Travels of "At Last": The Journey from Ottawa to Kingston, Ontario

Pollinating the flowers in Canada

July 5, 2015

We leave the dock at the Carillon Canal by 6:15 and make our way towards Ottawa, Canada's capital city. We are now on the Ottawa River and will soon be entering the Rideau Canal. The Ottawa River is a busy waterway through two provinces---Quebec on the north and Ontario on the south. The Rideau Canal is the oldest, continually operating canal in North America and it has most of its original technology intact and most of its lock stations are unchanged from 175 years ago. This canal is also run by Parks Canada. To complete this canal, we will need to pass through 49 locks. The ride is very scenic and the traffic on the waterway is almost non-existent until about noon. It then begins to fill with small pleasure crafts. We pass by Le Chateau Montebello, the estate of Louis Joseph Papineau, a leading figure in the history of Canada. In 1929, the estate was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and was used as a Sportsmen's Club. In 1930, the Club built a log cabin which is said to be the largest log cabin in the world. Today, it is part of the Fairmont hotel chain. Parks Canada owns and operates Papineau's manor and surrounding buildings. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo that did the estate justice. Around 3:30 we pass by Rideau Falls where large homes, government buildings, embassies, and official residences line the high, tree-capped bluffs on the Ontario bank. We can see the city of Ottawa ahead. We will be beginning the Rideau Canal soon. The first task will be for us to lock through the Ottawa Staircase which is a flight of eight locks. This flight provides a spectacular 79-foot total vertical rise for us. Locking will take at least 90 minutes. The entrance to the lock is beautiful. Bridges, the Parliament building, the Chateau Laurier (a Fairmont hotel) all loom in front of us as we tie up on the blue line (a designated area for boats wishing to lock through) to await our turn. I climb the lock flights to the information office and learn that we have missed the last upstream locking of the day. It began at 3:30 and it is now 3:45. We will have to wait until tomorrow to experience the staircase. We stay below the lock for the evening. The area is very busy with lots of tourists. The first lock through is tomorrow morning at 9:00, but the lock master will not know until the morning whether he will begin by locking downstream or upstream. We hope it is upstream, of course. Later in the afternoon we are joined by another boat, "Eden". We meet her captain, Rick, and his first mate Paulette. They live in Sainte Anne de Bellevue. They lived in Ottawa for five years so they are a wealth of knowledge. We will be locking through with them tomorrow morning.

Water falling from lock at the staircase

"At Last" waits her turn at the Ottawa Staircase

Chateau Laurier

Locksman manually opening the lock

July 6, 2015

At 8:45, Dave and I head to the lock house to see when we will be locking through. At 9:10, the lock master informs us that we will be locking through first. There are six boats that will lock through together. We are the largest and will take the first position on the starboard side of the lock throughout all eight locks. Unfortunately for us, as we enter the lock, one of our large fenders catches on the cleat at the bottom of one of the lock cables and it pops, making quite an explosive sound. Loading the first lock takes the longest, but soon we quicken our pace as we pass through the eight locks. But the locking still takes us over an hour and a half. We exit the lock first and take a spot on the wall. Tonight we will also have electricity. Our plan is to stay in Ottawa for a couple of days. We have lunch with Rick and Paulette from "Eden" and they give us many suggestions as to where to go and what to do. After lunch, we walk with them into the city and they show us the Byward Market and the shopping areas…Rideau Centre and the Bay. They leave us to ourselves as they head elsewhere. Dave has been anxious to get a haircut so I find a barber shop/salon in the Rideau Center where we both get haircuts. Dave is now sporting a crew cut. It is a look I have never seen on him, but he looks great. After a welcome to Ottawa margarita, we visit the Byward Market. It is amazing. We are quickly reminded of the open air markets we visited in France. We do a little shopping….fresh bread, cheese, fruit, veggies, pastry. When we return from the market, there are several more boats along the wall. We meet the folks on "Hope" which has a hailing port from East Greenwich, RI. A couple from Boca Raton on Diva Di are heading in the opposite direction from us and "Daisy"whom we met when going through the Montreal locks takes a spot on the wall to await the folks from the "Blue Willow". We have a European style dinner. The forecast for tomorrow is rain. We hope to get a chance to see the changing of the guard at the Parliament building.

Dave locking through the staircase

Gail doing her part of locking

Locksmen at work

Climbing higher in the staircase

Booth in Byward Market

Byward Market

Dave's new look

July 7 & 8, 2015

It's a hazy, hot, and humid day in Ottawa. We walk the wall and meet several people. After lunch we transfer photos to our flash drive so that we can use the new digital picture frame we picked up in the Rideau Centre. It is quite a long process. At 4:00, we have cocktails with the Blue Willow, Diva Di, Eden, and Coeur Lion. Richard and Nicole are on this boat and we learn that they are on their second day of their Great Loop adventure. We all wish them well. Dave and I walk into the city for dinner and a gelato. We get back to the boat just as it begins to rain.

We awake in the morning to a beautiful day of sunshine and low humidity. We decide we really need some groceries so we walk into Ottawa again. We go to the Metro a small, but well stocked grocery store. We load up on bottled water and some basics. We "borrow" the shopping cart and push it all the way back to the boat. We are in a city and most people don't even seem to notice what we are doing. At the boat, we store our provisions and then walk back to the Metro store to return the cart. A quick stop at Byward Market to pick up some fresh corn and more tomatoes and then it's back to the boat to get ready to leave.

Bag Lady???

