE. They also spoke of their recovery from hurricane damage and how the both of them worked hands-on in cleaning up and rebuilding the office where their dental practice is located. It took them four months to get back in business. Now they are practicing hard to move into retirement in the near future. The conversation was so good that it kept the four of us up way past our normal bed time of 9:00PM.
As we cleaned up from dinner, we were entertained by a phone call from our son, Matt. He has been a single Dad for a few days while Kris is away on business and he wanted to share the great evening he had with his 2 year old son, Cameron. While out doing some shopping, Cameron saw the Red Robin and “suggested” dinner, so Dad and son had a great night out. The rain seemed to still be with us as we turned off the lights aboard FLIGHT.
The rain stayed with us so we remained in Merrickville. As I left the boat for the restroom at the lock, I discovered we had been “egged” in the night. The wall we were tied to was parallel to, and 25’ from Mill St. (Rt.43) and I suppose some young people were on a hell-raising spree or maybe even saw we were from the U.S. and could tell we are strong Bush supporters or something like that. Anyway, it was good it was raining and the boat was wet because it didn’t take much to clean things up.
During our walkabout the afternoon before, we spotted a neat little coffee shop called “Brewed Awakenings” and it opened at 06:00, my kind of place. Breakfast out, was on the menu this morning so about 07:30 we were at the counter ordering and the gal was pouring our first cup of great coffee (real honest-to-God cream, too). They have burlap bags of green beans from all over the world setting around, and their own roaster right out where the little tables are. Sheetz or Rutter’s this ain’t. The breakfast special was as good as the coffee, and the coffee refill, that is included. I (RCB) like coffee.
Polly had bought a Rideau T-shirt yesterday so I thought I should have something from Merrickville too. I got a haircut from Kym who owns “HairDooz” on St. Lawrence St. I know it is a really good hair cut because it cost $20. Canadian, with tip, and my regular trim from Frank at home, is only $12.
I forgot to mention we moved the boat from the wall to the floating dock. When we returned from breakfast some of the French boats that had covered the more secure floating dock, seemed to be leaving so we watched and when 3 of them had gone we made ready to move. There was a spot where 2 of the boats had been that looked like more than enough space for FLIGHT. There were still 2 remaining boats on that side of the dock – one at each end of the space we wanted, but I thought they would also soon be gone. When it was clear they were staying, we idled across the basin and I set up my approach – operating from the lower helm station. The view is different down there and what looks tight, is usually not, so I proceeded. Polly made some sounds that indicated I was close and then closer to the boat in front, so I backed down in reverse, which always shifts the stern to starboard (right)which is where I wanted it to go anyway. Two of the French guys were now on the dock watching and then helping to hold us in position. At first, I think they didn’t believe we were really putting the boat into that space, but this time the Americans were coming – for sure. No worries mate – we had tucked FLIGHT in between the two French navy 24s with a foot clear at the bow and a good 8” of space between our dinghy bottom and the rear boat’s anchor. After we got our lines all set the skipper of the boat in front slid up a couple of feet to give his canvas enclosure a little more breathing room from the 35# CQR looming 5’above his stern. Frankly, if FLIGHT’s captain had viewed the situation from the dock, he would not have proceeded. However, here we sit – the “rule of tonnage” applies in a relative fashion.
The rain began again and we just hung-out, walked around town, down loaded pictures, worked on the blog etc. We saw a boat locking through whose owners we knew from Westport, so we chatted with them and invited them to drop by when they settled in at the marina below the locks. Linda and Alan Weiland, from Clewiston, FL have a trailer-able boat complete with kayaks, which they towed and launched at Kingston to do the Rideau and Thousand Islands. They will be having meat loaf for dinner, aboard FLIGHT. We will have our own little English-speaking ghetto here on the floating dock among the French Quebecer majority. There was no lull in the conversation at dinner. We covered many topics – kids, of course – boats, OF COURSE. They also spoke of their recovery from hurricane damage and how the both of them worked hands-on in cleaning up and rebuilding the office where their dental practice is located. It took them four months to get back in business. Now they are practicing hard to move into retirement in the near future. The conversation was so good that it kept the four of us up way past our normal bed time of 9:00PM.
As we cleaned up from dinner, we were entertained by a phone call from our son, Matt. He has been a single Dad for a few days while Kris is away on business and he wanted to share the great evening he had with his 2 year old son, Cameron. While out doing some shopping, Cameron saw the Red Robin and “suggested” dinner, so Dad and son had a great night out. The rain seemed to still be with us as we turned off the lights aboard FLIGHT.
July 18 – Wednesday
We moved to the blue line to be in position for the first locking at 08:30 and were able to enter lock #29A in second position. The lock masters put the larger boats into the lock first and against the walls and then position the smaller ones around the larger and often have smaller ones raft 3 across. The boat put into the lock ahead of us was a really big (40-45’ lg. x 16’ wide house boat) that had only two New England fellows aboard. The boat didn’t seem to handle very well and was all over the lock before it could be secured to the wall. I believe it had a single, under-powered I/O drive. It had kind of a home-made appearance with an aluminum hull and a rough finished fiberglass cube with a bunch of storm windows, as the top side, or cabin or whatever you call it on a houseboat. I guess “house”. There was also a continuous bumper made of wood 2 x 10s that went around the entire perimeter of the vessel. I didn’t measure them, but could have – once, when it got within 3’ of our port quarter because the guy at the stern let his rope slip off the lock cable. You could see the steering station at the front, behind a large flat picture window right next to a pull-out sofa bed that wasn’t made-up (just 2 guys aboard, remember), and on the back was a nice patio porch with wrought iron railing across the entire width. On the roof was another big area and there was a full size gas grill like the one we have at home. The piece de resistance (a bit of French picked up from the local navy) was a sliding board located at one of the back corners, and went from the roof patio right into the water after twisting 90 degrees. We followed the houseboat thru 4 additional locks and at the last, we asked if we could exit ahead of them as there were no more locks before our planned stop. We put as much distance between FLIGHT and the floating condo as the speed limit would allow.
About 12:00 we arrived in the basin above the locks at Merrickville, a very nice historic village. We lucked onto a spot along the concrete wall next to a dam that supply’s flow to a small hydro-electric generating plant. We had to tie to some weird hook things and the post of a guard rail, but there was a 30A outlet for “hydro” hookup. In Canada, electricity is referred to as “hydro”.
Polly fixed a nice lunch of chicken wraps and I had some of my new-found treat – jalapeno flavored Pringles chips. I hope we can get them back home. After lunch we strolled around town and then watched several lock-ups full of small boats. Before we left the lock, I (RCB) got to help crank open the gate and was amazed how little effort it required. These large and thick wooden doors weigh a couple of tons but are so balanced on their hinges that it amazed me.
We had dinner aboard, just as the thunderstorms began and watched a Brit comedy on DVD. We agreed that if it is raining tomorrow, we would hang out another day in Merrickville.
We moved to the blue line to be in position for the first locking at 08:30 and were able to enter lock #29A in second position. The lock masters put the larger boats into the lock first and against the walls and then position the smaller ones around the larger and often have smaller ones raft 3 across. The boat put into the lock ahead of us was a really big (40-45’ lg. x 16’ wide house boat) that had only two New England fellows aboard. The boat didn’t seem to handle very well and was all over the lock before it could be secured to the wall. I believe it had a single, under-powered I/O drive. It had kind of a home-made appearance with an aluminum hull and a rough finished fiberglass cube with a bunch of storm windows, as the top side, or cabin or whatever you call it on a houseboat. I guess “house”. There was also a continuous bumper made of wood 2 x 10s that went around the entire perimeter of the vessel. I didn’t measure them, but could have – once, when it got within 3’ of our port quarter because the guy at the stern let his rope slip off the lock cable. You could see the steering station at the front, behind a large flat picture window right next to a pull-out sofa bed that wasn’t made-up (just 2 guys aboard, remember), and on the back was a nice patio porch with wrought iron railing across the entire width. On the roof was another big area and there was a full size gas grill like the one we have at home. The piece de resistance (a bit of French picked up from the local navy) was a sliding board located at one of the back corners, and went from the roof patio right into the water after twisting 90 degrees. We followed the houseboat thru 4 additional locks and at the last, we asked if we could exit ahead of them as there were no more locks before our planned stop. We put as much distance between FLIGHT and the floating condo as the speed limit would allow.
