I cannot tell a lie. From the moment we decided to go north from the Hudson to Lake Champlain and on into Montreal, the navigation into and out of that City created an undue amount of stress for me. Yes, the St Lawrence River and SeaWay is huge but it was more than that. It has multiple channels; it has massive locks; you share the road with hulking ships; the current is ferocious; you cross the river several times as you enter and leave the City; and the route from the City to the mouth of the Ottawa River is not immediately obvious nor is it particularly well marked. Stress is useful if it leads to careful study, thoughtful questions, and thorough preparation. I'm happy to say I'm watching sunrise at a quiet cove a third of the way up the Ottawa River. We loved our time in Montreal but are happy to be back in God's country!
But what an adventure we had yesterday! We left Port d'Escale de Vieux Montreal around 7:15 in heavy rain and fog--visibility less than a half mile. We exited the marina into six plus knots of current as measured the day before--before the rain started, and motored down the river a mile and a half. As we navigated downstream, we slowly crabbed all the way across the river to the far bank where the two mile long channel back upstream to St. Lambert Lock began. At the head of the channel lies a small, four boat, dock for pleasure vessels. We were the second boat there and scored a space. Eventually there would be nine boats--all rafted up--waiting for the lock master to give the word.
By the way, unlike most of the locks on the Loop, the SeaWay locks offer very limited passages for pleasure boats--only four lifts/week. We were scheduled for 9:00 am at St. Lambert's and 11:00 at St. Catherine's. You schedule and pay your fee on line ahead of time. Eventually, the lock master spoke over a huge loud speaker system--all in French--but he used the word, "vert" several times and I got the idea that the light was green or soon would be. All the rafted up boats began untangling themselves and we worked our way around the corner into one of the largest locks on the loop.
The line handlers deploy a simple sign language to tell you where to go (no, not that). An underhanded point means go the wall; a hand to the shoulder means raft up to another boat, and the number of fingers tells you which row you're in. It turns out its much nicer to be rafted up to another boat than it is to be fighting to hold your boat in position with the thin lines they throw down to you for that purpose. It's hard to imagine the current that's generated as a lock fills or empties. And yesterday, we fought sustained winds in excess of 30 knots which swirled down into the lock in unpredictable ways. In any event, in St. Lambert's we were lucky enough to raft up to our friends, Mike and Donna, and the Back Cove 41, Bacalhau. In St. Catherine's, our roles were reversed. The lock at St. Lambert's filled and we prepared to exit. However, one of the longest freight trains we've
seen in years chose that moment to cross the lift bridge at the lock exit. Nothing to do but stand at the ready and wait.
We finally exited St. Lambert's to find a large freighter waiting to enter the lock and head
to sea. The canal between St. Lambert's and St. Catherine's and for roughly 10 miles above St. Catherine's is narrow with occasional industrial wide spots and has a strict six
knot speed limit. It would be 13:00 hours (1:00 pm) before we cleared the canal and entered Lac Des Deux Montagnes. We eagerly anticipated reaching the lake and the opportunity to throttle up. Thirty knot winds and close, choppy, three-foot seas dashed those hope somewhat--not only because it was rough but also because it made critical navigation markers much harder to see. We lumbered along at 10 knots instead of our hoped for 20+. Sigh. Nonetheless, we arrived at St. Jean de Bellevue Lock, the mouth of the Ottawa River. And, we were the only boat! Yahoo: A quick, relatively low lift tied up to a floating dock inside the lock. Easy peasey.
We continued upstream another ten miles to the Carillion Lock--with a 65 foot lift--the highest in Canada. And, for us, it was our first guillotine lift. I'll let the pictures below tell most of that story.
The staff in the lock were lovely--two personable and chatty young women who loved their Parks Canada jobs. They efficiently took our lines, cleated them off, and moved on to the other two boats. Of course, they decided we were the interesting people (grandparent types?) and came back to chat with us the whole time the lock was filling. Before casting us off, they warned about strong wind and current leaving the lock and told us to "gun it" as soon as our lines were free to avoid being blown onto their staircase. They also noted that the Canadian Coast Guard hadn't gotten around to putting the navigation aids back in after their being hauled for the winter. We'd need to think of them as virtual markers. We learned later from the dock hands at L'Anse a' Martha Marina five miles upstream from the lock that the ice has gone out less than a month ago! It's a short season here--maybe even shorter than in Maine.
Another fantastic blog. Great photos!