Trip Diary for August, 2010

Sunday, Aug. 1; Rouses Point, NY: The day began at 9:30 with a musically inspired service at Three Steeples UMC located between Rouses Point and Champlain, NY.  The music director at this small church, Eugene Tunearlu, both composes and simultaneously plays the organ and piano.  He leaves tomorrow for a 2-week concert tour in Europe; he is fantastic!  Following this communion service we continued our auto tour of the local region in northern NY and VT.  After lunch Lola washed laundry while Larry installed a supplemental flagstaff to hold our quarantine burgee, which must fly until we clear Canadian customs (only 2 mi. from our current dock) tomorrow, and subsequently a small Canadian courtesy flag.  Summer returned; afternoon high was 86 and we resumed air conditioning.

Aug. 2-3; Chambly, QC:  Bonjour (15 percent of Larry's French vocabulary) from Chambly, Quebec!  An exhausting day began Monday with our 6 AM departure to return the rental car to Plattsburgh.  After last-minute grocery shopping and breakfast we parked at the Enterprise office 15 min. before its 7:30 opening; they got us back to Marina Lighthouse at 8:05.  This enabled an 8:25 departure, past the remains of Fort Montgomery for a stop at the Canadian Customs dock.  After an easy check-in we switched the Quarantine burgee to our Canadian courtesy flag and continued 24 mi. north to St. Jean, QC.  There we had to leave the Richelieu River because of rapids ahead to enter the 11 mi. long Chambly Canal at its Lock 9. Our 11:30 arrival meant a 75 min. wait because the city has bridge opening restrictions for lunch time.  The 8 other small locks, all close together within about 1 mi., e.g. note Lock 6 in the background when we were inside Lock 5, near the north end of the canal.  These 8 locks coordinated with our arrival so there were no more waits for either them or low bridges along the way.  Light rain began in Lock 8 and continued for the next 3; this, together with temps in the high 80s made it uncomfortable.  By 3:30 when we reached the 3 step-locks (one empties directly into the next) in Chambly we were getting tired, but we persevered and then quickly docked at the nice Marina Chambly.  Its delightfully clean restrooms reminded us of cultural differences between countries; the shower temperature was non-adjustable, almost lukewarm.  Refreshed by showers we walked 3 blocks to excellent dinners at Tre Colori Restorante; our second cultural adjustment: French meals are to be enjoyed slowly!  As we left it began raining again, so despite having an umbrella we were wet when we reached the boat for early bedtime.  Tuesday we decided to stay a second day in this neat town to recuperate and to obtain Canadian money.  We awaited a 1 hr. mid-morning rain before walking into town.  On the way back at 11:30 we decided to follow Kilwin's philosophy, "Life is short, eat dessert first!", by stopping at Dairy King for ice cream before returning for lunch aboard.  Of course, French is the local language, but we've had no difficulty finding persons who could speak English.  Rain resumed at 4:30 until 8 PM and then intermittently overnight.

Wednesday, Aug. 4; Sorel, QC: Back on the Richelieu River for the 47 mi. to Marina Saurel, 1 mi. downstream from the St. Lawrence River confluence.  Sorel is the most northerly point on our loop.  The weather was overcast with a light fog that did not dissipate until 11 AM, but no rain.  We had a 1-2 mph current with us the entire way.  Thus, even with one lock we arrived at an early 12:40 PM allowing time for a pumpout and fridge defrosting.  The St. Ours Lock is one of the easiest we have experienced; it has an internal floating dock, so with the help of two attendants, you tie to it for the 5 ft. drop.  The only distinctive scenery along the Richelieu River was the many small community churches with beautiful, tall steeples plus one uniquely landscaped home flower garden. Anxious for a "touch of home" in this French speaking land, we walked the local McDonalds for dinner only to find another cultural difference: menu items are substantially different than those in the US!