We leave the wall, but we do not get very far because the bridge is closed due to lunch hour traffic. We tie up to the wall, have lunch and await the return of the bridge keeper. At 1:15, the bridge is opened for us. It is a lift bridge. We head to Dow's Lake Pavilion for water and a pump out. We then lock through Hartwell Locks-9 & 10; Hogs Back Locks-11 & 12; and Black Rapids-Lock 13 where we stay for the night. Before entering this last lock of the day, we see a grass collecting machine. There is a lot of grass and foliage in the canal and lock system and every day we must check our strainers for the engine, generator, and air conditioner to make sure they are clean.

Lift bridge leaving Ottawa

Bridge's gear mechanism

Grass Catching Machine

Canada appears to provide its youth with many recreational opportunities and on our way to Lock 13 we see many kids enjoying themselves at a canoe club.

Canoe Club

July 9 & 10, 2015

We leave Black Rapids and plan to arrive at Long Island, a flight of three, locks 14, 15, and 16 by 9:00 so we can catch the first lock through. It is overcast most of the day. We lock through several locks and see the warning signs to be aware of the rapids as we make our way. We cruise the Rideau for the day. We are alone in all the locks until we reach the Merrickville Locks, 21, 22, and 23. In this flight of locks we are joined by a pontoon boat and a 38' Bayliner, a Canadian boat. As we are locking through, the Canadian woman asks me if we are staying in Merrickville. I answer that we plan to if there is room on the wall for us. She informs me that they are staying there and that they have reserved a spot with electricity. I simply smile and say that we hope to get a spot. In the next lock of the flight, the lock master tells Dave we can have the last spot on the wall with electricity for the night. My Canadian "friend" is not happy when she learns this. In very loud French she complains to her husband that they have given the last spot to the Americans. She goes on and on and on. I simply continue to lock through, never letting on that I have heard and understood everything she has said. In the last lock of the flight she is still complaining, only this time it is to the lock master. He calmly explains to her, in French, that we are getting the spot on the wall because we were first, not because we are Americans. She finally calms down when the lock master gives her a spot on the "blue line" and an extension cord so she can have 15 amp power for the night. As the lock master helps us into our spot on the wall, I apologize to him in French for upsetting the lady by getting the last spot. He laughs hysterically when he realizes I have understood everything that has been being said and the Canadian lady was totally unaware of this. To be honest, this woman was the first unpleasant Canadian that we have encountered.

Merrickville is a delightful, historic town and Dave and I walk into the village for dinner. We have a nice dinner at a pub with a Charles Dickens theme. The menus are actually tattered Dickens novels with the menus made to fit inside the book. Very clever.

Approaching the dam

The Dam

On Friday we leave by 8:00 to get to our first lock of the day, Kilmarnock, lock 24. Again we are alone in this lock and in the Edmonds lock #25. The passage between these two locks is through one of the Rideau's dammed, lake-like regions. It consists of drowned land with hidden stumps and swampy, reedy shores. At locks 26 and 27, Old Slys Lock, we are joined once again by our Canadian friends from the previous day. The next lock is Smiths Falls, lock 29A. This lock has replaced a flight of three locks, 28, 29, and 30. The old locks are still in place today and can be seen on your left as you enter the modern 145 foot long hydraulic lock which will raise us 26 feet. We had planned to stop here for a few hours, but it is very busy and we continue instead. The Canadians, however, stay in Smiths Falls. We enter the Poonamalie Lock, #32. While speaking with the lock master, we learn that the lock master's house at this lock is still occupied today. It was built during the War of 1812 as a "Defendable Lock House". During this time the lock master was in charge of defending the canal from any attacks by the Americans. The gentleman who lives in the house today must bring any supplies he needs, groceries, lumber, furniture, etc. across the bridge formed by the closed doors of the lock. This is his only access to the house and it is a very narrow passage. It is very interesting to imagine living like this. After locking through this lock, we begin our passage across the Lower Rideau Lake, the Big Rideau Lake and the Upper Rideau Lake. Our next lock is the Narrows, #35. It is located in a beautiful setting. There are people enjoying themselves on their boats, at picnic tables, in lawn chairs. This is the first time we have seen so many people just sitting around relaxing and enjoying the day. It is almost as if we are being judged on our locking ability as they watch us in the lock. This lock is also the first lock in which we will descend. Up until this point we have been rising in each lock. There is no room at the Narrows so we lock through the Newboro Lock, #36 and spend the night there.

Along the Rideau

Rocks on both sides. Stay in the center!

Exiting a narrow passageway

Beautiful, crystal clear water

July 11, 2015

We leave the Newboro Lock for our final day of cruising before we reach Kingston. The scenery is breathtaking and varies between wide open spaces on the Rideau Lakes, narrow, crooked passageways, narrow gorges, and islands with cottages and docks. We continue to Jones Falls, lock # 39, 40, 41, & 42. This lock is considered to be one of the most impressive engineering feats on the canal. It is a complex four stage lock with a center pool. Sweeney's House is the old lock tender's house. It is completely restored to reflect the way the first lock tender and his family lived. We decide to lock through and then stop on the other side for lunch. We eat at the snack bar affiliated with Hotel Kenny, built in 1877. This hotel is the Rideau's oldest resort. After lunch, we lock through the next three locks until we reach the Kingston Mills flight of four locks, #46, 47,48, & 49. This is where the river once turned grist and sawmills. The Kingston Mills blockhouse is restored to its 1830s condition. Interpreters dressed as 19th-century militiamen give musket-firing demonstrations, answer questions about the exhibits and explain the military's involvement in the canal's history. A home formerly provided for the lock master is converted into a small museum and a small power generating station now stands on the site of the old mill. We decide to spend the night on the wall below the lock. After dinner, Dave discovers that the center bilge pump is not working. He also needs to tighten the "stuffing box" once again. Alas, more repairs for "At Last". Tomorrow we will try to find a place in Kingston to accomplish the task.