August 23-28, 2022 Lake Ontario & Welland Canal

Lake Ontario has a North Channel, same name as the one north of Lake Huron which is also in Canadian waters.  It feels like a wide river with land on both sides and many islands. It is well marked. There are anchorages along this channel too and we anchored for the night in Sandy Cove near Belleville Ontario. It was a large anchorage and 4 other boats joined us. 

The next day, we continued west in the North Channel and pulled into the Trent River where the Trent-Severn Canal System begins. We were here in 2014 with Waterford. A new marina, Trent Port Marina has opened since we were here and we thought we would try it. It is lovely. The best bathrooms ever and free laundry. There is a grocery store, drug store, library and Italian Restaurant very close-who could ask for more! 

Our next day cruise was interesting, we left the Bay of Quinte and entered the Murray Canal. We did not realize that there were 2 lift bridges in this section. The first bridge we were lucky and only had to wait 10 minutes for it to open. The second bridge, Brighton Road was a first for us because the Bridge Tender charged to go through and it had to be cash because he extended a pole with a cup on it as you passed through and the charge was $5.25. From the canal, we cruised out into the main part of Lake Ontario. The water is very pretty, clear and blue-it reminded us of the Bahama's water. It was only 50 ft deep where we were. 

The next stop was at Colburg Marina. A cute town with a beach, condos, shops and restaurants close by. From there, we cruised back out into the pretty waters of Lake Ontario west to Toronto. We have been to Toronto before, by boat and train so we didn't feel the desire to go into the big city. Instead we found a dead-end channel on the outskirts of the city and threw our anchor. We were adjacent to an industrial plant on one side and a Marine boatyard on the other. Who knew a group of partiers decided to throw a dance party in a small park next to a tall smokestack on the Plant's property. They had disco lights and a DJ. The party was close enough to us that we could understand the DJ and hear all of words to the music. Luckily, we liked their choice of music.  I decided to join them from a distance and I danced on my back deck for awhile but I tired out way before they did @5:45 AM! 

We crossed Lake Ontario the next morning from the north shore to the south side, headed to the Welland Canal. We experienced a bit of a swell during our crossing but it was fairly comfortable. We tied to the pleasure craft wall in front of Lock #1 on the north end of the Welland. We were all alone until 5:30 PM when some sailboats emptied out of the lock. One of them tied up behind us. Shortly after we tied up, a silver Mercedes pulled up and the older gentleman came over and introduced himself and gave us a boat card with a Krogen-42 pic on it. He had done the loop on it several years ago. He now lives along the canal & enjoys watching the boats. Love meeting so many interesting people. 

Prior to our arrival, we had registered and paid our $200 and spoke to one of the lock operators on the phone. The Welland Canal System located in Ontario Canada is a shipping channel that connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. The Welland is part of the St Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. There are 8 locks. These locks are huge because huge Lake & Ocean Freighters lock through them daily during the summer months. This canal is the 4th reconstruction. The initial one was built in 1829. This current canal's construction began in 1913 but wasn't finished till 1932 due to WW1. The main channel is 350 ft wide and 30 ft deep. It is wide enough to allow two large freighters to pass side by side going in opposite directions. The locks are 80 ft wide and 766 ft long. We traveled south, so we went up a total of 326 feet in those 8 locks. 

When a pleasure boat is transiting "up" which is south, the canal system has a requirement for each boat to have at least 3 persons on board due to the pressure and turbulence of the water coming into the locks to raise us. We were very lucky, we had 4 on board and all four of us were kept very busy. It took us 8 hours to complete, which is faster than the average time. It can take up to 12 hours on a busy day. Again, we were lucky that we have friends who live in Canada and own a beautiful B&B along the Welland Canal and they offered to help us lock through. We are so thankful for Terry and Dale! We definitely could not have done it without either of them. In the middle locks, it took all of our strength, our bow thruster and fenders to keep our boat from smashing into the wall of the canal. We definitely celebrated when we arrived at the Port Colbourne Marina on Lake Erie. Actually we celebrated @ Robinsong B&B, in Dale and Terry's Tiki Bar. 