Aug. 5-6; Montreal, QC:  Lines dropped Thursday at 7:10 AM in light fog (1 mi. visibility) because we wanted to reach Montreal with time to explore.  Furthermore, we were bucking a 2 mph current on the St. Lawrence for the first 30 mi. that gradually increased until it was a really tough 6 mph for the last 2 mi. near the clock tower entrance to Old Port!   The river along this stretch is about a mile wide.  Surprisingly, we saw no commercial traffic for the first 3 hrs.  Then, as Murphy's Laws prescribe, we simultaneously were overtaken by a cruise ship while meeting a container ship travelling at 16 mph; we moved completely out of the shipping channel to avoid both. We reached the brand new docks of Vieux Port de Montreal right in the heart of old town at 1:20. This allowed plenty of time to walk into old town, past the huge, beautiful Basilica Norte Dame to purchase tickets to its evening light/history show, enjoy dinner and ice cream before returning.  Old town has a European ambience plus a few unusual sights. The evening was spent with the most confusing area charts of any used to date, charting the course through Montreal and the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Ottawa River.  Friday morning was spent working aboard until departure for town at 3 PM.  Following an early nachos dinner at the nearby Jacques Cartier Express and then ice cream we walked on to the Basilica Norte Dame for its fabulous 6:30, 1 hr. show!

Saturday, Aug. 7; St. Anne de Bellevue, QC: We decided to ignore cruising guide admonitions to avoid weekend cruising.  We dropped lines at 6:55 AM, anticipating a long wait at the nearby huge St. Lawrence Seaway St. Lambert Lock.  In hindsight, we could have called ahead, but we're avoiding use of the phone in Canada.  We tied at the lock's pleasure craft dock, climbed the ladder to purchase a $25 ticket with a credit card machine and to inform the lockmaster via its phone of our presence; he stated we had a 2 hr. wait.  Larry managed to finish 3 boat maintenance projects while we waited.  Another Canadian sail boater present when we arrived provided new local information, e.g. contrary to guidebooks, cash once inside the lock is acceptable.  Ultimately, using ropes tossed down 30 ft. by staff, we and 5 other rafted boats locked up with amazingly little turbulence.  The Seaway has a 10 kmh speed limit; thus it took a bit over an hour to reach the St. Catherine lock.  There was only a 5 min. wait and we paid with cash.  It was 3 PM when we arrived at the St. Anne de Bellevue lock where one enters the Ottawa River.  We had hoped to stay on the lockwall, but it was full of boats.  Moving through the pack to the "blue line" to await lockage, we noticed a boat flying a gold AGLCA burgee; Lola requested permission to raft and they readily agree.  After we tied to My Way with Wayne and Francean Assaly who had been with us at the Spring AGLCA Rendezvous in Myrtle Beach, they helped move other boats closer together so we had space to squeeze onto the wall.  Next was a stroll through this delightful village with a dozen restaurants along the waterfront and one very nice department store.  We enjoyed great fish dinners at Annies followed by ice cream as we returned.  When the lock closed operation at 8 PM we moved the boat to the blue line area, indicating we were ready for the next morning's first lockage.  An early bedtime was frequently interrupted (every 15-30 min.) by trains on overhead tracks until 1 AM, but we had been forewarned and soon adjusted.

Sunday, Aug. 8; Montebello, QC: Operations at the lock began at 9 AM; we were in the first group of 7.  It has the very nice floating dock and only a 3 ft. lift.  Being the largest, we were instructed to enter first to facilitate rafting.  Five mi. up the Ottawa River it becomes the boundary between provinces: Ontario to the left (south) and Quebec to the right.  28 mi. up river we waited 25 min. for the Carillon Lock to lift us 65 ft.  As we watched its huge guillotine gate open, 15 boats emerged!  As we emerged, another new experience: there was no cartography data in our chart plotter for the next 150 mi. of our planned route.  For the first time ever we were totally dependent on paper charts; however, the Canadian charts are excellent and we had no problem with the next 30 mi. test.  About 3:30, still 10 mi. from our destination at Montebello, it began raining.  Rain gradually became more intense as we made dock at the Chateau Montebello Marina.  We decided an early anniversary celebration was in order at this fantastic place, reputed to be the largest log structure in the world; it was a good decision.  Rain continued until 8:30 PM.