About 12:00 we arrived in the basin above the locks at Merrickville, a very nice historic village. We lucked onto a spot along the concrete wall next to a dam that supply’s flow to a small hydro-electric generating plant. We had to tie to some weird hook things and the post of a guard rail, but there was a 30A outlet for “hydro” hookup. In Canada, electricity is referred to as “hydro”.
Polly fixed a nice lunch of chicken wraps and I had some of my new-found treat – jalapeno flavored Pringles chips. I hope we can get them back home. After lunch we strolled around town and then watched several lock-ups full of small boats. Before we left the lock, I (RCB) got to help crank open the gate and was amazed how little effort it required. These large and thick wooden doors weigh a couple of tons but are so balanced on their hinges that it amazed me.
We had dinner aboard, just as the thunderstorms began and watched a Brit comedy on DVD. We agreed that if it is raining tomorrow, we would hang out another day in Merrickville.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
July 17 – Tuesday
We departed Beveridge lock about 08:45 in very nice conditions. There was virtually no other traffic on the way to Poonamalie lock, our first for the day. This lock is very remote and seems isolated but is in a very beautiful setting. The lock master actually lives in the restored house at the lock station. We were advised we would be waiting until a group of boats coming from the next lower lock arrives. While we were waiting, a PDQ (boat mfg. brand) catamaran trawler arrived and tied behind us – the owner, with 4 of his sailing buddies, had picked it up at the factory 3 days before and were bringing her home to Lake Champlain. When the lock was available to us, we allowed them to enter first because they wanted to make as many miles that day as possible. While we were waiting, we chatted with the PDQ guys and told them our route will take us through Champlain and at the next lock one of them gave us a card with some names and phone numbers and invited us to use their private moorings in Malletts Bay, north of Burlington, when we pass through Lake Champlain. One of those guys is an HVAC contractor and the other is Chairman of the state teachers’ retirement system. You meet quite an assortment of folks traveling on the water. While these guys were in a hurry, we passed them at the next lock because they had learned they could buy beer at a store close to the lock.
We were headed for Smiths Falls where there is a lock with a swing bridge just before the town marina and we just made the 11:00 AM bridge opening. If we hadn’t, we would have had to wait until 1:00 PM, because they don’t open the bridge during the mid day traffic period. As we exited the lock, about 8 smaller (22’ to 30’Sea Ray type) boats were all over the water waiting to lock-up. They moved over to let us pass – we later learned they are part of what Ontario canal folks call “the French Navy”. These boaters are from Quebec, where they have Construction Holiday – a government mandated shut down of ALL construction related activity and business for the last two weeks of July. We were told there are fines for anyone caught doing construction during this period. Apparently, many boaters head out in their (mostly) fast style boats going to Kingston via the Rideau and then back to Quebec down-stream on the St. Lawrence thru the Thousand Islands. Typically, these boats are crewed by one and sometimes two couples, each consisting of a young or oldish fellow with gold jewelry and bare chest accompanied by a female member of similar age, wearing a very minimal 2-piece swim suite. These 2-piece suits range from nicely well-filled to overflowing. The overflow starts at the top and continues right to the bottom of the bottom. The boats are “driven” and “parked” and use “ropes” to tie them. The boats are powered by gasoline engines that use $1.07 per LITER fuel.
The marina was on the RH side of the canal immediately after the lock and waiting to help us with our lines was Gayle Wix, she and John had arrived the afternoon before and they were fixing to move on, and did about an hour after we arrived. Also helping us get tied up was another boater who had arrived shortly before us. Ron Warby and his wife Marney are from Hamilton, ON at the west end of Lake O, and have been cruising on their 30 year old Mainship 34 trawler. They came aboard for drinks and snacks later and brought some wines that Ron had a hand in making, and they were excellent. They are about to become grandparents for the first time, so Polly and I (RCB) gave them a briefing on the care and feeding of grandkids. They were headed toward Kingston and were happy to learn that it is possible to visit Perth by dinghy – they were going to pass it by until they heard our story.
Meeting Ron and Marney was probably the best thing about Smiths Falls, for us. It was a convenient place to stop for a few supplies etc. but not a particularly pleasant or interesting place. They all can’t be diamonds.
We departed Beveridge lock about 08:45 in very nice conditions. There was virtually no other traffic on the way to Poonamalie lock, our first for the day. This lock is very remote and seems isolated but is in a very beautiful setting. The lock master actually lives in the restored house at the lock station. We were advised we would be waiting until a group of boats coming from the next lower lock arrives. While we were waiting, a PDQ (boat mfg. brand) catamaran trawler arrived and tied behind us – the owner, with 4 of his sailing buddies, had picked it up at the factory 3 days before and were bringing her home to Lake Champlain. When the lock was available to us, we allowed them to enter first because they wanted to make as many miles that day as possible. While we were waiting, we chatted with the PDQ guys and told them our route will take us through Champlain and at the next lock one of them gave us a card with some names and phone numbers and invited us to use their private moorings in Malletts Bay, north of Burlington, when we pass through Lake Champlain. One of those guys is an HVAC contractor and the other is Chairman of the state teachers’ retirement system. You meet quite an assortment of folks traveling on the water. While these guys were in a hurry, we passed them at the next lock because they had learned they could buy beer at a store close to the lock.
We were headed for Smiths Falls where there is a lock with a swing bridge just before the town marina and we just made the 11:00 AM bridge opening. If we hadn’t, we would have had to wait until 1:00 PM, because they don’t open the bridge during the mid day traffic period. As we exited the lock, about 8 smaller (22’ to 30’Sea Ray type) boats were all over the water waiting to lock-up. They moved over to let us pass – we later learned they are part of what Ontario canal folks call “the French Navy”. These boaters are from Quebec, where they have Construction Holiday – a government mandated shut down of ALL construction related activity and business for the last two weeks of July. We were told there are fines for anyone caught doing construction during this period. Apparently, many boaters head out in their (mostly) fast style boats going to Kingston via the Rideau and then back to Quebec down-stream on the St. Lawrence thru the Thousand Islands. Typically, these boats are crewed by one and sometimes two couples, each consisting of a young or oldish fellow with gold jewelry and bare chest accompanied by a female member of similar age, wearing a very minimal 2-piece swim suite. These 2-piece suits range from nicely well-filled to overflowing. The overflow starts at the top and continues right to the bottom of the bottom. The boats are “driven” and “parked” and use “ropes” to tie them. The boats are powered by gasoline engines that use $1.07 per LITER fuel.
The marina was on the RH side of the canal immediately after the lock and waiting to help us with our lines was Gayle Wix, she and John had arrived the afternoon before and they were fixing to move on, and did about an hour after we arrived. Also helping us get tied up was another boater who had arrived shortly before us. Ron Warby and his wife Marney are from Hamilton, ON at the west end of Lake O, and have been cruising on their 30 year old Mainship 34 trawler. They came aboard for drinks and snacks later and brought some wines that Ron had a hand in making, and they were excellent. They are about to become grandparents for the first time, so Polly and I (RCB) gave them a briefing on the care and feeding of grandkids. They were headed toward Kingston and were happy to learn that it is possible to visit Perth by dinghy – they were going to pass it by until they heard our story.
Meeting Ron and Marney was probably the best thing about Smiths Falls, for us. It was a convenient place to stop for a few supplies etc. but not a particularly pleasant or interesting place. They all can’t be diamonds.
