Travels of "At Last": "At Last" is Back to Blogging/St. Jean and the Chambly Canal

Sorry for the hiatus, but once we entered Canada, our blogging stopped due to connectivity problems. So we will try to keep you updated whenever we are able to find a free "WiFi".

"At Last" throws a wake as she heads to Canada

June 29 and June 30-St. Jean and the Chambly Canal

We leave Barcombs in NY at around 9:30 after pumping out and we enter Canada at the Richelieu Wharf as the placard floating in the water indicates we are required to do. Two Canadian customs agents help us secure the boat and we are queried about firearms, alcohol, pets, destination, return date, etc. We provide our passports and wait while one of the agents clears us. Ms. Tremblay, the female agent, chats with us. Both are friendly and helpful and we are issued our paperwork indicating that we have cleared customs. We must leave Canada by September 30th.

We continue toward St. Jean and the Pont Gouin where we will enter the Chambly Canal System, a National Historic Site of Canada. The system is administered by Parks Canada. This canal opened to commercial navigation in 1843, but today it is used by pleasure crafts. The canal played a key role in the export of Canadian forest products to the U.S. It is located on the Richelieu River and has nine locks which allow boats to by pass the Chambly rapids. Lock 9 at St. Jean sur Richelieu is the only lock on this canal that is equipped with a hydraulic mechanism. At all the other locks the lock masters and bridge operators continue to use the old methods of manually operating the locks.

The Square at St. Jean sur Richelieu

When we arrive south of the bridge, we dock at the floating dock on the east wall. The bridge and the lock are closed from 11:45-1:30 for local traffic. While waiting, we walk into town in search of a bank (ATM), lunch, and a wireless store so we can figure out how we can best communicate while we are in Canada. We chat with a gentleman in another boat who suggests we have lunch at Caiptaine Pouf and gives us directions. During lunch we talk with our waitress who gives us info as to where we can find a bank and a grocery store. There is no wireless store nearby so we will have to wait until Montreal to solve our phone/text/email/and data issues. We walk to "Les Halles" a market place, to buy some essentials. On our way back to the boat we stop to talk with the lock master (l'eclusier). We plan to lock through the first lock today and stay on the dock on the other side of the lock for the night. We decide to buy a season locking pass which will allow us to lock through all the canal systems that are part of the Parks Canada system in Quebec and Ontario. We will decide later if we need a mooring pass or not. When we return to the boat, there is a 22' Sea Dory, "Salty", docked in front of us. It is flying a gold AGLCA flag, indicating that they have already completed the loop once. We are interested in talking with them, but we pass under the Gouin Bridge and the railroad bridge and lock through. However, "Salty" soon joins us at the dock and we learn that Jon and Rosa did the loop in 2013. They share their adventures and discuss their plans for this trip.

"Salty" Experienced Loopers

Alongside the canal, there is a walking path/bike path on the east bank and it is heavily used. Canadians are as active as Vermonters. With no tv, phone, computer, we head to bed early.

June 30, 2015

We are up early and prepare for departure. The lock has WiFi, but the signal is weak. Before leaving, we get some exercise by walking the path along the canal and at 9:00 we continue our journey on the Chambly. At Lock 8, the lock master is very informative and helpful. We find the canal a bit confusing because the bridge numbers and lock numbers do not match up. It is a winding path and Locks 6, 5, and 4 are close together. But we quickly get into the rhythm of locking. When we arrive at Locks 3, 2, and 1, we complete a flight of 3, meaning that you pass from one lock to the next. Throughout this system the locks are being filled with water for us and we are rising. In the Chambly Canal, you do not need to use your own lines. There are ropes on the lock walls that you take. While we are in this last series of locks on the Chambly, we decide to purchase a seasonal mooring pass. Again, this pass will allow us to stay on any of the lock docks within the Parks Canada System in Quebec and Ontario. Some of the docks have electricity for a small fee. The basin that we are lowered into after these 3 locks is very nice. We pull up to a dock and stop for lunch aboard the boat. We then continue to the next lock which is the St. Ours Lock. This lock is very easy to use. Instead of ropes on the walls, there is an actual floating dock that you attach your lines to and it rises. Very easy. After passing through the lock, we stay on at the dock on the other side for the night.

Lift Bridge at Lock on the Chambly Canal

Chambly Canal Flight of Three
Overlooking Basin at the North End

Locking through holding the ropes on the wall

Lock Master manually operating the lock

Leaving the Basin Headed toward Richelieu River

St. Ours Lock
Boats tie to the dock for locking

Lock Masters at St. Ours Lock

July 1, 2015

Happy Canada Day! While watching the news this morning, we learn that it is also "moving day" in Canada today, because July 1st is when all leases expire……very interesting. Today we are headed towards Sorel and then to Montreal. We leave the lock at around 7:15. It is a gray day with rain in the forecast. Once we pass through Sorel, we turn left onto the St. Lawrence Seaway, a major shipping channel. Along the way we encounter a couple of freighters. By 10:30 it is raining. It rains throughout the morning and around 1:00 pm, we decide to stop for the day. Dave finds a nice anchorage off the seaway. We are only a couple of hours outside of Montreal. There is very little boat traffic due to the weather and it seems like some of the fireworks celebrations will also have to be cancelled.

