We’re moving on, minus one- Ottawa River, June 17- 19

Monday, June 17

Once again our plans have changed. Unexpectedly, we are now cruising down the Ottawa River. The plan had been to go through the Ottawa Flight of 8 and then spend the night at Hull Marina just across the Ottawa River from the Locks. Since we hadn’t heard back from Hull about reservations, I called again this morning. Today we were told they are open only to members and not transients. That puts a bit of a kink in our plans. Today is also the day that our amazing photojournalist, friend and crew, Lisa is leaving us. We had planned to take her through the locks and on to Hull. From Hull she would depart for her afternoon flight to Houston. Instead we all agreed it would be best to have her lock with us and then leave her at the last lock. We hate to see Lisa go. She as been a super guest. She totally gets the flexibility needed when cruising. When she signed on we thought we would be going to Quebec City and then Montreal. She didn’t get either of those cities, but she did get to experience Ottawa, a rock grounding, Maggie’s wake up calls in the morning and US!

So, the three of us, Tim, Maggie and I, are now scooting along on the Ottawa. Yes, scooting. The flow of the river has added an additional 1 1/2 to 2 knots to our speed. Tim has seen NONE of the Aids to Navigation that the charts say are here. We are assuming that they have not been put in place due to the flooding. We are heading to Chateau Montebello for the night.

The Chateau Montebello is proclaimed as the world’s largest log cabin. At one time it was a private club. Now it is part of the Fairmont hotel chain. While a bit pricey for us ($4.00/ft) we felt we needed it after days of living on a wall. We plugged into their excellent WiFi, hooked up to water and power and I managed to get 5 loads of laundry washed while Tim stubbed the boat. If we had wanted, we could have gone swimming in the pool. We chose to take the short walk into town for dinner at Napoleon. Good Italian dinner.

Tuesday, June 18

Leaving Le Chateau Montebello we passed Montebello Marina. It had a few docks in the water, but showed no signs of being open. Our waiter last night had said he thought they lost all their power pedestals in the flood.

Traveling east on the Ottawa River, signs of the flood still litter many yards. Remnants of docks, tree limbs and general debris line some water front properties. Tim has been very frustrated by the lack of navigational aids. While they show on the charts, they are not to be seen in the water. Coming into the Hawkesbury area, we saw our first green buoy. The swirl of the current around it says a lot about why we may not be seeing others. Speaking of Hawkesbury, we did see one sailboat tied to the free pier. We may give it a try coming back, but we will know to be wary of the current. It was in this area that we also saw our highest push. Our normal speed is 8mph, but our Navionics flashed a few 12+mph. It will be a slow slog west when we come back.

Our only lock today was a doozy. The Carillon Lock has the greatest drop of all the locks in Canada. It will raise or lower you 65 feet. The other unique feature of Carillon is the guillotine gate. The modern Carillon lock was built from 1959 to 1963 with the construction of the Carillon Hydroelectric dam. It took the place of 10 locks between here and Grenville. Despite the change in elevation, this lock has to be one of the easiest for locking through. Instead of wrapping a line around a cable, the staff will cleat your boat to a floating dock. As the water rises or lowers, your boat will go with it. No holding on to lines or worry about winds and turbulence.

Our plan was to tie on the wall for the night. However, the wall where we would normally tie up is still under water. We can see the water line at least 6 feet above where the water is now. The lock master suggested we tie to the wall on the south side instead. The south wall rises about five feet above our deck and has two horizontal cables running its length. Not great, but doable. Maggie may have a different opinion. To get to grass for business time, I have to climb of the very top deck onto the wall and have Tim hand her to me. Then we have to walk out to a spit of land between us and the dam. The lock master cautioned us that the land had not been surveyed for safety since the flood and there may be unstable areas. We made it work. Another tidbit of information we got from the lockmaster was that docks were still underwater at St. Anne de Belleville. Boats can lock through, but will not be able to tie up. Good thing we made reservations at Lachine.

Wednesday, June 19

Yes, I’m still working on this one post. Until we get internet, I’ll keep adding on.

We had an easy night on the wall at Carillon and were joined by fellow loopers on Swede Dreams. They had just come in from Lachine and were heading west to Ottawa.

As we continue on our way to Montreal, we see more effects of the flooding. Trees normally at the water’s edge are still in the water. Sometimes whole islands of trees stand in the middle of what appears to be a lake, but is still just the river. To Tim’s delight, the Aids to Navigation are in place on this section of the river.

Arrived at Port de Plaisance de Lachine and we have Wifi. I’m posting now and will see you later. Tomorrow is Montreal!!!!!!!