Contrecoeur to Montreal, QC

Yesterday was our longest and most challenging travel day of this second Great Loop segment, primarily because of strong opposing currents, headwinds and heavy traffic on the Saint Lawrence Seaway. We knew all of this was coming when we left Contrecoeur, and fortunately there are several small craft channels along the seaway, where there is no commercial shipping and less current. The worst stretch by far was near the beautiful Jacques Cartier bridge, with the Montreal skyline and our destination in sight, where the 3 mph current in our face doubled to 6 mph, and we had to run our 50 HP outboard at wide open throttle and still only made 2 mph over ground. In other words, it took an hour to cover the last two miles, burning a lot of fuel and stressing our engine and ourselves. The second photo below shows the current creating whitewater downstream of one of the buoys we inched past. The biodome on the right is on Saint Helene Island and was built for the 1967 World Expo. The island is also home to La Ronde amusement park, part of the Six Flags family.

After almost eight hours to cover 33 miles, we arrived at Port d’Escale Marina in Montreal, QC, right in the heart of the busy and energetic Old Port waterfront. The marina staff was expecting us and had a crew member meet us at our slip. It was dinnertime, so we heated up some leftovers, then joined the throng of tourists strolling among the attractions of Old Port (Vieux Port), including a science center, ferris wheel, observation tower, zip line, ropes course, pedal boats, food trucks, shops, ferries, jet boats, dinner and sightseeing cruises. Cirque de Soleil is also performing—see their trademark tents in the last photo, taken from our boat at sunset.

Grande Quai