Brian H arrived from Bancroft on Saturday to keep Andy in check while I was away, he brought with him a sturdy new step for the boat that Brian V had made. Andy and Brian took me to the airport early Sunday morning for my flight to Halifax, upon arrival there I was met by Christine and Graham Williams. Graham is my Eastern Star counterpart- I am the representative to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in Manitoba, and he is the rep from there to Manitoba. As Christine drove to Truro, I got to know a little about them. We stopped for lunch, and then checked into the hotel, which would be home for the next 4 nights. Later we went out for supper, with a couple more Star members. On Monday morning, I registered, and then went for pictures at some point, and to a Grand Representative’s meeting. That evening at the informal opening of the Wishes do come true Grand Chapter of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, I was introduced along with lots of other people. There was an amazing group in attendance from Manitoba, included in the picture is a PGM of Nova Scotia, that was initiated into O.E.S. in Portage la Prairie.
The next few days we spent in meetings, watching how this Grand Chapter conducts business and comparing it to what we do in Manitoba. On the Tuesday night, there was a western themed banquet, followed by line-dance instructions. On Wednesday night was the installation of the new officers, following that was a reception.
On Thursday, Christine and Graham took me to their place in Dartmouth, so they could drop off their stuff, we then toured around Darthmouth and Halifax, before they took me to the airport to catch my 5:40 plane back to Ottawa.
While in Halifax, I tried some local wine, cider and food- donair, when I got back to Ontario, I also found donair flavoured chips in the grocery store.
While I was away, Andy and Brian did some playing in the dinghy, going all the way to Long Island lock one day and then up to Burritts Rapids the next. They had to replenish the gas in the dinghy when they got home. They were also stopped by the OPP, and questioned on a number of things—only got a warning, no fines. The crew from Hurst marina came up with a plan to fix and reinforce the solar panels on the bimini and also put a filter on the black water tank. All this work was completed on Friday.
On Saturday morning after paying the bill, we set off for the next lock which was Burritt’s Rapids, arriving at 1:30 and obtained the last spot that had power.
On Sunday, we continued on down the rideau, passing through the 3 locks at Merrickville, we couldn’t stop because of high water the docks were not available for use. So, we continued on to Kilmarnock and went through the lock and tied up. We spent 2 nights there and had a good visit with Fred and Helen from J’ai Fini, which we had met last summer up on Georgian Bay.
On Tuesday morning, we left and travelled to Smith Falls, and tied up on the wall with power. Tuesday was hot 34 feeling like 44, we were glad were able to run the fan and AC. Jamie and Sheri, boating friends from Victoria Harbour stopped by for a visit, as Sheri lives in Smith Falls. We went out for supper at the Lockmaster’s Tap house, which is nearby, and ran into new boating friends that we had just met in Burritt’s Rapids. Tuesday night there was a huge thunderstorm with winds, and in the morning several trees had been knocked down in the park. Wednesday, Sheri came by and took me grocery shopping for a few things, when we returned to the boat, we had finally heard from Karl, who was suppose to come and install our new alternator—he wasn’t able to make it. So, we rescheduled now having it done in Kingston on Sunday afternoon or Monday. We will stay in Smith Falls another night and then head quickly down the Rideau, to ensure we are close to Kingston for the Sunday bridge opening. My knitting project has had a bit of a setback– I somehow managed to complete the 4 rows of pattern the wrong way, so I am learning to unknit– slow process, and I don’t feel like doing it in this heat– it will have to wait for another day!
Margaret gave me a colouring book of flowers- I’ve already started colouring and it is calming! 
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 day
we passed by Belleville ended up stopping at 2:30 at Trent Port Marina for the night. 
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.
and were replaced by Brian and Muriel.
here’s the view from the 4th floor,
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.
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.
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. 
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.
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
So once again we did 7 locks and traveled a total of 14.1 miles. We are now just 39.8 miles from Ottawa.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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 setting
with a couple of bull frogs providing some noise. Today’s total 9 locks and 33 .2 miles, we only have 53 miles until Ottawa.
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.
Saw this painted on the side of a building along the canal.
We were out of the Oswego canal and into Lake Ontario by 8:45. The water was almost like glass.
Here’s the lighthouse in the harbor and Fort Ontario from the water.
and here is the lighthouse on the tip of nine mile point.
The wind turbines were on Wolfe Island I think.
After they left we went to the Iron Duke pub for supper.
Cruising ON BUSINESS 