Quebec, Canada

The St Lawrence River

Wednesday, 18 June – Sorel to Montreal, QC – 43 mi., 2202 cum mi.

Nice sunrise, then it clouded up, but it was calm (thankfully), 57 degrees. Sky cleared up later in the day, but it was chilly. The trip to Montreal was all upstream, in a rather strong three-knot current, five knots for the last two miles. There were some homes along the river, but most of the shore was
industrial, with huge boats carrying cargo.
We got out of the large ship channel into the small boat channel and
enjoyed  some scenic small side river scenery. The Montreal skyline was almost as dramatic as that of New York. Huge container vessels in the water, and an     amusement park on the island near

the ports. We docked at the Port d’Escale Marina. Adjacent to old town, we were close to everything. We started biking to the Atwater Market.  Biking on the streets got old quickly. We found we were
really in the way of all the cars. We met a really nice guy named Norm on his bike,

and he showed us the bike path to the market and back to the marina. It was right along the Lachine Canal. Nice. We found the market for fresh bread and vegetables and a nearby grocery store for some wine, filling our paniers with our bounty.
We found other loopers - the Dawn Treader, with Dave and Jan and Tony and Jan. We stayed in Montreal for another day to enjoy breakfast, lunch (at Schwartz’s – an institution in Montreal), a cool marine shop where we bought both the charts we needed and some extra fenders to protect the boat in the

coming locks, and dinner with our Dawn Treader friends. At the dock, we realized we were next door to the science museum that we took our grandchildren to just a few months ago.

Thursday, 20 June – Montreal to Point aux Anglais, QC – 44 mi., 2246 cum mi.

Beautiful day, 60 degrees. We pulled out of Old Port Montreal into the strong current of the St Lawrence, this time going downstream. Then around the island and upstream in the south channel toward the St Lambert Lock. This is a Federal lock, so our Parks Canada season pass didn’t work here. We had to pay the $30 lock fee and and call in from a phone booth at the lock entrance. We had to wait two hours at their floating dock for passage.

That gave us a chance to meet other folks who showed up, like Dominique and Marie who were on a weeklong getaway after leaving their three children at grandma’s.

And a sailboat with three very French-speaking sailors. When we entered the lock, we were the largest boat, so we held the bow and stern lines at the wall, and the other two boats rafted up to our boat.

St Lambert lock took us up 17 ft. The next lock was St Catherine which took us up 30 ft with the same procedure, only this time we did not need to wait, but we did have to pay another $30 fee. This is the St Lawrence Seaway, and it carries huge commercial vessels. We left the seaway into Lake St Louis, following the meandering channel markers. Another lock, only one ft elevation at St Anne de Bellevue took us into Lac Des Deux Montagnes (lake of the two mountains).
Although we didn’t stop, the town of St Anne had tie up docks, and they were busy with folks enjoying the outdoor restaurants along the water. We docked at Pointe aux Anglais, after hitting a rock in their approach channel. The restaurant had just opened today, and on Thursday ladies eat for half price. We met the chef and his wife, who spend the winter running a French restaurant in Hollywood Florida.

The Ottawa River

Friday, 21 June – Pointe aux Anglais to Montebello, QC – 42 mi., 2288 cum mi.

Beautiful sunny day, calm, 71 degrees.  Felt some vibration, so we must have damaged a prop in the shallow channel yesterday. The highlight of our morning was the huge Carillon lock that was already
open for upstream traffic. 65 ft up, a million liters per min gravity fed water, 200 ton guillotine door, built in the 1960’s replacing 7 locks built in the 1800’s. Three lock attendants helped us tie up to a floating dock inside the lock. So easy!

The river carried big boats, including cruise ships. We cruised up the Ottawa River to the Chateau Montebello resort and marina.
Awesome place! Largest log cabin in the world. Reminded me of some of the US national park lodges. Built as a private mansion, it is now a Fairmont hotel. As marina guests, we had access to the whole complex, including the outdoor pool, the indoor pool, and the hot tubs. And we did take advantage of the facilities.  Our daughter Pam and her family met us at the resort and for the weekend. We ate dinner at the outdoor BBQ
buffet the chefs prepared, with lobster, steak, and every imaginable seafood, vegetable, and dessert treat. Delicious! Afterward, we
returned to the pool, closing it at 10 PM. At the end of a busy day, we were “good tired.”

Saturday, 22 June – Montebello to Gatineau, QC – 42 mi., 2330 cum mi.

Cloudy, sprinkling, 69 degrees. The rain continued all day, in stark contrast to the last couple of sunny cruising days. Pam and Chloe joined us to cruise up the Ottawa River toward Ottawa and the turn off to the Rideau Canal.  Andy and Sam drove to our next marina. The vibration was obvious and worrisome, but we kept it subdued by running the engines at low rpm. We docked at the Gatineau Marina where they were having their quarterly members party. The theme was steak night, and they had a DJ who spun discs most of the night. I found someone in a wet suit, so I hired him to check out the props, shafts, and rudder. The starboard prop was bent a little, but “not too bad.” Sounds like it was repairable, perhaps at Kingston Marina where we planned to spend a couple of days anyway.