WEEK 15 LOG – Ottawa, Ontario to Picton, Ontario

This week was spent largely wandering our way down the Rideau Canal, 120 miles from Ottawa to Kingston, on Lake Ontario. The canal system is both a Canadian National Park and a UNESCO world heritage site, and the design, construction, and operation of all the locks is done just as it was in the pre-civil war era when the canal was completed. We go through a total of 47 locks that lift us up to a bit over 400 feet above sea level, then back down to the level of Lake Ontario. Our stops this week were Burritts Rapids lock (free dock), Smiths Falls (marina), Colonel By Island (anchor), Westport (marina), Davis Lock (free dock), Kingston (marina), and Picton (anchor).

After 2 days in Ottawa with friends Debbie and Steve on board, we all started our trip down the Rideau (up, actually, since the first 33 locks will be lifting us). It was 39 miles and 9 locks to get to Burritts Rapids, and that made for a long, hot day. We were very happy to get a spot on the wall where we could plug into electric and run the AC.

Getting underway and bidding Ottawa farewell

Steve and Debbie on the fore deck as we enter lock 9

A quick flight of 3

The trip to Smiths Falls the next day was much shorter at 20 miles but has 12 locks to go through. Each lock-through takes 15 minutes to half and hour, and much of the way has a 10 kph (6mph) speed limit, so it takes a while to get where you are going. But the scenery keeps getting better and better as we go, and we are in no kind of hurry. Days are still about 15 hours long this time of year and with all the fresh air and sun it’s hard to even stay awake until it gets dark.

Nomadic Spirit and BellaGatto at Burritts Rapids

Beautiful morning at Burritts Rapids

Entering Smith Falls lock

Locking up into Smith Falls

Beautiful Sunrise at Smith Falls

The next day we got up into the Rideau Lakes part of the system. These are 3 big, deep (300 feet in places) lakes with hundreds of islands big and small, pink granite covered with pine trees and many with little fish camps and cottages on them. A few of the islands are parks, and we stopped and picked up a (free) mooring ball at Colonel By Island. We could see the bottom in 20 feet of water at our mooring, so we broke out the snorkel gear and went for a swim. The water was surprisingly warm, maybe 78 degrees. Following our swim, we took Bella for a nice 3 mile hike on the nature trails and then another swim to wash off the sweat and poison ivy. We had a great cool evening and saw the milky way clear as a bell that night.

Trail head at Colonel By Island

Team BellaGatto

Team Traxler

A boy and his dog

Colonel By Island

The next day we took a short side trip to Westport and stayed at a marina, since we needed to provision, pump the head, and do laundry (the mundane side of cruising in paradise). While there we couldn’t resist an ass-kicking hike up to the top of Foley Mountain. It didn’t look far from the marina, but half of it was straight up. There were clouds of biting horseflies to keep us motivated and moving along. Good times.

Foley mountain overlook (pant, pant, pant!)

Westport Marina

The view from Westport Marina

The town of Westport

When we left Westport, the first lock we came to was Newboro, the first “down lock”- we were now dropping back down to the level of Lake Ontario. We just went a relatively short way past there to Davis Lock, the most remote lock in the system, 10 kilometers from nowhere. Like at all the locks, the Parks Canada lock staff here was super nice, and they helped up get tied up and plugged in to the electric. We had time for a quick swim in the now 80 degree water before an impressive (even by Florida standards) thunderstorm rolled through. After the storm, the sky cleared up and we were treated to another great night sky with every star in the galaxy on display.

Jumping in for a refreshing swim

Steve casting a few by Davis lock

Scenes from Davis Lock area

By the end of the day the lock area was pretty full

Sunset at Davis Lock

In the morning it was on to Kingston, a pretty long day of 33 miles and 11 locks. The last lock in the system, Kingston Mills, is a group of 4 in quick succession on a very steep pitch. By then we were all ready for a break from locks – as interesting and historical as they are, they represent a lot of work for the crew, and we are glad to have Steve and Debbie along for the extra help. Feeling like we have earned it, we docked at the fanciest marina in Kingston and had a great dinner out at a top-shelf Italian restaurant (Casa).

While we're waiting to lock through there is plenty of time to get off the boat and look around

The water is pretty high in the canal system so when entering the lock chamber when locking down you are up to the tippy top

Final lock down of the day

Kingston, Ontario

Downtown Kingston

Farmer's Market in Kingston

After sending Debbie and Steve on their way back to Florida via Niagara Falls, Jayne and I packed it up and took it back on the road. Our goal is to get 80 miles to Trenton and the start of the Trent Severn Waterway (more locks, yea!) in time to meet our next installment of guest crew. Today was seriously windy, so we were glad to be in the mostly sheltered Bay of Quinte and we got as far as the little town of Picton, where we ran into our buddy boat Nomadic Spirit. They had found the only decent anchoring spot in the town, so we rafted up with them and had fun catching up and comparing notes.

  

Love this little guy, DeeO'Gee