Gatineau, QC, to Ottawa, ON. The Ottawa Flight and Rideau Canal.

Today was by far our shortest travel day by distance, traveling only one mile—across the river and up the Ottawa Flight of eight locks to start the 121-mile Rideau Canal, which connects the Ottawa River to Lake Ontario. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal was built by the British and opened in 1832 as an alternative military supply route, when it was feared that the upstart Americans would cut off access to the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the vital port of Montreal. Ottawa was founded in 1826 as Bytown, named after Lieutenant Colonel John By, the military engineer that supervised the building of the canal. The name was changed to Ottawa (derived from “adawe,” the Algonquin word for “trade”) in 1855 and the city was chosen as Canada’s capital by Queen Victoria in 1857.

Source: UNESCO

Looking north towards the Ottawa River

Parliament of Canada

We were second on the blue line for the 9:00 AM opening of the lock, and transited the eight locks and 80-foot total lift with three other boats, taking almost two hours start to finish. Like the Chambly Canal, the original doors and sluice gate mechanisms are still in use and operated by hand, by friendly Parks Canada staffers. Unlike the Chambly Canal, there was a crowd watching the show, with spectators on the lock walls, bridges and balconies of the adjacent Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel.

Ottawa is a beautiful, vibrant city, and is much more than just the seat of national government. 

We explored on foot, then biked along the canal on the outstanding paved bike path, down one side and back on the other. Later, we did something a bit out of character for us and hung out at the nearby Rideau Mall and ate dinner at Chipotle. Back on Dragonfly, we listened to a rooftop concert at the National Art Centre across the water and people-watched as folks strolled along the canal’s busy promenade until after dark. 

War memorial with live honor guard

South Nation River, ON, to Gatineau,QC

It was a pleasure to be at anchor again, and we awoke to a hazy mist shrouding the sunrise over the still water. In case you’re wondering why we don’t anchor out more often, it’s mainly because we really enjoy going ashore and exploring all of the waterfront towns along our route.

Kathleen hauled up the anchor at 8:15 AM and we backtracked the two miles along the South Nation River to the Ottawa River, which was less windy and less busy than Saturday or Sunday. Six hours and 35 miles later, we arrived at Marina de Hull in Gatineau, QC, directly across the river from Ottawa, ON. Our afternoon was spent at the Canadian Museum of History, a large four-level building with outstanding displays on the story of Canada. Our favorites were the First Nations totem gallery and a beautiful IMAX movie about green sea turtles. Map Link: Gatineau, QC

We walked to dinner at Restaurant et bar Saint Hubert, where I indulged in poutine, in honour of our last day in Quebec. We enjoyed a stroll through the large park adjacent to the marina, with awesome views of the capital city, where we plan to visit tomorrow.

Bonus Question: True/False—Canada no longer uses pennies (Answer at end of post).

Photo Journal:

Bonus Question Answer: True. The Royal Canadian Mint ceased production of the penny in 2012. Although still legal tender, most businesses do not accept pennies and round off transactions to the nearest five cents.

Carillon, QC to South Nation River, ON. First stop in Ontario. First time anchoring out this year

We were first on the blue line yesterday morning for the 9:30 AM opening, and all we had to do was walk our boat down the wall after the Looper boat in front of us left for Saint Anne de Bellevue. By the time the guillotine door lifted, the blue line was completely full, with late arrivals rafting up. The Lockmaster packed eight boats and two jet skis onto the floating dock inside the lock for the 65-foot lift. Dragonfly was in the second row, rafted up to two local pontoon boats. The ride up was so gentle and our conversation with the pontoon owners was so engaging, that we almost didn’t realize that we were moving towards the top. 

After locking through, we stopped for gas at the Golden Anchor Marina in Hawkesbury, ON. The Ottawa River is now the provincial border as we travel west, with Quebec to the north and Ontario to the south. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and the go-fast power boats were out and about, churning up wakes as we traveled 41 miles on the wide Ottawa River. We’re anchored for the night in a small basin on the South Nation River, near Jessups Falls and Wendover, ON. Map Link: South Nation River, ON. This is our first time anchoring on this second segment of our Great Loop, and it’s good to be back on the hook. We ate grilled steaks and salad for dinner and enjoyed a lovely evening.

Photo Journal:

Chateau Montebello, said to be the largest log structure in the world

We love float planes, especially banana-colored ones

This guy hauled in a big musky near our anchored boat

Our anchorage, with a few cottages on shore

Saint Anne de Bellevue to Carillon, QC

Yesterday, while Kathleen took a run in town, I reinstalled Dragonfly’s mid-ships grab bar and anchor light and reattached our Canadian courtesy flag. Last night a young couple from Montreal noticed our American flag and struck up a conversation, wondering why we flew the Canadian flag as well. Our AGLCA burgee is always a magnet for those who know about the Great Loop, including lock staff. We always greet the Quebecois with our best “bon jour,” but as soon as they see the stars and stripes on our stern, the largely bilingual population switches to English. We also seem to attract friendly Parks Canada employees looking to practice their English; something we don’t mind at all. 