Aug. 9-10; Ottawa, ON: We departed Monday at 7:55 AM in light fog that burned away during the first hour.  In stark contrast to yesterday, there was almost no river traffic until about 12 mi. from Ottawa.  River topography also changed.  Much of the Quebec side is flat and marshy; thus, minimal development.  The Ontario side has much more relief and is more developed as seen in this picture of Rockland, ON.  Due to the Carillion hydro-dam the river has almost no current.  We passed the beautiful twin Rideau Falls to reach the entrance to the Rideau Canal adjacent Parliament in the heart of Ottawa just before 1 PM.  Seven other boats were waiting to lock up.  As they moved into Lock 1 we docked on the blue line to await our turn. We waited about 40 min. before entering alone Lock 1 at MM 0, the first of 8 step-locks that raised us 80 ft.  These locks use cables attached to the walls around which one loops a rope to hold the boat; the system works well. Preserving the historical nature of the canal, all operation is by hand as these valve mechanisms on the lock gate show. We emerged from Lock 8 at 3:30, proceeding 1/4 mi. upstream to dock on the long visitor lock wall that was surprisingly sparsely occupied.  Tired from locking (only 36 left on the 124-mi. Rideau Canal), we rested before showering and walking 3 blocks to dinner; it was comfortable to again be where English is a prominent language.  A new convention center is being constructed 1/2 block from our boat.  Noisy building continued until 11 PM and resumed at 6 AM Tuesday, so we awoke early despite having our first "appointment" at a leisurely 10 AM.  That entailed a 5 block walk to watch the exceedingly formal 30-minute "Changing of the Guards" ceremony on Parliament's Lawn; one of the band members fainted and was taken off on a stretcher.  After that we picked up tickets for a 1-hr. guided 11:50 tour of Center Block Parliament Building; that delightful event required passing airport-like security.  These activities permitted an outstanding 1 PM lunch at Le Cafe, a restaurant just across the canal from our boat.  It claims to be the "Prime Minister's restaurant" and served Queen Elizabeth about 1 month ago.  Next it was on to visit the beautiful Basilica Notre Dame (not as large as Montreal's, but just as ornate) before briefly shopping as we returned to the boat; a total walk of 5.25 mi.