August 11-21, 2022 Rideau Canal, Ontario CA

We needed to leave Kingston at a specific time to make the opening of the bridge which takes us to the Rideau Canal. The boat docked behind us had to move to let us out. It was unusual for us to be in a position where we had to have another boat move for us to leave. Luckily, the owners were very accommodating and were there when we needed them. Our second hurdle was making the bridge that opened only at the top of every hour, so we planned to be there for the 9:00 AM opening. Well, when we approached the bridge, there was a sign and a man in a small row boat with a construction hardhat and orange vest/lifejacket on and he stopped us. The bridge was under de-construction and they had built an even lower bridge to move the equipment back & forth. They were not honoring the hourly opening and the man who had stopped us could not tell us when the bridge would open. We had to wait a very long time for the bridge to open along with a few other boats who came up behind us. 

We finally arrived at the first set of locks (flight of 4) and pulled up to the almost full wall where boats who want to enter the lock are supposed to wait. We were informed by the very sweet (Canadian, you know) Lock Master that the Kawartha Voyageur tour boat is cruising downstream, (the opposite direction, we would be locking up) and needs to lock through all 4 locks before any of us can enter. She was apologetic when she told us that it would be at least a 2 hour wait. Not a great start to our first day in the Rideau. Finally the tour boat came by; we had seen the same boat in 2014 when we were transiting the Trent Severn Canal. The Kawartha alternates yearly between the two canals-our luck, we hit it in both canals. This tour boat was constructed to fit these canals so the bow raises and the pilot house drops down. 

The Rideau Canal System is a 126 mile long canal that links the Ottawa River, at Ottawa, with the Saint Lawrence River at Kingston, Ontario. Its 46 locks raises boats from the Ottawa River upstream along the Rideau River to the Rideau Lakes, and from there drops downstream along the Cataraqui River to Kingston and the St Lawrence River. The Canal opened in 1832 for commercial shipping but remains today purely for pleasure boating. It is operated by Parks Canada and is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is a modest charge to transit the locks but considering you can stay free along the walls for the night, it's a good deal. 

After more than a 2 hour wait, it was finally our turn to lock through. We were with 3 other boats, 2 smaller in front of us and 1 our size next to us. The Lock Master was very nice and helped with our lines. Most of the people working the locks are young. It is a physically demanding job-they manually crank the large gates shut and control the water level. Yet they are friendly and appear happy with their jobs. I tried to tip the Lock Master but she wouldn't take it so I gave her a pretty sachet that I had just bought at a gift shop. In the 4th lock, I think all of us were getting tired and the big boat next to us had some difficulty getting in and I had to fend off the bow of their boat-luckily no damage. It took us 5 hours to go 8 miles and get through 4 locks. We tied up for the night on the wall after the 4th lock. Our plan was to transit part of the canal starting in Kingston and maybe go halfway. We have been to Ottawa in our RV so did not need to go that far. The way our day was turning out, we weren't sure how far we'd get. 

The next morning, we left @ 8:30 AM with 3 other boats, all from the U.S. They had been tied up to the wall with us for the night. The next lock was open and ready for us-no waiting-Yahoo! It was a flight of 2 and we locked through both locks with the same 3 boats. We were cruising Cranberry Lake on the way to the next locks when we decided to take a detour. We turned off into Whitefish Lake and then passed through a narrow opening into a beautiful Fjord called Mortons Bay. We anchored in a pretty spot below a high granite cliff. There was only one other boat in the area. The nice Canadians in the other boat hiked up the granite cliff and gave us some photos of Day Dreams. 

After lunch, we got out the kayak and paddled the length of the Fjord. We saw 6 loons, a few of those were young ones. Later in the day, three loons came very close to Day Dreams. It was quiet, relaxing  and beautiful in the anchorage. We liked this much better than locking so we stayed 3 nights. We explored the area by dinghy, kayak and stand up board. There were some day boaters that came to swim and hike. At night, we enjoyed our solitude with the loons serenading and the owls hooting. 