This morning we moved from the town wall to the “Blue Line” (Ligne Bleue), the section of the wall closest to the lock and painted blue. Tying up on the blue line signals your intent to lock through, and is often followed up with a VHF radio conversation, with further instructions. We were in the first lockage at 9:30 AM at Saint Anne de Bellevue, with five other boats, for the slow, three-foot lift. After exiting, we were on Lac de Deux Montagnes (Lake of Two Mountains), which didn’t really have any mountains, but did have strong headwinds and choppy waters. This was our third consecutive day of knowingly venturing out onto larger bodies of water with stiff winds, and you may be wondering why we keep doing this to ourselves. The reason is that the Quebec Construction Holiday starts tomorrow, when an entire industry (about 300,000 workers) takes a two-week vacation, and we have been warned that the “Quebec Navy” will be out in full force. We are now on the Ottawa River and expect to be in the capital city and out of Quebec in a few more days. 

We are tied up for the night at the Parks Canada wall downriver of Carillon Lock, our last Quebec lock, the highest lift (65 feet) in Canada and part of a massive dam and hydroelectric generating facility. It is one of only two locks in North America with a guillotine lower door, the other being Lock 17 on the Erie Canal, which we passed through last month. After tying up, we watched our friends on All In arrive and lock through after another Looper came out and tied up in front of us. We walked to the lock’s observation deck, then into the tiny village of Carillon and ate dinner at La Patate des Outaouais, a burger and poutine place that was the only option. We returned to Dragonfly as the sky was darkening and were safe aboard for some evening rain showers, then the wind shut off and we had a quiet evening at this very remote and peaceful location.

Photo Journal:

View from the top of Carillon Lock.
Blue line is on the left; Dragonfly is
behind the catamaran.

Kite and wind surfers loving the gusty winds

Carillon Lock and its 200-ton door. Blue line on the right.

Montreal to Saint Anne de Bellevue, QC. The Lachine Canal. Lac Saint Louis.

It was a sunny morning after a comfortable evening aboard Dragonfly. We made eggs for breakfast, filled our water tanks, then went a half mile west to the entrance to the Lachine Canal, a small vessel shortcut through Montreal around the Lachine Rapids. The nine-mile canal has five locks, and is limited to boats under eight feet in height, which is verified by lock staff before you are allowed to proceed. Vessels taller than eight feet must go through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and its two commercial locks, with reservations required for pleasure boats and waits guaranteed. Dragonfly is actually over nine feet with our mid-ships grab bar and anchor light up but they are easily removed, so we made the cut. The boat in front of us did not, and had to turn around between Locks 1 and 2.

The Lachine Canal was relaxing and enjoyable, except for the two or three spots where there were large numbers of rental kayaks and pedal boats behaving unpredictably. After the first three locks, which we did with five other boats, we stopped at Marche Atwater, a large public market with specialty foods, farmer’s market and a food court. Map Link: Atwater Market

The first thing we did was haul a jerry can to the nearest gas station and back, since marina gas in Montreal was hard to find. Our outboard gets about 8-9 mpg, so each five-gallon tank gives us 40-45 miles of range. Our total fuel capacity is 28 gallons, for a theoretical range of 225-250 miles. After fueling, we had lunch from the food trucks (falafel salad for Kathleen and pad thai for me), then picked up some provisions from the farmer’s market (yes, that is the Cheese Paradise below—ooh la la!)

Back on the canal, we got stuck behind a gaggle of kayak beginners at Lock 4, then sailed through Lock 5 and were through the canal and on Lac Saint Louis. The lake is actually a widening in the Saint Lawrence River, so we had the current against us again, and a 10-15 mph headwind kicking up a nasty two-foot chop, which sent spray over our bow and into the cockpit. After about 12 miles of uncomfortable seas, we got some protection behind an island and made our way to Saint Anne de Bellevue, a western suburb of Montreal. The busy waterfront was hopping on a lovely Friday evening, and our spot on the wall was along the popular promenade, with many passersby stopping to ask us about our boat and travels. We explored the town, found an ice cream store (so far, there’s been at least one near every lock in Quebec) and watched the crowd until after dark. The noise didn’t stop until midnight, but the town eventually fell silent and we slept well. Tomorrow we plan to leave the Saint Lawrence and start up the Ottawa River. Map Link: Saint Anne de Bellevue, QC

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

Saint Ours to Contrecoeur, QC

It was a beautiful morning, about 70F with a light southwest breeze when we left the Saint Ours Lock wall at 8:45 AM and traveled up the Richelieu River to its end at the Saint Lawrence Seaway. After favorable winds and currents on the Richelieu, the Saint Lawrence welcomed us with a stiff headwind and foul current, which slowed our speed from 7.5 to 4.5 mph. And we were greeted almost immediately by huge ocean-going freighters, although the marine traffic was much less than we expected. 

We went 29 miles in 5.5 hours, and stopped for the night at the Port de Plaisance in Contrecoeuer, QC, about 30 miles from Montreal on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Map Link: Contrecoeur, QC. See below for today’s track—it’s pretty interesting that we went almost 30 miles by water to cover less than five miles as the crow flies. Also note the color change indicating our speed drop when the current went against us. 

The wind helped cool us off today and the high humidity is finally supposed to break overnight. We spent the afternoon doing laundry and other boat chores, then had some excellent Cambodian food at Chez Sakina in town, followed by ice cream at the very busy Yeti Cremerie and an awesome sunset over the Saint Lawrence. Tomorrow we plan to arrive in Montreal. 

Photo Journal: 

Cable ferry on the Richelieu River

One of the many amazing properties on the river.
We especially love the playhouse.

MacGregor 26M for sale

What do you get when you cross a tree with an anchor?