July 8-11

Margaret took us to one of her favourite grocery store’s – Farm Boys—amazing, it’s an Ontario chain that has lots of local produce. So far I’ve tried the fresh salsa, veggies and wonderful sausages that were bought.   Friday night we went up to the Trident bar and had a couple of drinks, we had given them a Boundary Creek burgee, and it was hanging up on the wall in the bar.

On Saturday, Margaret picked us up and we went to her place so we could meet her and Mike’s cats.  All very different! We then went for a little ride out of Kingston to the Brass Point Bridge, which we had passed through twice when we took the Rideau canal.  Unknown to us, was that there is a “truck” and smoker that serves wonderful pork about a ¼ mile up the road. We got the family  rib meal, and went back to Margaret to eat it.  Had we known this existed when we were traveling the Rideau, I think we would have tied up and gone for food.  We can’t thank Mike and Margaret enough for introducing us to Trident Marina.  Once I retire, we’re talking about spending our summers in the Thousand Islands.Margaret gave me a colouring book of flowers- I’ve already started colouring and it is calming! On Sunday morning we said good-bye to Trident and started moving west.  We passed Kingston, Amherst Island ( I did wave Susan )   and entered the Bay of Quinte.   We went towards  Picton and then proceeded north and anchored out in Hay Bay, near Ram Island.There was a pair of Swans in the area, that looked so graceful!We were in about 8 feet of water and near a weed bed.  Andy was able to find several Bass and Pickerel hiding in the weeds on Sunday night and he fished a little more on Monday morning before we left. It was a great daywe passed by Belleville ended up stopping at 2:30 at  Trent Port Marina for the night. Best marina we have encountered on the Loop!   Very new floating docks, security, free laundry, free  phone calls, 10 clean shower rooms, boaters lounge, canteen with hot dogs and Kawartha Ice cream.The downtown is only a few blocks away I can see the Metro grocery store from the boat.  We had fresh fish and asparagus cooked on the BBQ for supper tonight cooked by the Captain.

Hope my  nephew Chris has a great birthday, tomorrow and that my nephew Craig and his  wife, Marni have a great anniversary!

Tomorrow the Trent Severn Waterway beckons!

July 2-8

We left the wall in Ottawa on Saturday morning at 10:50, after watching the changing on the guard on parliament hill. We then returned to the boat, Canada Day is one of the few times when Parks allow boats to tie up on both sides of the canal- the wall was full.

We left at 10:50 and made it to Hartwell locks by 12:00 and locked through.  We then tied up, as this was the crew change-off point.  After having Pizza, Brian and Helen left us and were replaced by Brian and Muriel.We continued down the canal and went through 2 more sets of locks, there were some kayak races taking place, so we had to go very slow for a mile or two.We ended up tying up at t-pier at the top of the Long Island flight. Both Brian and Andy did some fishing, Brian caught a bass.  We played cribbage, here’s the sunset.On Sunday we stopped in Burritts Rapids for an Anniversary lunch at the Lock 17 Bistro. Hard to believe we’ve been married 6 years.  Andy had bought me a set of coffee mugs with Tom Thomson pictures on them that  I had admired in Ottawa.We continued on and made it as far as  the bottom of the Merrickville flight, we got there about 3:00, so Muriel and I had a little time to go in and do some shopping.  Andy and Brian also went into town for ice cream and to County Bumpkins, and replenished the fudge box. Here’s the view of the lock  early in the morning- not a ripple.  We went through the Merrickville locks first thing in the morning (9:00) and continuedthrough 3 more before reaching Smith Falls.  I saw this cannon in someone’s yard just before we reached the combined lock with a  25 foot rise.

     Once we were tied up,  Andy, Brian and I went to the Rideau Canal centre,here’s the view from the 4^th floor,and Muriel went to check out the nearby stores.  At 2:45, we got back on the boat and went through the Smith Falls detached lock (#31) and tied up under a tree on the wall.  Muriel and I went to a nearby grocery store, whereas Brian and Andy went to the liquor stores (Beer and Wine are not sold in the same store).  Andy, Brian and Muriel played a ring s game, while I read a book.  We had BBQ steak and salad for supper, with fudge for dessert.Here’s a view of the train bridge at dusk, and again in the morning

On Tuesday, we had planned to go to Westport in Upper Rideau Lake, however they did not have space available.  It was another really hot day, so we anchored in a bay and 3 of us went for a swim.  The swim was quite refreshing, however when I climbed back up onto the boat, my left knee was “clicking” and I could hardly put weight on it.  Not good.  I kept it up and put on a knee brace to stabilize it.  We continued on to Newboro and went through the lock and tied up on the dock.  Brian and Muriel trekked to town to see Kilborne’s country store, I wasn’t up for a walk. That night we had another great BBQ’d ribs supper, and played cards in the evening. I didn’t sleep that well as I couldn’t get comfortable because of my knee.

