August 3 through 7, 2024 Stops on the Rideau Canal
August 3 - 5, Smith Falls, Ontario
As mentioned in the last article, we arrived in Smith Falls at 5:00 after a very long, hot day. We did walk across the river to the downtown and found a pub for dinner. We really needed a cold drink and grub! After dinner, we walked downtown for about 3 or 4 blocks, then back to the boat. Our observations: several nice murals, several restaurants, a bakery, some lovely churches. Not many people about – this is a ‘sort of’ holiday in Canada, Colonel By Day is on Monday. It is not an official national holiday, but many businesses do give employees time off or they just take it off. Colonel By built the Rideau Canal. He evidently spent an exorbitant amount doing it ($350), and took three years to do it. He was chastised by the government for his extravagance! Queen Victoria, then a young woman, was advised she should make Toronto the capital of Canada. She said, no! The yanks were going to invade and burn Toronto – make it Ottawa. Ottawa, at that time, was nothing much – just a few buildings and people. Of course, making it the capital made a huge difference in that story. Anyway, here we were on a Saturday night of a holiday weekend – all the restaurants closed up at 8:00 and nothing else was moving….
Next day was Sunday...again, a holiday weekend. We did get some grocery shopping done and Dan was able to purchase almost all the oil he needed to do an oil change on the engines. It was again very hot, so much of the day was spent just sitting in front of a fan! Our neighboring boats were mostly folks from Montreal, speaking French for the most part. I did have a very nice conversation with a woman boater when I complimented her on her English. I said I wished I could speak French as well as she spoke English. Turns out she spoke only French growing up, but for a few years she worked as a medical transcriptionist in an English hospital – her English got very good. She said she started dreaming in English! That job was years ago, and so her practice of English is not very frequent.
The last night we were there, we had rain and a temperature change! Very welcome indeed. We all planned to get into the lock located right there when they opened the next morning.
Well, plans change! A tour boat had come the night before and had first dibs on entering the lock. This boat was pretty amazing – constructed specifically for the Ridean Canal, it fit into the locks with about 2 feet to spare! So, we all waited until a later locking.
August 6, 2024 Next stop Davis Lock.
We transited 5 locks that day, such a more pleasant experience with temperatures in the low 70’s! Also, this part of the Rideau had gotten much more interesting and beautiful. To see the Garmin screen was pretty interesting - there are markers that indicate the edge of the channel to stay within, and following them looked a little like a route that would be laid out to train someone on a bike or motorcycle! And, going outside the channel in these waters is especially hazardous – big rocks! Very unforgiving.
Our time at Davis Lock was pretty interesting! After the group of us boats who had locked together all day got tied up, we all were walking around and chatting. The most interesting lock full started to come through. The first thing we saw was an AMAZING wooden antique boat called The Dolphin. Along with Dolphin, there were 20 or more canoes! The canoes were all in a group, mostly guys, mostly young, and they were accompanied by a pontoon boat. They all got squeezed into the lock. As they came up, we found that they were all stopping for the night at the lock! The pontoon boat had everyone’s gear, tents, and such. I asked them if they were Boy Scouts (even though they looked a little to old for that). Someone said “Something like that!”. Never did find out what the group was, but they seemed to be a Christian group. The got their tents all set up, cooked dinner, milled around for a while, then all was quiet.
The Dolphin docked right across the dock from us – way to show us up! The entire boat is wooden, and ALL the wood was varnished and polished perfectly. The couple who came in the boat are hired captain and mate. The owners weren’t aboard. The boat is 95 years old, and has been owned by the same family since it was built! Amazing that the families generations have been able to keep and maintain the boat so beautifully. Apparently, the current family are ready to rid themselves of that burden, and the boat is for sale (for $1.2 million!). Next morning, three middle aged couples arrived and went on board. The canoeists cooked breakfast and then had a meeting, looked like prayers and Eucharist were celebrated.
August 7, 2024
We planned to get to Kingston, Ontario that day, which is the end of the Rideau Canal. The weather was still very pleasant, and we enjoyed the cruising day. We did have to wait an hour and a half at one lock series, which put us later than we had hoped. The countryside we went through these last couple of days is spectacular, and I’m sure my pictures won’t do it justice. As we approached the Kingston Mills locks, the last series of locks before Kingston, we were told we were too late – their last lockage had just finished. So there were 4 of us boats who were stopped for the night. Another quiet night.
August 8, 2024
After waiting for some boats to lock up and exit the Kingston Mills locks, the 4 boats who had waited over night got to lock down. The total of the 4 locks was 45 feet. Such a beautiful spot – solid rock on the right side and beautiful trees on the left. The weather looked like another fine day, so after exiting the locks at 11:45, we proceeded on the ‘home stretch’ to Kingston. The last few miles were in the rain. We got into our slip at the marina and settled down for the night. It looks like it will be raining for the next 2 days, so we will just sit in this marina. Nice to be still for a couple of days – chores can be done!
We had decided (actually, I decided) that we needed a few days’ break from boat life. So, one of the chores was to figure out the logistics. We will travel across the boarder to Clayton, NY, which is in the Thousand Islands. We do want to spend some time there, but will do so on our return from home. We have a rental car reserved. We’ll be home for a week, then drive back to continue on with the rest of the cruising season. One reason to cross the border is (1) this is the closest we’ll be for the rest of the cruising season, (2) we can buy diesel fuel to fill our tanks at about one half of what the Canadians charge! Amazingly, the last time we filled our tanks was in Burlington, Vermont, and we still have about half our tanks’ capacity!
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