Aug. 11-16; Manotick, ON: We didn't leave the lock wall until 8:45 AM Wednesday because the Pretoria Ave. Bridge 1 mi. upstream does not begin opening before 9 AM; there was only a 5 min. wait when we arrived.  Hartwells step-locks 9 and 10 at MM 4.2 required a 35 min. wait for down-bound traffic before lifting us 21 ft.  Neither Hogs Back step-locks 11 and 12 nor Black Rapids lock 13 at MM 9.3 required waits.  At MM 5.3 the dug canal rejoins the Rideau River; beautiful homes along this area are common. As we quickly moved up 25 ft. at Long Island step-locks 14, 15 and 16 the day was progressing well and we decided to overnight at Burritts Rapids lock wall with its 30 A. electrical outlets at MM 40; however, 5 mi. later (MM 20) plans abruptly changed!  30 seconds of inattention to navigation caused us to miss an abrupt turn in channel markers.  Before we could kill throttles and disengage clutches we felt the keel bump and heard a prop striking rocks as we coasted to a stop!  Fortunately, we had been observing the 6 mph speed limit, but that didn't prevent damage.  Reversing the starboard prop resulted in the sound of metal hitting metal; it was clearly useless.  We managed to back into deeper water without noise or vibration using only the port engine.  However, the rudder would turn only to port.  This was fortunate since that direction could overcome the boat's tendency to turn to starboard when only the port engine is running.  We limped along in this fashion for 3 mi., calling nearby Hurst Marina on the radio to alert them of our condition and request dockage.  Fortunately, Hurst is a full service marina with excellent staff.  One of their staff jumped aboard from another boat as we approached and helped Larry guide the Lola Marie onto their huge trailer-truck that had been backed into the water to haul us.  By 2:30 PM damage had been assessed and prop shop repairs scheduled (in a shop 170 mi. away): starboard prop badly damaged, strut bent and probably bending of both prop and rudder shafts. They immediately began removing damaged parts, finishing at 6 PM.  Meanwhile, we called insurance and explored renting a car capable of hauling the 8 ft. long, 2 in. diameter shaft.  After showers we finally relaxed with good food at the adjacent Swan on the Rideau.  To speed repairs Thursday, we agreed to drive all damaged parts to the Kawartha Prop Shop in Buckhorn, ON: 170 mi. on 2-lane roads with 50 mph speed limits.  Enterprise picked us up at 10:30 in a Toyota Corolla with a back seat that opened to the trunk.  We loaded and began driving, arriving at the shop about 3:30 PM.  To our surprise, Buckhorn is on the Trent-Severn Waterway which we travelled in 2007; thus, we were familiar with the destination area!  After dropping off the damaged equipment and picking up a pair of someone else's repaired props and struts to return to Hurst, we drove another 15 mi. to Bobcaygeon in order to again enjoy treats from the Kawartha Ice Cream Factory while watching boats lock on the Trent-Severn.  It was 9:45 when we returned.   Friday morning Lola washed laundry while Larry cleaned barnacles from the dinghy lift and trim tabs plus replacing depleted zincs.  Determined to make lemonade from our lemons, in the afternoon we explored the area by car, driving as far as 35 mi. SW to Smiths Falls.  Saturday morning we left at 8:15 on a 63 mi. drive to Rockport, ON to board the 10:30 AM Boat Lines, 3.5 hr. cruise in the 1000 Islands that included a 2 hr. stop-over on Heart Island to tour Boldt Castle; it was a delightful day capped by good dinners at  in nearby Manotick.  Sunday began at the friendly 10 AM Manotick United Church service.  Unable to find a restaurant that appealed we returned to the boat.  Lola washed a load of dark clothes while Larry cleaned barnacles from the boat's waterline.  Lola barbequed pork chops for dinner aboard, then ironed while Larry updated the web.  We returned the rental Monday and anxiously awaited the shipment from Kawartha to see if they had managed to repair all items before the truck loaded.  It arrived shortly after 10 with all four of our parts repaired!  The Hurst crew began reassembly after lunch with splash-down at 5 PM.  They were aboard for a short test run and provided a night's free dockage.  Overall, Hurst has been terrific and we are delighted with their work!  We celebrated our return to water with a good fish-n-chips dinner at Swan on the Rideau.

Tuesday, Aug. 17; Burritts Rapids, ON: During cast-off at 7 AM, the standard check for engine cooling water (raw water) flushing from exhausts found no discharge from the starboard engine; everything was shut down.  Larry removed the cover from the raw water pump (fortunately, it's easily accessible on the STB engine): the blades on the cylindrical rubber impeller were gone.  After 30 frustrating minutes of unsuccessfully trying to insert a new impeller (we had spares) and with Hurst staff now available, Larry sought their assistance.  Finally, at 8:40 we were able to leave; however, cruising 40 mi. through 12 locks to Smiths Falls as planned was now not feasible.  Instead, we decided to stop early at delightful Lock 17, Burritts Rapids at MM 40, where we had expected to stop the day of the prop accident.  The waterway in this area is generally well developed with many beautiful mansions. A surprising number of cottage-sized places obviously use pontoon-equipped private water planes to quicken their trip vacation visits. It was only 11:40 AM when the lockmaster helped us tie to the south wall above the lock; one of the few offering hydro (30 A. electricity). After relaxing a bit, we walked across the road for tasty lunches at Lock 17 Bistro.  After lunch we walked the island trail into the village to see the 1831 Anglican Christ Church, a 1.5 mi. walk.

Wednesday, Aug. 18; Smiths Falls, ON: Today's travel covered only 21 mi., but we made 11 locks!  The day began at 8:40 AM, the earliest opening of the manually operated Burritts Rapids Swing Bridge 1/2 mi. from our overnight lock wall tie. It was 57 at 7 AM with a 78 degree high today; perfect weather!  We spotted a couple loons today.  This region is famous as their nesting grounds.  The occasional problem with the safety switch that prevents starting an engine unless its transmission is in neutral returned on the port engine.  Larry received permission to leave that engine run while in the locks.  We finished the Merrickville trio of locks by 11:30 before docking on their wall to enjoy great sandwich lunches (big enough to yield leftovers for the evening meal) at nearby Main Street Family Restaurant before a tad bit of shopping that included ice cream from Downtown Ice Cream & Candy. It was 4:35 when we docked on the wall above the 26 ft. Lock 29A in Smiths Falls adjacent to Victoria Park; time to relax and regroup after a beautiful, but tiring day.