On Wednesday we went through Chaffey’s, Davis, and the 4 Jones Falls locks,  We stopped at Jones Falls and Brian, Muriel and Andy walked up to the  keystone arch designed dam, my knee wasn’t up for it.

we then went on  to Upper Brewers  and made it there by 3:15.  We were lucky enough to get a docking spot with power- which was a good thing as the temperature had climbed to 32 with humidity in upper 80’s.   We turned on the AC to cool us down.  This is the only lock with showers, and it was nice to feel clean again.  My knee is still painful, but seems to be improving a little.  Thank goodness for Brian and Muriel, they took over some of my duties, as I’m moving a little slow!  In the evening we played cards.On Thursday morning , Muriel noticed this luna moth. I had never seen one-Amazing! We locked through Upper Brewers flight with 4 other boats- a houseboat and 3 smaller power boats and were through by 9:45.   We continued on to Lower Brewers and were through by 10:30. Enroute to the Kingston Mills flight, 2 of the smaller boats that we had locked with passed us and the houseboat at full speed creating a huge wake which almost swamped  us.  Not very respectful of the safety of fellow boaters!!  We made it through the flight by 1:30, there was some military exercises going on by the locks.We made the 2:00 opening of the Kingston Lasalle Causeway and continued on to the Trident Yacht club.  After tying up at 3:30 we had a goodbye drink with our crew mates Brian and Muriel, as they were leaving to go back to Bancroft. Margaret Vermeersch and Mike Ross, came to the marina around 6:00, and brought supper, this was the first time that I had met Brian’s sister.   I learned the difference between Pink and Blue roles from her, while Mike BBQ’d.  We had a great evening up in the clubhouse and Brenda and Rob, who we had previously met at Trident joined us for dessert.

Today, I’m going to catch up on laundry and cleaning, Margaret is going to take us shopping for groceries late this afternoon.  We will leave here in the next day or two and make our way to Trenton for the final phase of our journey- the Trent Severn Waterway.

June 27, 2016

After a relaxing evening,We left the wall around 9 am and continued down the canal towards Merrickville, we arrived there at about 10 and tied up on the blue wall.  Andy talked to the lock master and told him that we wanted to walk around town and would be back around noon to go through.  We went to the Friends of the Rideau Canal store as well as the museum.  We then checked out a number of stores on the main street and bought essentials like fudge and chips as well as a variety of mustards.  We locked through the 3 Merrickville locks and were out by 1:05,   This was followed by a lock at Clowes and a pair of locks at Nicholson.    We then went through the  Burritts Rapids lock

and tied up at the wall below the lock. We went across to the Lock 17 bistro for refreshments, as it was another blistering hot day.So once again we did 7 locks and traveled a total of 14.1 miles.  We are now just 39.8 miles from Ottawa.

June 28-30

Tuesday was a short lockless day, we went about 9 miles and arrived at Pirate Cove marina at 12:45.  We were about 5 miles from Kemptville, the service manager took Andy in on a beer run. In the afternoon, we went for a swim in their pool, which was quite refreshing and then relaxed. On Wednesday, we departed about 9 and headed back out on the canal the first 15 miles were lockless.

We then went through the Long Island flight of 3 at 12:05, the final lock in the flight #14, is the only original lock that remains.

We then passed through  the Black Rapids lock and the Hogs Back Lock. 

We arrived at the Hartwell lock, and stayed near the top, until about 4:00, as we wanted to stay on the blue dock at the bottom for the night, and this was only possible if we were there last.   Across the canal was this weed wacker.So a day with 7 locks and 26 miles.  We are now only 4.2 miles from downtown Ottawa.