July 16 – Monday
Departed Westport harbor in the finest WX imaginable, at 08:30. At that moderately early hour there is very little company on the water, maybe a few fishermen or someone in a kayak. This particular morning you could see the wake of the boat spreading out as far aft as 2 miles. Perth was the day’s destination. We had been attracted to Perth by an ad/article in an area tourist magazine and since it was somewhat off the standard course we decided to have a look. Perth is at the end of the Tay canal which shoots off the Rideau waterway to the NW for a distance of 7 SM. You must lock-up into the Tay at the Beveridge locks (2) that raise you 25 feet. The charts indicate a desolate shore line for most of the distance and VERY shallow water at certain places. When we reached the lock wall we discussed our plan with the lockmaster and while he did not openly discourage us he pointed out that they had only locked up one other larger boat (65’) this season and they had to turn around “by hand” to leave the dock at the Perth end. He also pointed out that because of a low bridge, a boat like ours would have to stop and tie up at a town camp ground and walk 15 minutes to get to center Perth. Armed with this local knowledge and concerned about picking up more grass on the running gear, we decided not to lock FLIGHT into the Tay. Plan B – bike to Perth. We were told that would involve a 15 km pedal on a busy highway – not too appealing. Our friendly lockmaster then mentioned that some have left their boats at the lock wall and taken their dinghy to Perth, hmm.
“No worries mate”. We put the Nutshell down and clamped the 2.5 HP Yamaha powerhouse onto the transom and entered the first lock with 2 other runabout type boats and off we went to Perth. The shore was very marshy and wild and other than the 2 boats that locked up with us, we saw only one other. It was an outboard fishing boat that had a couple of guys from Williamsport, PA in it – we noticed the PA registration and hailed them. About an hour + we were going under the low bridge and emerged into the lovely town harbor where we had to navigate around a large beautiful fountain that was shooting water into the air in the center of the basin. We tied up and stepped onto the streets of Perth. We were pleased with our decision not to take FLIGHT.I forgot to mention earlier that another very strong attraction to Perth was a spiffy ad in the magazine for a very special restaurant that (as listed in “Where to Eat in Canada”) served the very best gourmet burgers on the planet. The Cheerios breakfast had pretty well worn off and we decided to have lunch before checking out the town, so where is this place we had read about. We went to the tourist info office for a map and they advised us we were looking for the “The Hungry Planet” which was not far away, and was closed on Mondays. The next best place to get a $40. hamburger lunch was the Fiddle Head, which overlooked the park and had outdoor tables with a water view. We sat inside, we had seen the water on the ride to town. It turned out to be fine lunch and the half-pint of a Nova Scotia brewed ale set me (RCB) up for the walk around town and ride back to the mother ship
Departed Westport harbor in the finest WX imaginable, at 08:30. At that moderately early hour there is very little company on the water, maybe a few fishermen or someone in a kayak. This particular morning you could see the wake of the boat spreading out as far aft as 2 miles. Perth was the day’s destination. We had been attracted to Perth by an ad/article in an area tourist magazine and since it was somewhat off the standard course we decided to have a look. Perth is at the end of the Tay canal which shoots off the Rideau waterway to the NW for a distance of 7 SM. You must lock-up into the Tay at the Beveridge locks (2) that raise you 25 feet. The charts indicate a desolate shore line for most of the distance and VERY shallow water at certain places. When we reached the lock wall we discussed our plan with the lockmaster and while he did not openly discourage us he pointed out that they had only locked up one other larger boat (65’) this season and they had to turn around “by hand” to leave the dock at the Perth end. He also pointed out that because of a low bridge, a boat like ours would have to stop and tie up at a town camp ground and walk 15 minutes to get to center Perth. Armed with this local knowledge and concerned about picking up more grass on the running gear, we decided not to lock FLIGHT into the Tay. Plan B – bike to Perth. We were told that would involve a 15 km pedal on a busy highway – not too appealing. Our friendly lockmaster then mentioned that some have left their boats at the lock wall and taken their dinghy to Perth, hmm.
“No worries mate”. We put the Nutshell down and clamped the 2.5 HP Yamaha powerhouse onto the transom and entered the first lock with 2 other runabout type boats and off we went to Perth. The shore was very marshy and wild and other than the 2 boats that locked up with us, we saw only one other. It was an outboard fishing boat that had a couple of guys from Williamsport, PA in it – we noticed the PA registration and hailed them. About an hour + we were going under the low bridge and emerged into the lovely town harbor where we had to navigate around a large beautiful fountain that was shooting water into the air in the center of the basin. We tied up and stepped onto the streets of Perth. We were pleased with our decision not to take FLIGHT.I forgot to mention earlier that another very strong attraction to Perth was a spiffy ad in the magazine for a very special restaurant that (as listed in “Where to Eat in Canada”) served the very best gourmet burgers on the planet. The Cheerios breakfast had pretty well worn off and we decided to have lunch before checking out the town, so where is this place we had read about. We went to the tourist info office for a map and they advised us we were looking for the “The Hungry Planet” which was not far away, and was closed on Mondays. The next best place to get a $40. hamburger lunch was the Fiddle Head, which overlooked the park and had outdoor tables with a water view. We sat inside, we had seen the water on the ride to town. It turned out to be fine lunch and the half-pint of a Nova Scotia brewed ale set me (RCB) up for the walk around town and ride back to the mother ship
The two other boats that came to Perth with us were gone from the dock when we returned to the dink, but by the time we reached the lock they were both there waiting, so we locked down as the same threesome that locked up. We stayed the night at the Beveridge lock and there was only one other large house boat there. A young family came to the lock for some evening fishing and the father caught 4 or 5 bass in about 45 minutes. He would hook the fish and then give the rod to his daughter or son to reel the fish in. The mother sat at a picnic table and entertained the child who was not doing the reeling. It was a beautiful night with millions of stars, I was told. Polly can describe the night sky better than I. From Polly – more stars than I have ever seen. So many, I was tempted to awaken Ralph from a DEEP sleep, but thought better of it. AND I got up later in the night to have another look and be sure that I wasn’t dreaming.
July 15 – Sunday
We remained in Westport and I set up our bikes in the AM so we could take a spin around the area. After pedaling about 15 minutes we had ridden all of the streets in town so we headed out on the roads away from town. We rode each road until it became hilly and then turned back to find another. Our boat bikes are great for casual biking but are not good touring bikes. We finally passed a bakery that had opened and bought a freshly made ring of sticky buns coated with pecans – back to the boat for breakfast no. 2. That purchase served us for the next two days as well.
The rest of the day was spent tidying up the boat, checking in with the kids and Nanny, reading, and clearing the prop shaft of the small amount of sea grass stems that was causing the mild vibration the day before. Dinner was at Foley House Pub on Main St., that evening. Polly had shrimp and RCB the salmon, all very nice.
We remained in Westport and I set up our bikes in the AM so we could take a spin around the area. After pedaling about 15 minutes we had ridden all of the streets in town so we headed out on the roads away from town. We rode each road until it became hilly and then turned back to find another. Our boat bikes are great for casual biking but are not good touring bikes. We finally passed a bakery that had opened and bought a freshly made ring of sticky buns coated with pecans – back to the boat for breakfast no. 2. That purchase served us for the next two days as well.
The rest of the day was spent tidying up the boat, checking in with the kids and Nanny, reading, and clearing the prop shaft of the small amount of sea grass stems that was causing the mild vibration the day before. Dinner was at Foley House Pub on Main St., that evening. Polly had shrimp and RCB the salmon, all very nice.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
July 14, 2007 – Saturday
We got underway at 09:00 after a great breakfast of eggs, ham & potatoes with toast and all the coffee you could stand, at the Backwoods Restaurant (aka “Choke & Puke” by some locals). About 45 minutes later we entered Morton Bay just to have a look. It is a 3-4 mile long fjord-like bay that is nearly land locked.
There is a very narrow but deep cut that you enter and once inside the water is deep and the shores are steep and rocky with only a few cottages. We heard and saw numerous loons as we cruised up and down the length of the bay. Polly was at the helm when we were approaching the cut to exit and commented there was something yellow bobbing up and down, directly ahead. I was a swimmer heading into the bay. People travel this waterway in all kinds of craft.
