St. Lawrence to Ottawa River June 27

We left Montreal on Saturday June 27. To get back to our route we had to back track about two miles, do a 180 turn to the right, and head up into the St. Lawrence seaway canal. Within a few minutes we reached our first lock.


I was a little apprehensive about this portion of the trip from Montreal to Ottawa, and it was mainly due to the locks. There are two locks on the St. Lawrence seaway that are "industrial strength" size locks and I wasn't quite sure what to do at each lock. But we learned fast. We pulled up to the Saint Lambert lock pictured. We had to tie up at the floating dock, climb the ladder to the phone booth and call the lock master to tell them we were wanting to lock through. Also, we had to purchase a $25 lock ticket at the credit card machine in the phone booth. This was later given to a lock worker in the lock. (although we found out later that they will take actual cash.)





These locks for ocean going vessels looked huge to our little boat. In these locks the lockworkers threw a polypropylene line down to the bow and stern and tie it to a bollard at the top of the lock. Sometimes it took a couple tosses to get it down the 60-70 feet to us. As we had worked out, Kaye handled the stern line and I handled the bow line.










At the St. Catherine lock we had to wait for a large freighter to come out. While our boat seems small in the lock these freighters look like they barely fit.












After about 25 miles on the St. Lawrence we reached the Ottawa River. There were two locks on the Ottawa.


The 65' Carrillon Lock, with a dam on the left side.















An unusual lock in that the lock door raises up.




Inside the lock, we were tied up to a floating dock. The lock seemed huge and these ladders going up the inside give some idea of the scale.










Our first night after Montreal was tied up on a canal wall at the Saine-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock. This was part of the historic lock system so it was covered under our Seasonal Pass. We met a couple from Ontario that were intersted in our boat. We gave them a tour. We were surprised at how many people have admired our boat. We think that the shape (tug like) is unusual for Canada. As of the date of this blog entry, we probably have given 5- 6 tours to people who seemed interested in it, including a government lock operator. Maybe I should be asking the American Tug company for referral commissions.

Our other interesting experince at Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue, besides the town we walked through, were the Mayflys. At first I thought there were flower blossoms landing on the boat. The next morning we learned about Mayflys that covered the top surface of the boat and with the dew did not sweep off easily. We understand these insects with large transparent wings and long tan bodies live for only about 48 hours. They were pretty but a nusiance.

Montreal June 23-26

Our marina was right next to the old town of Montreal. A short walk from the boat was the Place Jacques-Cartier, a square made by the city in the first half of the 19th century. Street performers do their thing for crowds on the square in restaurants that line it.



















We have continued to be impressed by way Canadians prepare outdoor spaces with plants and flowers. They have beautifully designed gardens and like to spell out words or symbols using plants. This is not unique to Quebec since we see this all over Canada. Apartments have window boxes with flowers. Houses have well cared for landscaping.

For a good overview of the city we signed up for a Gray Line tour. This 1 1/2 hour tour took us to historical sights, different neighborhoods and, tourist spots. We saw several Catholic Cathedrals, a predominate religion of French Quebecois. One of the largest churches is the Nortre Dame Basilica first constructed in 1829. It is of Neo-Gothic architecture. The inside was open, for a small fee, to view the finely crafted interior.

Another stop on the tour bus was in Olympic Village. Montreal hosted the 1976 Olympics. The pictures show the sports arena (track & field I think) with a roof supported by wires from the tall structure. An elevator carries sightseers up the side (left side in the picture) to the top.

This was one of the housing units for the athletics. As you can tell many of the Olympic builds were modern architecture.

Montreal has many interesting buildings. These are a few.

On Thursday afternoon we attended a performance of Cirque du Soleil. This one had an insect theme. We had never before seem them perform but knew a little about what a performance is like. We were in awe of what they can do. It was really a tremendous show to see with enough variety of acts that the show moved quickly. I got tickets through the internet soon after we arrived in Montreal and realized that the group's venue was right near our boat. We got some of the last seats available for a 4:00 performance and couldn't sit together, but it was worth it.