On Thursday, we left at about 8:20 and proceeded down the canal, we had to wait for the Pretoria Vertical lift which didn’t open until 9.  There were already 9 other boats waiting when we got there.We had heard that some boats had been waiting since the night before, and many had come at 6 a.m.  The boats were waiting, to get through and get to the docks near downtown with Hydro.  It wasn’t a problem as there were 20 spots with power, and boats coming up the 8 step lock from the Ottawa River were restricted by the 9 a.m. opening of the locks.   We ended up being between the Mackenzie and Laurier bridges with Confederation Park on one side and National Defense/Shaw Centre on the other.Brian and Muriel came in the afternoon from Bancroft, and stayed for supper, they will be joining us on July 2^nd for the return trip down the Rideau to Kingston/Gananoque.We are likely not going to do the last 8 locks down to the Ottawa River, as we would only be going down and then returning  which would be a 2 hour trip down, waiting on the blue line and then another 2 hours to come back up.  Here’s a view of others  in the first 3 locks.

July 1^st

We had hoped to see the changing of the guard this morning, but too many people in the security lineup to get on to parliament hill.

We went to Major Park and enjoyed some of the activities there.    I went through the GFO display, send a message to the athletes in RIO,  and played trivia.  We then watched the 21 gun salute followed by the snowbirds fly over. We then met up with Veronique and her friends and brought them down to the canal to see the boat.Saw this sign and had to add it to the blog.  My husband wants to move to Ottawa now, because of the boating opportunities here.Here’s the view of the boat from the Laurier bridge.

Here’s our group prior to going out for supper.We went to Dunns for supper, which wasn’t the best experience- we made a complaint to the restaurant and the health dept.We wandered back down to Parliament hill to watch some of the entertainment, but there was still long lineups for security.  By the time we decided to get into line, the skies had opened again and  there was the 2nd thunderstorm of the day.  Here’s some people seeking shelter under a bridge.We watched the fireworks from the boat at 10, as  there was still light rain.  The show lasted 15 minutes.Since we missed the changing of the guard, we plan to go to parliament hill on Saturday before  we leave.

June 20-26

Sunday evening we went up to the clubhouse and met a number of the members who are retired and enjoy long weekends.

On Monday we remained at Trident Marina, awaiting Roger, a mechanic that had agreed to check out the hoses on the water heater.  He didn’t arrive until almost 6:30 and found a crack, which was the source of the coolant smell.  He said he would return on Tuesday and replace it.  That evening we again went up to the clubhouse and socialized with the remaining club members who like extra, extra long weekends. We had a huge rainstorm pass through while we were up there.

On Tuesday, Brian Vermeersch came in the late afternoon, after golfing in the area and instructed Andy on how to repair a cracked hand rail.  Roger came around 5:30 and replaced the coolant hose.  Brian then took us to Gananoque to do some reprovisioning and he spent the night.

Wednesday morning, Andy and Brian went to Gananoque and Kingston on errands.  In the early afternoon, we left Trident and began to explore the Thousand Islands.  We had learned that our Mooring pass entitled us to free docking at Parks Canada sites.    We went about 6 miles the first day and tied up to a dock on McDonald island.   We met another boater there that was a Kingston Power Squadron member, who did a boat safety check of our vessel. Parks Canada rents out these Otentiks–I think in Manitoba we call them Yurts.On Thursday morning, we left to do more exploring we went another 12 miles through the inside channel to the Thousand Islands bridge at stopped at Georgina Island for lunch.

   We visited with Brian and Anne, who were tied up there.  Andy gave them some advice on places to see in the North Channel. We also saw this island for sale- call if you are interested.We were then on the move again, we were told either Camelot of Endymion  had good docks to tie up to , so we proceeded west in search of Camelot.  Bur there was no room in Camelot- as one dock had a couple of house boats and the large dock was being repaired, so we went on to Endymion, which is ¼ miles from the Canada-US border.  We had a choice of mooring balls or fixed docks.  We decided on the fixed docks and Larry and Diane helped us tie up.

  Another absolutely gorgeous spot!

On Friday morning, we left the dock and returned to Trident Yacht club, as we were picking up Brian and Helen there for the Rideau canal adventure.

We left Trident just after 1pm and made the 3pm opening of the Lasalle causeway bridge.

