After another two days of cruising, we spent most of Friday and last night at Colonel By Island on Big Rideau Lake.
Thursday, we traveled 23 miles from Merrickville to Rideau Ferry Harbour on a gray, blessedly-cool day. We negotiated another nine Rideau Canal locks in addition to three swing bridges while enjoying farmland and undeveloped country. Perhaps the most
interesting part of the day though was the entertainment while we refueled at Rideau Ferry Harbour. Two loons fought over territory just off the stern of the boat and neither showed any signs of giving up. These fights can end in the death of one of the birds but, in this case, they finally shook hands and went their separate ways.
Friday--a short nine mile day without a single lock, we cruised down Big Rideau Lake to Colonel By Island. The beautiful ride down the lake gave us the chance to open the throttle a bit after days of poking along barely above an idle. As we entered the cove on the east side of the island, a loon greeted us with its haunting cry. It reminded me not only of our home on Phillips Lake but also of our days in Pakistan in the early '80s when we would watch Henry and Jane Fonda in On Golden Pond at the American Club to get a blast of our roots.
Colonel By Island, a Canadian National Park, offers three docks and a half dozen or so moorings. As with all Parks Canada facilities, it is well kept and beautifully managed. Its namesake was a British military engineer who, among other things, supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal.
When we arrived a little before 10:00, the docks were full but it looked like one boat was about to leave. Of course, it was the boat on the innermost space. After it cast off, we threaded the needle between the shallow water to starboard and the boat that the wind was driving us toward on port. With thanks to the Sabre's maneuverability and perhaps some practiced helmsmanship, we glided into a short space and made tight.
Colonel By Island was first used by white men in the 1890's when the Angler's Inn was built. Sports traveled to Colonel By to "revel in luxury while using guides to fish Rideau Lake by rowing skiff." In 1949, a Danny Arnstein, a tycoon who traveled in fast circles, built a large cottage in which he entertained people like Paul Anka, Fanny Bryce, and David Niven. Today, the dilapidated cottage is boarded up, a testament to a very different past, and the island is almost entirely in its natural state.
Not long after arriving, the Admiral led me on a walk around the island's perimeter--about a mile all told. In addition to the traditional red, Adirondack chairs that almost always capture the best view at each Parks Canada site, we encountered other pretty
views, a beautiful woodland, a swath that a tornado devasted in 1985, and, much to the Admiral's surprise, a gray rat snake. She almost stepped on it and gave new meaning
to the word, "levitation". The gray rat snake, a constrictor and non-venomous, does not pose a risk to humans other than death by fright! We helped her recover by batting balls back and forth with borrowed raquets on the old cottage's heavily cracked and barely functional tennis court--an activity shortened by the arrival of the afternoon's rain.
We enjoyed an afternoon on the boat, alternately planning the days ahead, doing chores that had been put off, and playing Farkle. The Admiral prepped lamb chops and asparagus which I then grilled during a break between showers. We then argued about who had prepared dinner and which of us had to serve ourselves first. Being no fool, I let the Admiral win, selected my portions, and went to the table.
After a movie, we called it an early night. That was a good thing because, by 12:30, the wind howled at 30 knots plus and drove waves diagonally across and lengthwise onto the dock. The dock heaved and squealed and, along with my neighbors, I donned my headlamp and added bumpers and double checked lines. My worries than turned to how well the dock was attached to the bottom. Well enough it turned out but I didn't know that then.
It's Saturday morning as I write and we're hoping that heavy showers and 10-12 knots of wind will give way to brighter skies. If the wind stays down, we'll travel a short ways to Westport later this morning. The gaiting factor today will be the one lock we have to pass through which often closes on windy days.
Nice snake!