Montreal has developed an extensive underground shopping area. Many connect with the Metro (subway). This picture is a mall area partially underground.

A Quebec holiday, Saint-Jean-Baptist Day occurred during the five days we were in Montreal. This is a big National Holiday and celebration and dates back to France in the 18th century. It seems to be a Quebec "pride" day. There were parades, and huge crowds at the waterfront enjoying the day off. Right next to us in the marina was a performance act on a sailboat. The couple did pranks and gymnastics all over their yellow sailboat. They travel around the world performing.

Richelieu Canal to Montreal June 20 - 22

After leaving the 10 Locks on the Chambly Canal we only had one lock to pass through in the Richelieu on the way up to Sorel (the northern most point we will reach.) We did tie up for a night at the St. Ours lock mooring wall. Since we purchased a Seasonal Locking AND Mooring Pass from Parks Canada before we left the US (before March 31 we got a 10% discount) we were able to stay at the lock with no additional charge. Most canal mooring spots do not have power or water but a few do have 30 amp power. We reached the end of the Richelieu River at Sorel. It is very industrial looking from the water so we didn't stop there but turned southwest onto the Saint Lawrence. The current was strong against us since this river, which drains much of eastern Canada, is heading downward and out to the North Atlantic.


We have been surprised at the number of seaplanes we see throughout the waterways and lakes of Canada. This example is one of the first we saw on the Richelieu but there were many more to see along the way. With relatively calm water conditions on the rivers it must be easier and more convenient to take off from water than to do to an airport.

Three were not many bridges on the Richelieu, but every community of decent size had a ferry to get across the river. Many are cable ferrys like the one pictured that use cables strung across the river bed to pull the craft back and forth across.

In several spots in Canada we have seen very large and distinctive range markers. These on the St. Lawrence were some of the brightest.

It seemed that every community on the Richelieu River and up the St. Lawrence had a central church building with tall spires. Most of the spires were silver so they shined for miles. These are a few examples that we saw.

Several large freighters passed us as we cruised up the St. Lawrence.

The picture shows the view entering Montreal on the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence Seaway canal goes to the left and a channel to the old Lachine Canal and our marina are slightly to the right although not visible in this picture. Some shipping still unloads in Montreal. The current was very strong here. I saw 5.4 knots against us as we went under this bridge. We had been fighting current the whole way from Sorel but this was really strong! I had to make sure I kept the bow heading straight up river.

We arrived at Vieux Port D'Escale which means something like Old Port for Transients or port for old transients! This is the old docking area for merchant ships. Before the Saint Lawrence Seaway was opened all the way to the Great Lakes in about 1959, Montreal was as far as ocean going vessels could go. There were unloading docks, warehouses, cold storage buildings that are mostly abandoned or turned over to private use. Port D'Escale is now a private marina. You can see our boat in the left center. The Cirque du Soleil performance tent is the yellow tent structure on the end of the wharf.

Canada Richelieu River & Chambly Canal June 19 - 21

The Canada Customs office was manned by one young officer. (See picture) After docking I presented our passports and after answering a few questions we were released and on our way. I was surprised at how easy it was. We had more questions driving in to British Columbia in 2008.









So we motored north and soon reached our first lock of the Canadian Historic Canal system at St Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec. Having learned to tie up at the designated mooring space at every lock that is not open, we secured to a canal wall in downtown St. Jean. This first lock was right after a bridge that had to be lifted first, except that after the lock master told us to get ready and come the bridge didn't open. A short repair was required. At least we spent an interesting 45 minutes talking to a couple also waiting that had shipped their 40+ foot boat over from England on a large yacht transport ship. They intended to do the Great Loop also. Their starting point was in Florida.

As the Chambly Canal passes through the countryside, in many places the water is within a foot or two of the surrounding roadway. The canal had a few spots that were narrow like the Bridge opening shown.

The historic canal locks are usually completely hand operated. In the picture the lock tender is opening the lock door by turning a handle. The last downstream lock is usually emptied through doors in the lock door which are raised and lowered manually using the mechanism shown in the picture.