We then proceeded up 4 miles to the first set of locks at Kingston Mills, this was  a flight of four locks and we were through by 16:40.   Some of the equipment used at the locks used to open the gates and the doors is original, and creates  Parks jobs for students.We had to go another 10 miles to our next lock at Lower Brewers and were through it by 18:05.  At times the water was around 5 feet,  lots of trees and we came upon this farm with cows.We wanted to get  through one more set of locks called Upper Brewer which was lock 44 and 43,  we made it through by 18:50 and was tied up to a dock with 4 other boats.  One was a looper called Bee Haven from N. Myrtle Beach  they had actually come up from Ottawa, so gave us some insight about the Rideau canal, and told us about  the traffic disruption by the sinkhole as well as the three amigo summit which was going to shut down the lock system next week.  The facilities at this lock were great, showers, power  and great scenery.  This heron was watching from above the lock in the evening for fish, and when one came into the lock  he would fly down for dinner.Andy made pancakes Saturday morning, and we left by 9.  The locking hours are 9-7 on weekends,  We went through 7 locks Friday and up about 80 feet in 15 miles.  We arrived at the Swing bridge at 9:36  and  the Jones Falls flight of 3 at  11:15, we were through the last Jones Fall lock by 12:20.    We continued on and went through the Davis Lock  and Sand Lake followed by Chaffeys Lock and Opinicon Lake.  We  then went through Newboro Lake and arrived at the lock.  There was no space on the upper side so we stayed   below the lock.   For the day we went through  6 locks and rose 79 feet.    We walked into town and checked out Kilborne’s Country store- amazing it had food, nice clothing, shoes, furniture, kitchen ware and furniture,  It likely had other stuff too- I don’t think I went into all the rooms.   We then stopped outside and had ice cream.Our next stop was the  Stirling Lodge where we had supper.  Three of us had fish and chips, and Andy must have caught a bug—because all he wanted to do when he got back to the boat was fish.  Here he is with one of his new friends.On Sunday, we were awoken to the sound of boats- as there was a Bass tournament on the lake starting at 7am.We went through the Newboro lock at 9 with 4 other boats,we then passed through upper Rideau lake, after crossing it we went through the narrows lock, which was our first lock on our downhill journey to Ottawa. After the lock we  entered Big Rideau Lake, which is the largest lake on the canal.  There were some very nice cottages/ houses on this lake, once we were out of the lake we entered the Rideau  River at mileage 64.5.  The locks were fairly close together, we proceeded through 7 locks  between 12:50 and 3:30 and only went  a total of 9.9 miles.   Our last lock was Kilmarnock at mileage 53.9,and we decided to call it quits for the day.  We had a little rope mishap, that made this a requirement.    I had been complaining for days that it was too hot, so once we were pulled through this lock, I got to go swimming under the boat to untangle a rope which was twisted around the prop.  Quite refreshing, except that I was in swamp water rather than a lake.  We are the only ones at this lock for the night, and it’s a nice rural settingwith  a  couple of bull frogs providing some noise.  Today’s total  9 locks and  33 .2 miles, we only have 53 miles until Ottawa.

Last night, Andy gave the railings another coat of Cetol, and was entertained by the baby ducks, which were curious as to what he was doing, and kept swimming by the boat.

We also saw this  boat being taken on a  sea trials- they are made here at the Kingston marina by Metalcraft  which is  known for their fire boats, this may  be for some other type of fire fight.

June 18, 2016

Andy returned the car and we departed from Kingston Marina at about 1145, so that we could make the noon opening of the Kingston LaSalle Causeway.  It was a great day, hot, low 30’s, very little wind.   Leaving Kingston we went by Fort Henry and CFB Kingston.The trip was very scenic with lots of little islands, We are in the region called the thousand islands.   We took the Bateau Channel and cruised past some cottages and amazing homes, as well this cruise boat passed us, as we waited for the cable ferry to finish it’s crossing.We made it to Trident Yacht club by about 1:45,and tied up to our slip.  We were able to come to this marina, as a guest of Margaret Vermeersch, as she is away in Europe and hasn’t put her boat in the water as yet.  There is mainly sailboats here- but that’s OK as our boat only looks like a trawler it was actually made by C & C sailboats back in 1985- so we fit in.  I’m hoping Erin had a great Birthday!!

June 19

The old guy made scones this morning for breakfast, nice treat- he hasn’t made them since Myrtle Beach.  Andy then did some polishing and staining on the outside of the boat, while I cleaned the guestroom for our visitors- Brian and Helen who will be joining us on our trek up the Rideau canal later this week .  It is another gorgeous day- thermometer just hit 30, there is a bit of a breeze so not sweltering.  Enjoying the weather and reading another book- Life is grand!