We had decided to make Westport our destination for the day, a neat tourist type town located 5 miles off the main Rideau route. We cruised on through lake after lake connected by narrow cuts and some locks (7 locks total for the day) and as we passed the last lock, we were hailed by our new Ottawa friends, Nancy and Greg who were tied to the wall. That last lock, Newboro, has the significance of being the final lifting lock we will encounter. All of the remaining locks on the way to Ottawa will lower us to the elevation of the Ottawa River. We arrived in Westport at 2:15 PM to find a spot at the town dock right in front of our Monk friends Gayle & John aboard Safe Return. We hadn’t seen them since Kingston. After getting the boat settled in we took a stroll around town and stopped at a pub for a half-pint (or 2 in my case-RCB). We chatted with some locals about working, taxes and social problems and after getting that all sorted out, headed back to the boat to grille the pork loin we had thawed for dinner. It began to sprinkle rain as the grill heated up but we did the loin in spite of it. After we cleaned up from dinner and the Wixs had finished their dinner, they came aboard for a drink and we caught up on one another’s recent days before turning in for the night. We are staying here until Monday and hope to unpack our bikes and pedal around for a bit. I must also go overboard and have a look at FLIGHT’s prop – I think we may have some grass wrapped around the shaft.
We got underway at 09:00 after a great breakfast of eggs, ham & potatoes with toast and all the coffee you could stand, at the Backwoods Restaurant (aka “Choke & Puke” by some locals). About 45 minutes later we entered Morton Bay just to have a look. It is a 3-4 mile long fjord-like bay that is nearly land locked.
There is a very narrow but deep cut that you enter and once inside the water is deep and the shores are steep and rocky with only a few cottages. We heard and saw numerous loons as we cruised up and down the length of the bay. Polly was at the helm when we were approaching the cut to exit and commented there was something yellow bobbing up and down, directly ahead. I was a swimmer heading into the bay. People travel this waterway in all kinds of craft.
We had decided to make Westport our destination for the day, a neat tourist type town located 5 miles off the main Rideau route. We cruised on through lake after lake connected by narrow cuts and some locks (7 locks total for the day) and as we passed the last lock, we were hailed by our new Ottawa friends, Nancy and Greg who were tied to the wall. That last lock, Newboro, has the significance of being the final lifting lock we will encounter. All of the remaining locks on the way to Ottawa will lower us to the elevation of the Ottawa River. We arrived in Westport at 2:15 PM to find a spot at the town dock right in front of our Monk friends Gayle & John aboard Safe Return. We hadn’t seen them since Kingston. After getting the boat settled in we took a stroll around town and stopped at a pub for a half-pint (or 2 in my case-RCB). We chatted with some locals about working, taxes and social problems and after getting that all sorted out, headed back to the boat to grille the pork loin we had thawed for dinner. It began to sprinkle rain as the grill heated up but we did the loin in spite of it. After we cleaned up from dinner and the Wixs had finished their dinner, they came aboard for a drink and we caught up on one another’s recent days before turning in for the night. We are staying here until Monday and hope to unpack our bikes and pedal around for a bit. I must also go overboard and have a look at FLIGHT’s prop – I think we may have some grass wrapped around the shaft.
July 13, 2007 – Friday
It’s Friday the 13th – what might go wrong this day.
Departure from Brewers Mills was delayed by a surprise thunder shower but finally about 09:30 we got moving. The plan was loose, but to run for about 4 hours or so, and then stop for the day. We had heard that a place called Seeley’s Bay was a convenient stop for groceries, post office etc. so we decided to take care of the short list we had accumulated (RCB was out of coffee creamer). We found the nice town docks and got tied up and headed off to the store. We bought everything on the list, plus some bottled water and owner hauled us and our things 4 blocks back to the dock. He had owned a store near Toronto and Wal-Mart, Target etc came to town so he and his wife moved to Seeley’s Bay and bought the little store which had been there for nearly a hundred years. Good business strategy, I think – Seeley’s Bay won’t be on Wal-Mart’s radar anytime soon.
Remember “DJ” from Brewers Mills? After we loaded our supplies onto FLIGHT we decided to go back to the post office and as we reached the shore end of the dock, a man was walking toward us and I thought he looked very familiar. We don’t know too many Canadians, but I knew this one, it was “DJ”! Now pay attention – Mrs. “DJ” who we now know as Cindy, had an appointment with the chiropractor that morning, in Seeley’s Bay, and when she got home mentioned to DJ that there was a large trawler coming into the dock when she drove by. He had told her about meeting us the day before, so they began to speculate if her trawler could be the same one that was at Brewers. Luckily, DJ’s schedule wasn’t too full that morning so he decided to drive over and have a look. He was hoping to get the tour he didn’t take time for at Brewers. As we walked with him toward the boat he had a better idea – how about we go to his house to meet Cindy, have lunch and she could come back to see the boat as well. Our plan for the day was altered. Off we went crossing the wooden swing bridge at Brass Point that had opened for us to pass through an hour before, and on to the Battle’s water front home on Cranberry Lake (we also had boated through). He told us he lived at the end of the road and he does. We left the paved main road and onto the county maintained gravel road which led to the private un-paved road that serves a series of lake cottage homes. Eventually we came to a stone wall at the end of the road, and the Battle residence.
What a Shangri-La they have. Trees, water, wildlife and boats to sail, row or motor about in. DJ is interesting and has many interests – former British merchant mariner, boat builder, wood worker, stained glass artist to name a few. Oh yes, he has taken some flying lessons recently, too and is an avid computer aviator. Cindy matches him in spades. She is a gardener (fresh herbs to season the egg salad lunch), photographer (wild life pics as good as any in National Geographic, taken from her kitchen windows), plays the trumpet in an orchestra, and intarsia artist. She also edits DJ’s discussions for correctness, and she is prettier. We finally made it back to our boat about 3:00 PM for the tour and Polly and DJ exchanged gifts – we received a stained glass Buffle Head done by DJ and Polly gave the Battles one of her carved and painted ducks. Both items created by the respective artists in the same year. We plan to stay in contact with this wonderful couple and meeting them may possibly be the crown jewel of our Rideau cruise.
We decided to stay at Seeley’s Bay for the night. Total time underway for the day – 1.25 hours. Distance traveled by FLIGHT – 5 SM. So much for plans.
P.S. regarding the Battles:
As former live-aboard cruisers who traveled down & up the ICW, DJ and Cindy have asked us to let any of our cruising friends know that they would be most happy to hear from them and help them in any way when they come to the Rideau region. They want to repay all of the kindness they received from others when they were cruising. Their email address is yorvik@auracom.com
It’s Friday the 13th – what might go wrong this day.
Departure from Brewers Mills was delayed by a surprise thunder shower but finally about 09:30 we got moving. The plan was loose, but to run for about 4 hours or so, and then stop for the day. We had heard that a place called Seeley’s Bay was a convenient stop for groceries, post office etc. so we decided to take care of the short list we had accumulated (RCB was out of coffee creamer). We found the nice town docks and got tied up and headed off to the store. We bought everything on the list, plus some bottled water and owner hauled us and our things 4 blocks back to the dock. He had owned a store near Toronto and Wal-Mart, Target etc came to town so he and his wife moved to Seeley’s Bay and bought the little store which had been there for nearly a hundred years. Good business strategy, I think – Seeley’s Bay won’t be on Wal-Mart’s radar anytime soon.
Remember “DJ” from Brewers Mills? After we loaded our supplies onto FLIGHT we decided to go back to the post office and as we reached the shore end of the dock, a man was walking toward us and I thought he looked very familiar. We don’t know too many Canadians, but I knew this one, it was “DJ”! Now pay attention – Mrs. “DJ” who we now know as Cindy, had an appointment with the chiropractor that morning, in Seeley’s Bay, and when she got home mentioned to DJ that there was a large trawler coming into the dock when she drove by. He had told her about meeting us the day before, so they began to speculate if her trawler could be the same one that was at Brewers. Luckily, DJ’s schedule wasn’t too full that morning so he decided to drive over and have a look. He was hoping to get the tour he didn’t take time for at Brewers. As we walked with him toward the boat he had a better idea – how about we go to his house to meet Cindy, have lunch and she could come back to see the boat as well. Our plan for the day was altered. Off we went crossing the wooden swing bridge at Brass Point that had opened for us to pass through an hour before, and on to the Battle’s water front home on Cranberry Lake (we also had boated through). He told us he lived at the end of the road and he does. We left the paved main road and onto the county maintained gravel road which led to the private un-paved road that serves a series of lake cottage homes. Eventually we came to a stone wall at the end of the road, and the Battle residence.