Fort Chambly, located in the town of Chambly, was built to protect the Richelieu River (shown to the left of the Fort). The River was an important artery for transportation down to Lake Champlain. The first fort on this site was a wood fort built by the French in 1665. A total of four forts were built on this site with the current stone fort being completed in 1711. The British took over the fort in 1760 after having defeated the French in the French & Indian War. The Americans occupied the fort in the winter of 1775-1776 during the unsuccessful campaign to defeat the British forces in Canada. This fort is a partial reconstruction, but has some interesting features like the tapered firing slots that allowed a musket inside the fort to be pointed a a wide area. (picture)

We stayed one night tied up at the canal wall in Chambly Quebec. I have a vague recollection of Chambly from a business trip many years ago to an Ansell-Edmont plant in Cowansville, Quebec which is about 40 miles away. Chambly is between Montreal and Cowansville. On Friday June 19 we sampled the local cuisine at Le Fourquet Fourchette and had an interesting menu of early native American dishes (New France). I sampled Caribou meat in a pie and Kaye had pork loin. The Caribou tasted very similar to regular beef.

On Saturday, we left Chambly. The last three locks of the historic canal were a flight of three, located right next to where we were tied up. Since it was Saturday there were many spectators out to watch boats locking through. We had many comments and questions about our boat, where we were from, and where were we going. Some were in French but most people could speak some English. In the Chambly Canal the lock operators handed a small a bow and stern line to us and secured it to a bollard on top of the lock wall. We used these lines to control the position of our boat in the canal.

Above Chambly was the Richelieu River and a couple more locks but these were somewhat larger than the Chambly Canal locks.

Upper Lake Champlain June 14 - 18

We left Vincennes and wound our way back out the Otter Creek. Then we headed north on Lake Champlain to Shelburne, VT for fuel. This was $2.50 per gallon which was the same as Cape May, New Jersey and the lowest I could find in this area. From the marina we headed a few miles north to Burlington, Vermont to stay at the Burlington Community Boathouse Marina which was downtown Burlington. We found a downtown free bus that did a circle out to Vermont University and back. Burlington has a 3-4 block pedestrian shopping mall area downtown that looked interesting so we hopped off the bus to see it. We didn't intend to buy anything but there was a Lindt chocolate outlet store going out of business and we couldn't resist filling up my back pack with half price chocolate goodies. An outdoor meal of local (Ken's) pizza provided dinner some extra for carry out. Then we caught another city bus that goes around Burlington and took us back to the waterfront. This gave a good overview of the city. The Burlington Waterfront has been recently developed with parks and a new (Senator Leahy) Ecological Center (your tax dollars at work I'll bet). Sunday before we arrived there was a multi-day jazz festival on the waterfront. It was a pretty nice and convenient place.

On Tuesday June 16, the Enterprise Rental car representative picked us up at the Marina so we could rent a car. Our main goal was to see the Shelburne Museum about 10 miles south of Burlington. This is a collection of mainly Americana items. We got there about 1000 and stayed until nearly 1700. I did leave for an hour to go to Shelburne Shipyard to pick up some Groco stainer screens I had ordered. The museum is a fantastic collection of houses from various periods; collections like dolls, weather vans, carriages, railroad lanterns, and folk art (including a model carved circus parade that must have been 70 yards long). In particular I liked a special exhibit of custom motorcycles that were in the round barn. The boat pictured is a Lake Champlain passenger vessel.

Back at the dock we met an Ontario Canadian couple that are completing the Great Loop. (We talked to them again in Montreal, Ottawa and Kingston.)