Captain Dave finds us a great anchorage

July 2, 2015

We depart from our anchorage around 8:00. It is a much brighter day, but a bit windy and cool. As we pass through the port of Montreal we watch a huge freighter being turned by two tugs in order for it to head in the opposite direction. We pass the site of the 1976 Expo. Today we will have to pass through two of the St. Lawrence Seaway Locks. Our first large lock in Montreal is the Lambert Lock. Inside the lock we meet two other loopers…the Blue Willow and Daisy. Our locking pass does not cover this lock and we must pay $30.00 (Canadian…about $24.00 American). After passing through this lock, all three looper boats head to St. Catherine's Lock. Again there is a $30.00 fee. At this lock we must tie up because a huge freighter is locking through in the other direction. We wait for about an hour. It is awesome to see this ship rise from within the lock. It is takes up the entire lock. When it has exited, we are allowed to enter the lock. Dave and I decide to go to Sainte Anne de Bellevue, instead of finding a slip in Montreal. The Waterway Guide indicates that you can take a bus from Sainte Anne to Montreal so we decide to take advantage of our mooring pass, hoping to find a spot on the wall. Our ride across Lake St. Louis is a bit choppy, but we arrive in Sainte Anne at about 4:00. There is room on the wall for us. Sainte Anne is a very picturesque college town. McGill University has a campus here. There are shops, a bank, and several restaurants. This town is also a very popular weekend spot for Canadians. We have a delicious dinner at Klondike and our waitress gives us good advice concerning shopping, banking, laundry, etc. When we return from dinner, the wall is almost full. It is a Thursday evening and we can only imagine what the boat traffic will be like tomorrow.

St. Lambert Lock (Montreal)

Freighter rising in St. Catherine's Lock Montreal

Waiting for freighter to exit so we can enter the lock

On the wall at Ste. Anne de Bellevue

Klondike Restaurant

July 3, 2015

We are up early. I take a walk to explore the town and discover the post office, a bank, and talk to folks about the bus route to Montreal. After breakfast, Dave uses his charm to secure some water for us. The docks do not provide potable water. So Dave asks one of the restaurant owners if we can hook our hose up to his spigot. Thankfully, he agrees as I am sure we are running low on water at this point. We are planning to stay for another night, but the Blue Willow and Daisy are going to take the first lock through which is at 9:00. At around 10:30, Dave and I set out to figure out how to get to Montreal. We stop at the Poste (post office) and purchase our round trip bus tickets. We then walk to the bus stop which about a 25 minute walk. The stop is located on the McGill University campus. We take the 405 bus. The ride proves to be long with lots of stops. About 45 minutes later, the bus drops us at the Lionel Grouxl metro stop. We get some information about which line to take and where to get off. We take the green line in the direction Honore Beauregard and get off at the McGill University stop. It is just a short walk to St. Catherine St. and the Eaton Center which is a huge underground shopping area. Our goal is to find the best deal on a Canadian phone. We buy a small, unlocked Samsung Galaxy phone at Device Fix and then head to La Cabine to discuss a phone plan. We purchase a month to month plan through Fido which will give us email and texting capabilities as well as a few gigs of data for our navigating purposes. This plan proves to be about half the cost of what Verizon wanted to charge us. After a quick lunch we head back to the metro stop where we will catch the bus back to Sainte Anne. Both Dave and I have been to Montreal before and we know it will be a couple of hours before we get back to the boat so we do not do any exploring of the city. We get back to town around 5:30 and the wall is jammed. There are boats on both sides of the canal with many of them being rafted. (The Canadians say the boats are shouldered.) We have dinner at Bellevue, the restaurant that allowed Dave to use its water spigot. When we return to the boat we are exhausted. We have walked over five miles today. Dave's back is bothering him, so he goes to bed early. I decide to read a little, but around 10:30, a large boat pulls up next to us and I hear someone jump on the bow. I wake Dave and he has a conversation with the captain. There are 6 or so people on the other boat and they have been drinking. Dave simply reminds the captain that it is customary for someone to request permission to board another's boat. The captain seems to be a bit agitated. Dave calmly suggests that he go further down the wall and raft with some other boat that is in the partying mode. He explains that we are sleeping. Dave also tells him he can return if there is no room for him elsewhere. The boat leaves and we do not see him again. However, another gentleman has witnessed the exchange and he stops by to check that we were not being bothered. Wesley chats with us for a while and makes some suggestions as to where we should stop as we make our way on the Ottawa River.

July 4, 2016

Happy 4th of July! Today is Saturday and there is a Farmer's Market in the square today from 9:00 to 2:30. We plan to visit it while I do the laundry at the bauderie (laundromat) that I finally located also in the square. Upon arriving at the laundromat, I discover that the change machine is not working and Dave spends quite a while gathering change for me so we can have clean clothes. While they are washing we shop in the market. It is an excellent market with fruits and vegetables, pastries, breads, sandwiches, jams, ice cream, etc. We make a few purchases, complete the laundry and then head back to the boat where we enjoy freshly brewed coffee and cinnamon buns on the stern. We leave the dock to wait for the lock. It is very busy, but we lock through in about an hour. We now head to the Carillon Canal and Ottawa. The ride is very busy with pleasure boats of all sorts as well as jet skis, tubers, and lots of sail boats. It is a very pretty ride on the Lake of the Two Mountains. We arrive at the lock around 4:30 which will allow us to make the last upstream lock of the day. The lock is huge. We have to wait for several boats (about 20) to exit before we can enter. This is the highest single lift we have experienced so far (65 ft.) However, once again we are attached to a dock so it is fairly easy. We leave the lock around 5:45. We take the wall on the other side of the dock for the night.