What a Shangri-La they have. Trees, water, wildlife and boats to sail, row or motor about in. DJ is interesting and has many interests – former British merchant mariner, boat builder, wood worker, stained glass artist to name a few. Oh yes, he has taken some flying lessons recently, too and is an avid computer aviator. Cindy matches him in spades. She is a gardener (fresh herbs to season the egg salad lunch), photographer (wild life pics as good as any in National Geographic, taken from her kitchen windows), plays the trumpet in an orchestra, and intarsia artist. She also edits DJ’s discussions for correctness, and she is prettier. We finally made it back to our boat about 3:00 PM for the tour and Polly and DJ exchanged gifts – we received a stained glass Buffle Head done by DJ and Polly gave the Battles one of her carved and painted ducks. Both items created by the respective artists in the same year. We plan to stay in contact with this wonderful couple and meeting them may possibly be the crown jewel of our Rideau cruise.
We decided to stay at Seeley’s Bay for the night. Total time underway for the day – 1.25 hours. Distance traveled by FLIGHT – 5 SM. So much for plans.
P.S. regarding the Battles:
As former live-aboard cruisers who traveled down & up the ICW, DJ and Cindy have asked us to let any of our cruising friends know that they would be most happy to hear from them and help them in any way when they come to the Rideau region. They want to repay all of the kindness they received from others when they were cruising. Their email address is yorvik@auracom.com
Thursday, July 12, 2007
July 12, 2007 – Thursday
Underway at 06:30 to catch the 07:00 lift of the causeway bridge and into the Rideau Waterway. There were no other boats moving at that hour and as we proceeded on the first 5-6 miles it was like a religious experience. Sun rising into the bluest of skies, calm water, cool air and except for the low smooth purr of the Cummins diesel, silence. The broad river gave way to narrow and then very narrow stretches of creek. The shores were rocky and high at places, with pine trees and at some bends, it created a sight picture that made you feel like you were coming to the end of a gorge. At 08:00 we finally came to the dock at the entrance to the set of four locks at Kingston Mills where we tied up and walked up the steps to buy the Parks Canada permits needed. We beat the lockmaster to work by 30 minutes so we took some pics and returned to the boat for breakfast. Polly buttered and pan-toasted some thick slices of raisin bread and we made more coffee. A local retiree, 85 year old Len, came by and chatted with us as we had our AM picnic.
Underway at 06:30 to catch the 07:00 lift of the causeway bridge and into the Rideau Waterway. There were no other boats moving at that hour and as we proceeded on the first 5-6 miles it was like a religious experience. Sun rising into the bluest of skies, calm water, cool air and except for the low smooth purr of the Cummins diesel, silence. The broad river gave way to narrow and then very narrow stretches of creek. The shores were rocky and high at places, with pine trees and at some bends, it created a sight picture that made you feel like you were coming to the end of a gorge. At 08:00 we finally came to the dock at the entrance to the set of four locks at Kingston Mills where we tied up and walked up the steps to buy the Parks Canada permits needed. We beat the lockmaster to work by 30 minutes so we took some pics and returned to the boat for breakfast. Polly buttered and pan-toasted some thick slices of raisin bread and we made more coffee. A local retiree, 85 year old Len, came by and chatted with us as we had our AM picnic.
All set with the locking and mooring passes we proceeded into the first lock and then the second and so on until we cleared the last at 10:00. These lock doors are constructed of wood and operated with hand cranks manned by summer student workers. We have been told to expect a typical single flight locking to take about ½ hour, minimum. Oh yeah, there was a manually operated swing (road) bridge between the 3rd and 4th locks also. After Kingston Mills the waterway consists of small lakes connected by narrow passages, some of the passages give you the feeling you are boating on a stream running through a meadow back in PA. Water depths down to 6’ in places – FLIGHT needs 4’to be floating. The next lock was at Washburn and it was a single flight of 13.5’ – “no worries mate” – FLIGHT’s crew is on to this, ay. Just put the boat’s mid-ship by a cable so Polly can snatch a rope around it and hold her to a cleat, than captain R. turns off the electronics and then shuts down the engine and jumps to the lower deck to snatch a stern line around another cable and standby as the cranks are turned to close gates and then open the tubes to let the water in. Up she comes – look out for that fender dropping into the hole in the lock wall. Gates open – reverse the process and zoom on the next at 5 MPH. Away from Washburn at 12:06 (there was another swing bridge there too) and 1.8 SM later Brewers Mills locks #44 & 43 appear and we decide to stay there above the locks, for the night. It’s a lovely spot with space for 6 boats the size of ours plus there is 30A “hydro” with wash rooms that are open all night.
As soon as we tie fast to the wall I (RCB) walk to the end of the dock to have a look at small sail boat that catches my eye. It is a Dovekie, designed and built “in the States” and owned by DJ, a long time local who had immigrated from England a few days after he got married and has lived in the area since – except for the few years he and Mrs. DJ lived aboard the steel schooner he had built. I asked if he had any suggestions for good spots to stop and 2 hours later he left our boat and I had a bunch of notes on our charts. I also know where to find a sail maker in Kingston, if I need to outfit a square rigger with traditional canvas. DJ likes boats and so do I. Also here in our latest new neighborhood is Nancy and Greg from Ottawa, Greg gave us some ideas for moorings and hotels in Ottawa, and Nancy had a lot of shopping tips. And then Randy and Audrey, from near Toronto, has info just in case we should decide to go to the western end of Lake Ontario. Every Canadian we have come in contact with is extremely friendly and helpful even after I tell them that there are still people in our Pentagon working and re-working the plans for invading Canada. We need some place to channel the illegal Mexicans to.
July 11, 2007 - Wednesday
We remained in port at Kingston and did tourist things, starting with the 50 min. trolley tour which lasted almost an hour and gave us a nice overview of one of Canada’s early capitals. The Canadian Royal Military College is just across the Cataraqui River and the ride through the grounds feel like you are in a mini Annapolis (U.S.N.A.). We also walked to the Great Lakes Maritime Museum which included a self guided tour of the “Alexander Henry”, a C.C.G. buoy tender and light ice breaker built in 1959. I can remember 1959, clearly, and just cannot believe the low level of technology that we were living with then. The most impressive thing I learned at the museum is the large number of ship wrecks that are scattered all around the Lakes. On the walk back to the marina we got caught in a shower that chased us into a restaurant for a late lunch – Caesar salad for RCB and a great gourmet pizza for PMB. And a beer for RCB, and ice cream cone for PMB, too.
The rain cleared out when we finished lunch, so back to the boat. A glass of wine with light snack, a shower and bed.
We remained in port at Kingston and did tourist things, starting with the 50 min. trolley tour which lasted almost an hour and gave us a nice overview of one of Canada’s early capitals. The Canadian Royal Military College is just across the Cataraqui River and the ride through the grounds feel like you are in a mini Annapolis (U.S.N.A.). We also walked to the Great Lakes Maritime Museum which included a self guided tour of the “Alexander Henry”, a C.C.G. buoy tender and light ice breaker built in 1959. I can remember 1959, clearly, and just cannot believe the low level of technology that we were living with then. The most impressive thing I learned at the museum is the large number of ship wrecks that are scattered all around the Lakes. On the walk back to the marina we got caught in a shower that chased us into a restaurant for a late lunch – Caesar salad for RCB and a great gourmet pizza for PMB. And a beer for RCB, and ice cream cone for PMB, too.
The rain cleared out when we finished lunch, so back to the boat. A glass of wine with light snack, a shower and bed.
July 10 – Tuesday
Well, we are in Canada.
We left the wall before 07:00 so we could be waiting for the first locking. Among the boats in that first lock load were 4 rather small sail boats that carried folks from several southern states and together, they were enroute on the Great Loop. That is a connection of waterways that includes the east coast ICW, the Hudson R., New York Canals, Great Lakes and than some other rivers / canals that lead to the Mississippi and back down to the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. There were no boats in the group that were over 25’ and most were powered by small outboard motors. One of the boats is “Pogopelli” crewed by Bob & Trish Endicott from Oneida, TN and they also have a blog – www.pogopelli.blogspot.com – we haven’t taken a look yet but I bet it is interesting.