On Wednesday June 17 we left Burlington and headed north to check out the west coast of the lake. Our goal was Valcour Island. We anchored in a bay near the northwest side of the island. We got the dinghy down to go on the island to try to get to the Bluff Point lighthouse (pictured). Kaye decided the route was too rough for her knees so we went back to the dinghy and decided to see the light house again by water. The west side of Valcour Island (NY side) is the location where Benedict Arnold placed his fleet of small gunships in 1776 while waiting for the British to come south to attack Fort Ticonderoga and come down the Hudson. The British did not see Arnold's fleet until they were south of the Island and due to a north wind could not easily come back north to attack. The Americans fought bravely but one ship was lost early and others were badly damage before darkness fell. In one of the most audacious moves in military history Arnold guided his fleet through the blockading Brits in pitch darkness and escaped. The British caught up a few days later and Arnold had to abandon his damaged ships in a small bay now called Arnold's Bay. He did save a majority of his men and delayed the British enough that they gave up for that year and went back to Canada. This battle of Valcour Bay is considered to be the first Naval battle fought by the US Navy. It is where the USS Philadelphia was sunk. I saw this salvaged vessel at the Smithsonian Museum in DC and the replica at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

We took our dinghy south where Arnold and the British fought and then I decided to complete the circumnavigation of the whole island. It was a little rough on the east side but the view of the rocky shores was quite impressive. The island is a popular camping spot with well over 20 designated spots. Once we got back to the boat I decided to go hike to the lighthouse. There was a bit of a climb at right at the lighthouse but the view was great (pictured).

The next day we headed to Rouses Point, NY. This is the last town before Canada. We anchored a few hundred feet south of the border and that night watched the flashing red arrow of US Customs that pointed south bound boaters into their floating dock. One thing I didn't know that night was that my Verizon Air card was picking up Canadian antennas and I later received a $100 roaming charge for internet connections that I used heavily that night as I tried to tie up some loose ends before we entered Canada. Now I know what not to do. And also now we are tied to marina, library and coffee shop Wi-Fi when we can find them. So blog posts will be sporadic while we are in Canada.

June 10 - 14 Lower Lake Champlain

As we moved North on the Lake it slowly began to widen. Soon we saw the stone walls of Fort Ticonderoga. I selected an anchorage east of the fort in wide bay next to Mt. Independence. After some lunch I unloaded the dinghy and headed for a beach I had sighted below and south of the fort. During an earlier call to the fort I was told there used to be a way to get to the fort from the water. She said look for a mowed area and a red roofed barn. I beached the dinghy, walked up the mowed slope, climbed about 80 steps, crawled over a locked gate and found myself almost at the front door of the ticket office. It took three hours to do a guided tour and go through all the museums. Most of the fort had been rebuilt since time and homeowners needing stone destroyed most of the stone work. The fort was important during the Revolution since after being captured from the British by xxx many of the cannon were used to supply artillery for battles further south.

After leaving the Fort Ticonderoga anchorage we moved up past other forts used by the French or British, Crown Point and Fort St. Fredric. We passed near the fort and went over to the waterfront of Port Henry. Port Henry is famous for iron and iron ore production which lasted until the early 70's. They claim iron that went into the construction of the ironclad Monitor of 1862 Civil War fame. We decided to move a little south into Bulwagga Bay. This was a quiet bay bordered on three sides and we anchored in about 9 feet of water which still had hydrilla growing in the bottom. The next morning, as we left Bulwagga Bay anchorage, there was an overcast sky and some cloud cover over the mountains (well maybe hills is more accurate) on the west side of the river. (see Picture)



We pulled into a small bay called Basin Harbor, intending to catch a mooring ball, when the dockmaster called on VHF 16 asking if we needed a slip, so we went in and took a slip. The Dockmaster, Andy, said that as long as we went bow-in that we would have enough depth. However, he did not warn us about the need to stay close to the docks as we came in. Anyway we came to a halt in 4 feet of water. He hopped in a boat they keep there and pulled our bow around so that with the bow thruster and some throttle we could get into the slip which indeed had enough depth. The main purpose of this stop was to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. The center was about 1/2 mile from our slip so the Dockmaster called for a car from the Basin Harbor resort which occupies the ground around the Basin Harbor and the Maritime Museum. The Resort is one of the oldest in Vermont dating back to end of the 19the century. There are restaurants, cabins, recreation and catered services. We elected not to purchase the $160 massage or $20 eyebrow wax. The Maritime Museum had several buildings giving the history of Lake Champlain, the boats that sailed on its waters, the ecology of the waters, as well as crafts used in boat building. They had two replica boats. One an unusual sailing canal boat and the Philadelphia gunboat (picture). This boat was part of Benedict Arnold's fleet when they were attached by the British in 1776 near Valcour Island. The Philadelphia was sunk in the battle and the skeleton was raised out of the lake in 1934. It is now preserved at the Smithsonian Institute Museum of History in DC. I saw the remains there this year. The copy at the Maritime Museum is a working replica. The original fleet Arnold built in Whitehall NY. They were simple craft with virtually everything exposed to the elements but these craft and Arnold's leadership "discouraged" the British from attaching further south for at least a year.





