Thursday, Aug. 19; Lock 38: Lines were lifted at 8:25 in order to move .5 mi. for the first bridge opening/locking of Lock 31 just beyond Victoria Park; we waited on the blue line for 15 min. before following another boat, Moon River, into the lock.  We then followed them for another 10 mi. SW winds picked up to 15 mph, creating 1-2 nose waves on Big Rideau Lake.  At MM 87, Newboro Lock #36, we began locking down instead of up as we now cruise toward lower elevations approaching Kingston.  We covered 35 mi. and 6 locks (4 of which required waits as long as 30 min.) before tying up above the remote Davis Lock, #38, at 3:20, about 60 seconds before an hour of severe thunderstorms arrived to produce .33 in. of precip. Having passed up lunch, Lola's 6 PM special wine-basted chicken breasts, sugar peas, rice, and wine were especially tasty.  This lock has electricity, so cooking did not require the genny.

Friday, Aug. 20; Kingston, ON: It was 8:55 before the lock first opened (lock staff attitudes are laid-back, but very friendly and helpful [8:30 is official start time]).  Electronic cartography resumed 8 mi. below the lock; it was nice to again have GPS charting to confirm one's location on paper charts.  The southern Rideau is even more picturesque than the northern half.  We especially appreciated seeing loons on the water. Only two locks required waits: 20 min. at locks 43/44 and 50 min. at the last lock 46 above Kingston Mills' 3-step locks. Weather was again perfect, but with 13 locks (a new record) and 32 mi. to reach Confederation Basin Marina, it was a long day before our 5:20 PM arrival.  We walked 3 blocks to relax for dinner at Brandee's, topped off with exceptional White Mountain Ice Cream.

Saturday, Aug. 21; Oswego, NY: We had intended to spend 2 nights in Kingston, but by 11 AM forecasts for Sunday's Lake Ontario conditions had changed dramatically for the worst (4-6 ft. waves).  So we canceled our reservation and departed as soon as customs officers could pick up our forms (they arrived at 11:30, only 30 min. later than scheduled).  Ontario had 1-3 ft. port-quarter waves with not infrequent 4-footers.  We ran at 20 mph on open waters to reduce the crossing time to 2 hr., but it was a sometimes jarring, unpleasant cruise.  We stopped at Oswego Marina's dock to use the U.S. Customs' video phone for return check-in before purchasing a 2-day NY Canal pass as we locked up Oswego Lock 8 to dock on its wall (rough wall with very poor ties) at 4:30 PM.  Compared to the Rideau, these locks are huge with hanging ropes and very slimy walls.  However, it was great to again have full cell service!  After showers we walked 2 blocks for very good dinners on the patio at Steamers Bar & Grill.  It began raining as dinner ended.

Aug. 22-??; Brewerton, NY: It rained intermittently overnight, but started in earnest at our 7:35 AM Sunday cast-off.  After 6 more rainy Oswego locks and 24 mi., we entered the Erie Canal at Three Rivers.  It was a relief to see and then pass through our last lock of this Rideau-loop, Lock 23 on the Erie with its guillotine gate. We docked at Ess-Kay Yards in pouring rain at 1:05 PM, happy to be where the Lola Marie will be hauled for winter storage.  Rain continued until midnight, totaling more than 4 in. with evening winds building to 25 mph!   The next week will be spent cleaning, packing, changing oil, and winterizing systems before daughter Sandy and son-in-law Klaus arrive Friday evening to help polish her and use their truck to haul things back to IN.

P.S.  It was fortunate that we made the crossing when we did because both the Oswego and Erie Canals closed Sunday night due to high waters, debris and missing markers.  They did not open until Saturday, Aug. 28!

There will be no more web updates until we return in May, 2011!!

Water miles traveled to date on this second loop: 6,568; this month: 475

Questions or comments?  Just e-mail us.