Everything NOAA had been promising arrived right on schedule so we pointed FLIGHT north and turned her loose on Lake Ontario. The conditions were absolutely PERFECT! Gentle swells for the first hour or so, reminded us we were on a large body of water and then nearly flat water the rest of the trip. As soon as we cleared the jetties we punched “AUTO” and sat back to enjoy the ride. The most annoying thing about the crossing was the tiny flies that came aboard and decided to stay. After the boats that locked through with us peeled off east (Thousand Islands) or west (Trent–Severn Waterway) we didn’t see another boat (or land) for 3 or 4 hours, except Safe Return who was traveling in company with us to Kingston, ON.
One of the boats that left us was Renaissance and we said goodbye to our friends Kathy & Gregg while locking down – they are going to spend some time in the Thousand Islands before entering the Rideau. We will miss their good company. Maybe they will return south by way of the Chesapeake and we can bring them home for a bit to show our friends the “TEXANS” we found floating around.
Well, we are in Canada.
We left the wall before 07:00 so we could be waiting for the first locking. Among the boats in that first lock load were 4 rather small sail boats that carried folks from several southern states and together, they were enroute on the Great Loop. That is a connection of waterways that includes the east coast ICW, the Hudson R., New York Canals, Great Lakes and than some other rivers / canals that lead to the Mississippi and back down to the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. There were no boats in the group that were over 25’ and most were powered by small outboard motors. One of the boats is “Pogopelli” crewed by Bob & Trish Endicott from Oneida, TN and they also have a blog – www.pogopelli.blogspot.com – we haven’t taken a look yet but I bet it is interesting.
Everything NOAA had been promising arrived right on schedule so we pointed FLIGHT north and turned her loose on Lake Ontario. The conditions were absolutely PERFECT! Gentle swells for the first hour or so, reminded us we were on a large body of water and then nearly flat water the rest of the trip. As soon as we cleared the jetties we punched “AUTO” and sat back to enjoy the ride. The most annoying thing about the crossing was the tiny flies that came aboard and decided to stay. After the boats that locked through with us peeled off east (Thousand Islands) or west (Trent–Severn Waterway) we didn’t see another boat (or land) for 3 or 4 hours, except Safe Return who was traveling in company with us to Kingston, ON.
One of the boats that left us was Renaissance and we said goodbye to our friends Kathy & Gregg while locking down – they are going to spend some time in the Thousand Islands before entering the Rideau. We will miss their good company. Maybe they will return south by way of the Chesapeake and we can bring them home for a bit to show our friends the “TEXANS” we found floating around.
We saw many Cormorants as we crossed. They are an aquatic bird with a very stream lined form that allows them to dive under the water and stay down for quite a while, to feed. There was evidence of fish, too. The depths ranged from 50’-60’ to over 500’ at the deepest spots and as you came onto a more shallow area from the deep water you could feel a bit of swell develop and then leave as you ran into deeper spots. The water temperature was reported at 65F. A neat thing that occurred was Polly brought some ice to the bridge for cold drinks and I noticed there were a few home-style ice cubes in my glass that stood out from the crushed ice. It turns out they were in the back of the freezer and had been brought aboard FLIGHT by our friends, the O’Bryan’s when we were cruising together to the Monk Rendezvous in VA. John and Marilyn had shared a lot of information with us about their Rideau trip a few years ago and now they were supplying us with a cold drink as we cruised toward Canada.
Canada showed up just about when the GPS had been telling us it would and then we followed buoys along the north shore for about 7 NM to Kingston harbor. After finding the correct entrance to Confederation Basin (I initially entered through the older back way) we took a slip with plans to stay until Thursday. The marina is operated by the City of Kingston and is right in front of a nice park and City Hall. After signing in and clearing Canadian Customs (a telephone call) to get our clearance number we hoisted the Canadian courtesy flag, and then walked to a bank to exchange some greenbacks for “loonies”, I think they are called. The small bit of the city we have seen so far, has a Euro-feel to it with a café or side walk bar on most corners and the people we have encountered could not have been friendlier. Tomorrow we plan to do some site seeing.
Monday, July 9, 2007
July 9 – Monday
Last night brought storms beginning about 02:30 with lots of rain. Thunder, lightning and rain would come and go until nearly dawn but no problems aboard FLGHT. The morning felt cool-ish at 07:00 but that ended about 09:00 when humid air moved in with the breeze. Then just plain hot for the rest of the day – no one from any of the other 10-12 boats are moving around much. We are still waiting for the right conditions to shoot over to Canada and all WX sources are still saying Tuesday is the day.
Polly and Kathy from Renaissance went for a long walk around town and returned with some fresh greens and a plan for a nice salad for dinner.
I did a few prep things to get the boat ready for an open water crossing. I put additional ropes around the dingy to back up the normal rigging that holds it in place on the swim platform and lashed the anchor in place on the bow platform, and tied down the chain in case we get into a pounding situation. I still must install a strap to secure the cooler on the bridge to some stanchions – the bungee cord that normally keeps it from sliding around would be useless in really rough seas. Before we get under way in the morning we will put everything that is loose into a compartment or onto the floor of the cabin – coffee pot, water jug, soap dispensers etc. We will also don our auto-inflating life vests with built in safety harnesses. Hopefully this will all be unnecessary if the conditions are as advertised but wasted preparation is better than a fire drill in panic mode. I also thought I should probably do some navigation stuff so I plugged a couple of waypoints into the GPS plotter, but really, when I looked at the wide area chart for Lake Ontario, all you need to do is keep the boat pointed up (north) and you can’t miss hitting Canada. There are bound to be signs when you get there.
After fussing with the boat I walked to the hardware store to get an additional hose for use with the “sea water pump”. Flight is equipped with a pump that draws sea water for the purpose of washing the mud off of the anchor and chain as the windlass brings it in. Now that we are in a fresh water environment that same water source can be used to wash bugs and general dirt from the side decks. The extra hose will allow reaching to the back deck when necessary. The fenders also get muddy sometimes from the lock walls.
All this mundane activity somehow fills the day. When you have been moving along on a daily basis for a few weeks, this hanging out for a couple of days feels strange. I even resorted to sticking the fuel tanks with a measuring stick I made up last year and did some calculations. Since refueling recently, we have burned 10.2 gallons of diesel for an average consumption rate of 1.697 gal. per hr. At that rate and power setting we can cross Lake Ontario 23 times before we run the tanks dry. Yep, we are ready to get going – the blog update is even complete on the day the things have happened.
Last night brought storms beginning about 02:30 with lots of rain. Thunder, lightning and rain would come and go until nearly dawn but no problems aboard FLGHT. The morning felt cool-ish at 07:00 but that ended about 09:00 when humid air moved in with the breeze. Then just plain hot for the rest of the day – no one from any of the other 10-12 boats are moving around much. We are still waiting for the right conditions to shoot over to Canada and all WX sources are still saying Tuesday is the day.
Polly and Kathy from Renaissance went for a long walk around town and returned with some fresh greens and a plan for a nice salad for dinner.
I did a few prep things to get the boat ready for an open water crossing. I put additional ropes around the dingy to back up the normal rigging that holds it in place on the swim platform and lashed the anchor in place on the bow platform, and tied down the chain in case we get into a pounding situation. I still must install a strap to secure the cooler on the bridge to some stanchions – the bungee cord that normally keeps it from sliding around would be useless in really rough seas. Before we get under way in the morning we will put everything that is loose into a compartment or onto the floor of the cabin – coffee pot, water jug, soap dispensers etc. We will also don our auto-inflating life vests with built in safety harnesses. Hopefully this will all be unnecessary if the conditions are as advertised but wasted preparation is better than a fire drill in panic mode. I also thought I should probably do some navigation stuff so I plugged a couple of waypoints into the GPS plotter, but really, when I looked at the wide area chart for Lake Ontario, all you need to do is keep the boat pointed up (north) and you can’t miss hitting Canada. There are bound to be signs when you get there.