This picture shows some of the terrain of the west side of the lake.

After one day at Basin Harbor we headed north about 0745. A few miles north we found the shoaled entrance to Otter Creek and followed its winding path 8 miles down to the old Vermont town of Vergenes. Actually Vergennes claims the title of the oldest town in Vermont. We arrived there so early Saturday morning that we had no problem getting a spot at the public dock. After tying up we took a walk up the hill several blocks to the downtown. Lunch was at a cafe called Three Squares with an eclectic menu. You ordered off a chalk board with selections of five different breads and many condiments including sprouts. Pony tails, bicycle shorts and Birkenstock's were the uniform of the day for the locals. Before leaving the Lake Champlain Maritime Center, based on a recommendation from the Ticket Clerk who knew Vergennes, I had made a Saturday night reservation at Black Sheep Bistro and we enjoyed an excellent meal in downtown Vergennes. The picture shows the view of out boat from the top of the falls. We were tied up to a free public dock and even had a 50 amp hookup although I had to run the cord across an access road next to the bulkhead. We had a great view of the falls. That basin is where Captain MacDonough in 1812 built a fleet of ships to defend Lake Champlain against British invasion.

This is the view of the Vergennes Falls. As you would expect these falls were dammed to provide power for industry at the river. The small center building is actually a pump station built early in the 20th century to supply water to the fire fighting system in the town. During the second night we were there the town had a "Basin Bash" event and had a lighting of the falls as a finale. We watched as a rainbow of colors played on the rushing water.

June 7-9 NY Canal System

Above Troy at Waterford NY there is a decision to make. Either go west on the Erie Canal or head north on the Champlain Canal. We are going North to Canada via the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain and the Richelieu Canal. This is a typical lock. The ropes hang down about every 20 feet. They have white/blue floats at the top. The side wall indentations contain a pipe or cable that is fixed and used to tie your boat to. The line then slides up or down the pipe/cable as the boat is raised up or down.

The Fort Edward area is the site of serious dredging. This is due to PCB's from a GE transformer factory that were released in the 1970's when a dam that previously contained them was removed. Several miles of the river bottom are now being dredged up and disposed.
Also, at Fort Edwards we met Fred Wehner who has a 34' American Tug and a web site Tug44. Fred met us at Lock 7, helped us tie up at the floating dock just south of Lock 7, gave us a tour of the old Champlain Canal locks located there, and took us to dinner at the Anvil restaurant where we had an excellent meal in this old blacksmith shop from the mid-1700's. Then it was located just outside the Ft. Edward walls.

On June 8, we stopped at Whitehall, NY. Whitehall claims to be the birthplace of the US Navy since in 1776, Benedict Arnold built a fleet of ships to fight the British in Lake Champlain.

This is our boat at the Town Dock wall looking east towards Skene Manor up on the Hill. This stone house built late in the 1800's has a panoramic view of the valley. I walked up there to see the house close up and view the town.

This view of downtown Whitehall was taken from the Skenes Manor. In the middle you can see our boat tied up at the free town wall which had electric and water and was right next to a neat museum of Whitehall history. Whitehall was originally called Skenesville for a Mr.Skenes who was a Tory in the Revolutionary War. His holdings were taken over and he fled the area after the war. Subsequently, the town name changed.

The last lock on the Champlain Canal (NY Canal System) is lock 12 at Whitehall. The last three take you down if you are North bound. The first nine we went through take you up about 16-20 feet each.