When we left the anchorage, we had a few weeds on the anchor chain and a tree of weeds on the anchor. We had watched other boats struggling with the weeds and we observed one smart boater who had strapped a knife on the end of his boat pole to cut the weeds and that is what Doug did and it worked really well. 

The day we left the anchorage, we continued along the canal and transited 7 locks. We were alone in the chambers for the first 5 locks. By the 6th & 7th lock, it became very busy. For the 6th lock, we had to wait because they completely filled the chamber. We were OK with waiting because we don't like to be that tight with other boats. Between those locks, we cruised through some very narrow channels with blind curves, luckily we never met any boats coming the other way in those tight passages. We also went through some shallow areas and did bump something once. This area is tighter than the Dismal Swamp. The scenery is very pretty with lots of lush green trees and thick foliage. 

We decided it was time for another detour, this time to the small town of West Port. Many boats on the Rideau take this detour. We tied onto the Marina's face dock, staying 2 nights. We hiked to Foley Mountain Park for a great view of the Marina and surrounding area. Canadians are so helpful, they spray painted the poison ivy along the trail, orange. I walked into town town and helped the local economy a bit. We ate dinner at a charming house/restaurant called the Cove, on their multi tiered deck overlooking the water while we listened to live music. 

It took us 6 days to do 14 locks. We decided we weren't interested in doing anymore of the next 36 locks. We had been told and read that we saw the prettiest section. An executive decision was made by the Captain and the Admiral agreed, so we turned around. 

On our way back, we stopped @ Brown's Marina for a pump-out. the woman told us the usual charge for a pump-out is $35 (record high price for us) but since we didn't have much, she was kind (Canadian) and only charged us $28. With the exchange rate around 30%, that's much more reasonable. 

We locked through 2 locks and then tied up for the night @ Chaffeys Lock lower wall which even offered power. There was a charge of $50 for the use of hydro (electricity). The famous Opinion Restaurant and Resort is at this lock and we were told by many not to miss it. We made a reservation for the restaurant and it did not disappoint. There are new owners for the resort, who own Shopify which is Canada's equivalent of Amazon. They have put a lot of money into the place and it shows. We strolled through the well landscaped grounds, enjoyed a delicious dinner on the patio, and had sorbet from the ice cream shop for dessert. 

Jones Falls Lock

It was a bit easier retracing our steps. We locked through Davis' 2 locks and Jones Falls flight of 4 locks without too much delay and no issues. When we decided to turn around instead of continuing on-we said we would rather go back and anchor for 2 more nights in Mortons Bay and that is what we did. We picked a slightly different spot to throw the anchor and there were no other boats in the area when we arrived. Our loons were still around and quite vocal especially after dark. The stars were bright and twinkling. We did take the dinghy back to Jones Falls to buy some more delicious Ginger cookies we found at the Ice Cream Store there.

Doug's a pro now!

After 2 nights, we left the anchorage and did not run into any boats in the narrow passageways-again, feel very lucky. We transited 2 more locks @ Upper Brewer than tied up to their lower wall for the night. The temperature has been in the 80's which is considered hot here. 

On our last day, Day 11, we left early to beat the rush to complete the canal. We went through the lower Brewer Lock with 1 solo woman in a kayak-she didn't take up much room. Pulled up to the Kingston Mill Flight of 4 locks and there was 1 boat waiting on the wall. We tied up behind him. The lock doors were closed and the nice guy on the other boat told us that 3 boats were locking though so it would be about 30 minutes. The half hour ended up being 2 hours and it was raining by then. This is why we chose not to do more of the canal. While we were waiting those 2 hours, 4 more boats pulled up, so much for beating the rush. We locked through all 4 locks with a full chamber. It was a bit tight but everyone behaved and were very friendly. It took 3 hours to lock through the flight of 4. We missed the opening of the construction bridge so we had to wait a half hour to get through the bridge. Another long day! We were docked back at Confederate Basin Marina in Kingston, ON just in time for cocktails.