After fussing with the boat I walked to the hardware store to get an additional hose for use with the “sea water pump”. Flight is equipped with a pump that draws sea water for the purpose of washing the mud off of the anchor and chain as the windlass brings it in. Now that we are in a fresh water environment that same water source can be used to wash bugs and general dirt from the side decks. The extra hose will allow reaching to the back deck when necessary. The fenders also get muddy sometimes from the lock walls.
All this mundane activity somehow fills the day. When you have been moving along on a daily basis for a few weeks, this hanging out for a couple of days feels strange. I even resorted to sticking the fuel tanks with a measuring stick I made up last year and did some calculations. Since refueling recently, we have burned 10.2 gallons of diesel for an average consumption rate of 1.697 gal. per hr. At that rate and power setting we can cross Lake Ontario 23 times before we run the tanks dry. Yep, we are ready to get going – the blog update is even complete on the day the things have happened.
July 8 – Sunday
We stayed in port. The forecast for wind on eastern Lake Ontario was the same as advertised 1 & 2 days earlier – 10 to 15 with higher gusts and always from the west. This would cause a sea state that would not allow baking sweet rolls during the crossing. Monday’s forecast may be even a tad worse so we settled in for some time in Oswego, a nice place to be. The general weather was fairly pleasant with some sun and the threat of showers to make it a bit humid and hotter than any of the previous days.
We had an early phone call from Libby who had some exciting news – she had lost her first tooth on Saturday and had already sold it to the Tooth Fairy. This was important enough that we set up the web cam and got all of the details first hand. There was no question about where the tooth had been – lower front and center. We also arranged for a web visit later in the day with our grandson Cameron and his parents. We phoned other family members, Dad W. sounded fine but nothing happening that he could remember and Aunt Nanny just had cataract surgery on one eye and we wanted to check up on that – all is going well. I think we did some other stuff around the boat but I honestly can’t recall the details as I write this on Monday AM. I do remember taking a nap and skipping lunch.
Restored Fort Ontario is within walking distance so we took advantage of that. The site of the fort dates back to 1755, but after going through a number of destroy / re-builds under various nations, was finally built in its present form by Americans, in the 1839-44 period. The restoration is well done and I especially liked the stone work. The best part of visiting the fort for me (RCB) was its high location at the mouth of the river overlooking the harbor and the lake. Let’s face it, after G-burg, Williamsburg, Valley Forge etc. – if you have seen one old building with leather pouches and journals laying on tables, you have seen them all.
Oswego is a Great Lakes sea port and there was a ship off-loading some sort of dry bulk material (probably cement). On the walk back to the boat we stopped at a Revco for cookies and an Ace hardware store for a hose repair end. That’s the kind of things you do when stuck in port.
The weather was too unreliable for planning on grilling dinner so it was Nachos Supreme (a specialty of mine – RCB) washed down with the remaining sangria. We closed up all openings on the boat before turning in because there was certain to be storms – and there were. Tomorrow is my sister Lorraine’s birthday and she is still younger than me (RCB) - we’ll have to give her a call.
We stayed in port. The forecast for wind on eastern Lake Ontario was the same as advertised 1 & 2 days earlier – 10 to 15 with higher gusts and always from the west. This would cause a sea state that would not allow baking sweet rolls during the crossing. Monday’s forecast may be even a tad worse so we settled in for some time in Oswego, a nice place to be. The general weather was fairly pleasant with some sun and the threat of showers to make it a bit humid and hotter than any of the previous days.
We had an early phone call from Libby who had some exciting news – she had lost her first tooth on Saturday and had already sold it to the Tooth Fairy. This was important enough that we set up the web cam and got all of the details first hand. There was no question about where the tooth had been – lower front and center. We also arranged for a web visit later in the day with our grandson Cameron and his parents. We phoned other family members, Dad W. sounded fine but nothing happening that he could remember and Aunt Nanny just had cataract surgery on one eye and we wanted to check up on that – all is going well. I think we did some other stuff around the boat but I honestly can’t recall the details as I write this on Monday AM. I do remember taking a nap and skipping lunch.
Restored Fort Ontario is within walking distance so we took advantage of that. The site of the fort dates back to 1755, but after going through a number of destroy / re-builds under various nations, was finally built in its present form by Americans, in the 1839-44 period. The restoration is well done and I especially liked the stone work. The best part of visiting the fort for me (RCB) was its high location at the mouth of the river overlooking the harbor and the lake. Let’s face it, after G-burg, Williamsburg, Valley Forge etc. – if you have seen one old building with leather pouches and journals laying on tables, you have seen them all.
Oswego is a Great Lakes sea port and there was a ship off-loading some sort of dry bulk material (probably cement). On the walk back to the boat we stopped at a Revco for cookies and an Ace hardware store for a hose repair end. That’s the kind of things you do when stuck in port.
The weather was too unreliable for planning on grilling dinner so it was Nachos Supreme (a specialty of mine – RCB) washed down with the remaining sangria. We closed up all openings on the boat before turning in because there was certain to be storms – and there were. Tomorrow is my sister Lorraine’s birthday and she is still younger than me (RCB) - we’ll have to give her a call.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
July 7 – Saturday
We cast off our lines to move into lock #1 about 7:15 and continued north on the Oswego River. The shore of the river has a visual feel of “north country” as compared to the Erie Canal. There are more coniferous trees interspersed with the others and the waterway is actually a river as opposed to a man made canal. There are 8 locks total numbered 1 thru 9 (there is no #4), and they are all lowering on the way north to Lake Ontario. This was our cruising friend Gregg’s birthday so Polly asked each lock tender to wish the captain of Renaissance (coming later) a happy 60th and apparently they did. When Gregg radioed lock 7 that tender wished him happy birth day over the VHF and Gregg responded that the whole world seems to know he was having a birthday. At that point the lock master of #8 chimed in with a greeting as did a couple of other boats, some asking where the party will be held.
Shore side homes along the Oswego vary from modest weekend cottages to fine properties with the houses set high up a slopping lawn and extensive bulkheads and docks at waters’ edge. All in all, I think the Oswego River is our favorite portion of the canal thus far. Fish jump everywhere – we must have seen 30-40 jumps (where you could actually see a good size fish) in the 18 mile trip – there were a few fish that jumped after bugs even when we were in a lock chamber.
We cast off our lines to move into lock #1 about 7:15 and continued north on the Oswego River. The shore of the river has a visual feel of “north country” as compared to the Erie Canal. There are more coniferous trees interspersed with the others and the waterway is actually a river as opposed to a man made canal. There are 8 locks total numbered 1 thru 9 (there is no #4), and they are all lowering on the way north to Lake Ontario. This was our cruising friend Gregg’s birthday so Polly asked each lock tender to wish the captain of Renaissance (coming later) a happy 60th and apparently they did. When Gregg radioed lock 7 that tender wished him happy birth day over the VHF and Gregg responded that the whole world seems to know he was having a birthday. At that point the lock master of #8 chimed in with a greeting as did a couple of other boats, some asking where the party will be held.
Shore side homes along the Oswego vary from modest weekend cottages to fine properties with the houses set high up a slopping lawn and extensive bulkheads and docks at waters’ edge. All in all, I think the Oswego River is our favorite portion of the canal thus far. Fish jump everywhere – we must have seen 30-40 jumps (where you could actually see a good size fish) in the 18 mile trip – there were a few fish that jumped after bugs even when we were in a lock chamber.
After about 18 miles slid by and we got nearer to Oswego we telephone John Wix (Safe Return)who had gone on to Oswego the day before, to get some info on space at the wall and he and Gayle had gone out into the lake to cross to Canada and found the conditions very uncomfortable so returned to the wall between locks. When we arrived between lock 7&8 there was plenty of space for us and a couple from Key West, aboard “5th Quarter” helped with or lines. We barely had the lines adjusted when Joe and Janice advised (and invited us) there was a burger cookout they were organizing – they were supplying and grilling their special handmade burgers and everyone else will just bring “what ya got”. We immediately accepted, provided the affair could double as Gregg’s birthday party (Polly had baked him a cake). When party time arrived there were 16 of us and the food was delicious and plenty of it. Polly baked up a pan of her spinach / cheese squares and I (RCB) made a pretty good batch of sangria. The burgers came from ships stores on 5th Quarter – they are doing the great loop route and stocked their boat with meat for the entire trip – hundreds of pounds in several freezers. One of their freezers runs on AC or DC or propane so they also have 400 (four hundred) pounds of propane aboard in 10 – 40# cylinders. That is self-contained to the max.
I also used the party to hold a ceremony for the destruction of my favorite cap of the past 5 or 6 years since the bill was frayed badly and I recently discovered the top of the hat had worn through in the back just like my hair. And oh yes, my granddaughter Libby recently refused to put it on because “it smelled like grandpa’s sweat”. We passed around the cap and everyone snipped off a piece and it was thrown into the trash barrel. So long old pal. We learned that there is a fishing contest in progress and at the end of the day many fisherman don’t take all their fish so you can get lake trout and steel head fillets (as much as you want), for $4 bucks, the cost of cleaning. Maybe a fish cookout tonight since we all are hanging around for better wind conditions before the 55 mile run across Lake Ontario – maybe Tuesday the way the forecast looks.
Friday, July 6, 2007
We walked a block and a half to a little restaurant that has great hand-made burgers and is located in an old bank building, hence it’s name “The Vault”. When we got back to the dock Renaissance and are cruising buddies Kathy & Gregg had arrived and also decide to stay the night. Dinner was light, sort of snacks and then we noticed some music in the area of the little park pavilion. It was a Friday night jam fest by about 8 or 10 elderly men and women. Not intended to be a joke, but the group resembled the “Young At Heart” club Polly’s Mom and Dad used to belong to. There were several violins, two guitars a harmonica, mandolin and a key board. The group was well wired too, with a couple speakers and a gizmo to hook all of the mics into. The music was Old Rugged Cross, Jimmy Crack Corn, Amazing Grace, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, Etc. Between numbers there would be some chatting between musicians and flipping of pages in binders and then someone would say “key of G” and the guitars would sort of tune-up and a violin or two would come in and next thing you know there was just nice music. There were a couple of the group members that would step-up every now and then a sing a song. There didn’t seem to be a leader or anything. One couple from the audience got up a danced a number or two. The audience sat around on park benches or their own folding chairs and some others (us) sat a nearby picnic tables – eating pie sold by the Bridge House Brats. Lemon Meringue – good. The sun is getting low and the night will be cool and quiet it appears.
Next stop – Oswego and Lake Ontario. This is a long way from venturing past Turkey Point – Matt and Kate will understand.
Next stop – Oswego and Lake Ontario. This is a long way from venturing past Turkey Point – Matt and Kate will understand.
July 6 – Friday
We had a number of thunder storms and some heavy rains in the night. The Friday forecast was for cloudy with chance of showers and 5 to 10 kt. Winds out of the west, in the AM. Then thunderstorms and 10-15 with gusts to 25 in the PM. Oneida Lake is 25 miles long and lays nearly east to west so a strong westerly wind makes it very lumpy. FLIGHT left the wall at 6:00 AM and arrived at Brewerton at the western end of the lake about 8:30. There was a low overcast but good visibility the entire crossing and there were very few fishermen out that required a slow-pass. The ride was comfortable enough that Polly baked a pan of cinnamon rolls and made a second pot of coffee on the way across and we had to throttle back to make time to enjoy the breakfast before we reached the fuel dock. The first bridge we passed under was I-81 roadway which runs through our home area in PA and continues north to Binghamton, Syracuse and on to the Thousand Island area of the St. Lawrence River. I have put a lot of car miles on that road but this was my first time passing beneath it in a boat.
We planned a Fuel and pump-out stop at Ess-Kay Boat Yard which came highly recommended to us by friends who had done this trip in the past. George, the owner met us at the fuel dock and passed the diesel hose then assisted in our pump-out of the holding tank. It turned out that his fuel price ($2.88/gal.) was the lowest we have paid so far but if his price had been the highest we would still go back because of the service and friendly attitude that prevails. Polly and I had our picture taken with him so we can email it to our friends, the O’Bryans, to show them we stopped and that George is doing fine. The slogan on his business card is “The Candle in the Wilderness” – we had such a nice experience spending a couple hundred bucks and pumping out the poop tank that we actually thought about staying for the night even though it was only 9 AM. Another surprise waiting for us at Ess-Kay was that our friends Gayle & John Wix (Safe Return) who pushed across the day before, had stopped there. They were just beginning to stir when we pulled into the dock.
After squaring away at Ess-Kay we locked through E23, our last lock on the Erie and resumed our voyage west for another 10 miles to join the Oswego River, north. Just a couple miles north of the river junction is the very lovely town of Phoenix where we found Henley Park and a super nice free dock where we decided to stay until morning. The sun had broken through and the air was feeling more and more pleasant.
A unique thing about this town dock is the “Bridge House Brats” – an entrepreneurial group of young people who assist boaters with docking, errand running and other boating services for contributions. I don’t know how long this has been going on but it has grown to the point that youngsters have to apply and if accepted are given special T-shirts to wear and there are some older folks around who seem to supervise in an informal manner.
This part of New York state is a wonderful piece of America and the local people are just great. It amazes me that an area like this and these fine folks could find themselves represented in Washington by a person such as Hillary Clinton.
We had a number of thunder storms and some heavy rains in the night. The Friday forecast was for cloudy with chance of showers and 5 to 10 kt. Winds out of the west, in the AM. Then thunderstorms and 10-15 with gusts to 25 in the PM. Oneida Lake is 25 miles long and lays nearly east to west so a strong westerly wind makes it very lumpy. FLIGHT left the wall at 6:00 AM and arrived at Brewerton at the western end of the lake about 8:30. There was a low overcast but good visibility the entire crossing and there were very few fishermen out that required a slow-pass. The ride was comfortable enough that Polly baked a pan of cinnamon rolls and made a second pot of coffee on the way across and we had to throttle back to make time to enjoy the breakfast before we reached the fuel dock. The first bridge we passed under was I-81 roadway which runs through our home area in PA and continues north to Binghamton, Syracuse and on to the Thousand Island area of the St. Lawrence River. I have put a lot of car miles on that road but this was my first time passing beneath it in a boat.
We planned a Fuel and pump-out stop at Ess-Kay Boat Yard which came highly recommended to us by friends who had done this trip in the past. George, the owner met us at the fuel dock and passed the diesel hose then assisted in our pump-out of the holding tank. It turned out that his fuel price ($2.88/gal.) was the lowest we have paid so far but if his price had been the highest we would still go back because of the service and friendly attitude that prevails. Polly and I had our picture taken with him so we can email it to our friends, the O’Bryans, to show them we stopped and that George is doing fine. The slogan on his business card is “The Candle in the Wilderness” – we had such a nice experience spending a couple hundred bucks and pumping out the poop tank that we actually thought about staying for the night even though it was only 9 AM. Another surprise waiting for us at Ess-Kay was that our friends Gayle & John Wix (Safe Return) who pushed across the day before, had stopped there. They were just beginning to stir when we pulled into the dock.
After squaring away at Ess-Kay we locked through E23, our last lock on the Erie and resumed our voyage west for another 10 miles to join the Oswego River, north. Just a couple miles north of the river junction is the very lovely town of Phoenix where we found Henley Park and a super nice free dock where we decided to stay until morning. The sun had broken through and the air was feeling more and more pleasant.
A unique thing about this town dock is the “Bridge House Brats” – an entrepreneurial group of young people who assist boaters with docking, errand running and other boating services for contributions. I don’t know how long this has been going on but it has grown to the point that youngsters have to apply and if accepted are given special T-shirts to wear and there are some older folks around who seem to supervise in an informal manner.
This part of New York state is a wonderful piece of America and the local people are just great. It amazes me that an area like this and these fine folks could find themselves represented in Washington by a person such as Hillary Clinton.
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